ALBERT

Beschreibung: The final cruise of the NSF sponsored Warm Core Rings Program studied a Warm Core Ring (WCR) in the Fall of 1982 as it formed from a large northward meander of the Gulf Stream. This ring, known as 82-H or the eighth ring identified in 1982, formed over the New England Seamounts near 39.5°N, 65°W. Surveys using Expendable Bathythermographs, Conductivity-Temperature-DepthOxygen stations and Doppler Current Profiling provide a look at the genesis of a WCR. These measurements reveal that WCR 82-H separated from the Gulf Stream sometime between October 2-5. This ring was a typical WCR with a diameter of about 200 km and speeds in the high velocity core of 175 em/sec. Satellite imagery of 82-H following the cruise showed that it drifted WSW in the Slope Water region at almost 9 km/day, had at least one interaction with the Gulf Stream and was last observed on February 8, 1983 at 39°N, 72°W.

Beschreibung: Funding was provided by the National Science Foundation under grant Number OCE 80- 16983 and by the National Aeronautical and Space Administration under Grant Number NAGW-272.

Beschreibung: We have addressed the degree to which Acoustic-Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP) and expendable bathythermograph (XBT) data can provide quantitative measurements of the velocity structure and transport of the Gulf Stream. An algorithm has been used to generate salinity from temperature and depth using an historical Temperature/Salinity relation for the NW Atlantic . Results have been simulated using CTD data and comparing real and pseudo salinity files. Errors are typically less than 2 dynamic cm for the upper 800 rn out of a total signal of 80 cm (across the Gulf Stream). When combined with ADCP data for a near-surface reference velocity, transport errors in isopycnal layers are less than about 1 Sv (106 rn3 /s), as is the difference in total transport for the upper 800 rn between real and pseudo data . The method is capable of measuring the real variability of the Gulf Stream, and when combined with altimeter data, can provide estimates of the geoid slope with oceanic errors of a few parts in 108 over horizontal scales of 500 krn .

Beschreibung: Funding was provided by the Ocean Processes Branch of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration under grant Number NAGW 1026.

Beschreibung: At 1300 hours on 12 September 1981 the research vessel ENDEAVOR departed Woods Hole on a 22 day cruise to study the physical, chemical and biological structure of warm core ring 81-D. The cruise was the first of 5 ENDEAVOR cruises planned as part of the NSF/NASA-sponsored Warm Core Ring study.

Beschreibung: Prepared for the National Science Foundation OCE under Grant OCE 80-16983.

Beschreibung: This report summarizes the work, under the auspices of the WOCE Hydrographic Programme (WHP), which took place on the R/V Akademik Vernadsky in June-July 1991. The goal of the exercise was an international comparison/training cruise to obtain comparisons of water sampling methods and analytical techniques employed by several groups for the oceanographic measurement of salinity and oxygen in seawater. The training aspect was formalized in a pre-cruise practicum held on board the vessel by Dr. Fred Culkin and Mr. Paul Ridout of Ocean Scientific International, the manufacturer of IAPSO Standard Seawater, At-sea comparisons of Russian Reference Water, manufactured in Moscow, were made with IAPSO water. Further work involved comparisons of a Guildline and a pair of SOKOL salinometers using reference water and natural seawater collected on the cruise. While the agreement among the salnometers was quite good and at the level of acceptability for the WHP, it was discovered that lack of thermal equilbration of the salinity samples run on the SOKOLs led to substantial "errors" at large depths (or for cold water samples). This could not have been anticipated before the cruise and would have been missed in a shore-based or laboratory exercise. All five groups making oxygen comparisons benefitted from the technical exchange afforded by the cruise and, as a result of reconciling inter-group differences, have identified procedural changes they wil make in the future in order to achieve the high standards required by the WHP, The technical interaction, which amounted to "training" for all groups, was greatly facilitated by the cooperation of Captain Malnovsky, Chief Scientist Panteleyev, the scientists from MHI, Sevastopol, and the crew of the Vernadsky. On the Vernadsky comparison cruise, a shore-based practicum was held prior to sailing in order to review the theory and measurement of salinity. The cruise itself, which took place between 27 June and 8 July 1991, was in the NE Atlantic to the west of Madeira. An international group of experts in salnity and oxygen measurements was drawn from the United Kingdom (UK), Spain, Russia, Ukraine, and the United States (US). Except for one of the five groups, measured oxygen values in the range of 3-5 mIll (concentration units are used throughout) agreed with one another within :11%, which exceeds the WOCE requirements by a factor of 2. Subsequent analyses of the differences by all five groups could account for much of the observed inter-group variations, Intra-group precision was generally in the range of 0,1-0.4%, As a result, of a low oxygen sparging experiment in which sample oxygens 0: 1.2 mIll were generated, substantial inter-group differences of :1.08 mIll were found indicating that oxygen specifications for WOCE need to be expressed as both a percent "error" and a low oxygen bias. The salinity comparison component of the cruise enabled comparison of various batches of Russian Reference Water (RRW) of various salnities (10, 20, 30, 35 and 40) against IAPSO Standard Seawater (SSW) of various salinities (10, 30, 35 and 38); inferences could then also be drawn on the relative performance of the two types of salinometer (Guildline Autosal 8400 and SOKOL 4602) used during the experiment. Under quasilaboratory conditions, the machines produced mean results different by no more than 0.001 in salinity for salinity 35 RRW, standardizing against salinity 35 SSW. The other salnities produced less conclusive results, but the three salinometers deviated by no more than 0.003 from the expected value over a wide range of salinities. Under operational conditions (analysis of duplicate samples collected from CTD casts) a mean bias emerged between machines of approximately 0.005 in salinity (SOKOL fresher than Guildline), Subsequent investigations tentatively ascribed this bias to non-equilbration of deep (cold) samples in the Russian system.

Beschreibung: Prepared for the National Science Foundation under Grants OCE89-07815, and OCE92-06184, T. Joyce, Principal Investigator; Vetlesen Funds, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution; and with support from the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission.

Beschreibung: Hydrographic data collected during R/V Endeavor cruise 143 is presented as a preliminary study of subduction in the northeast Atlantic south of the Azores Front. The front is clearly defined at the northern end of CTD section #1 which also shows a layer of 16-18°C water subducted to the south. Section #2, 280 km to the east, is dominated by a large cyclonic ring with characteristics similar to 'eastern' rings reported earlier . An anomalously salty parcel of Mediterranean water in this section is typical of highly saline lenses seen in the Canary Basin.

Beschreibung: Funding was provided by the National Science Foundation under grant Nos. OCE 85-15642 and OCE 85-18372.