ALBERT

Description: The Ocean Reference Station at 20°S, 85°W under the stratus clouds west of northern Chile is being maintained to provide ongoing climate-quality records of surface meteorology; air-sea fluxes of heat, freshwater, and momentum; and of upper ocean temperature, salinity, and velocity variability. The Stratus Ocean Reference Station (ORS Stratus) is supported by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Climate Observation Program. It is recovered and redeployed annually, with cruises that have come between October and December. During the 2008 cruise on the NOAA ship Ronald H. Brown to the ORS Stratus site, the primary activities were recovery of the Stratus 8 WHOI surface mooring that had been deployed in October 2007, deployment of a new (Stratus 9) WHOI surface mooring at that site; in-situ calibration of the buoy meteorological sensors by comparison with instrumentation put on board by staff of the NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory (ESRL); and observations of the stratus clouds and lower atmosphere by NOAA ESRL. A buoy for the Pacific tsunami warning system was also serviced in collaboration with the Hydrographic and Oceanographic Service of the Chilean Navy (SHOA). The DART (Deep-Ocean Assessment and Reporting of Tsunami) carries IMET sensors and subsurface oceanographic instruments. A DART II buoy was deployed north of the STRATUS buoy, by personnel from the National Data Buoy Center (NDBC) Argo floats and drifters were launched, and CTD casts carried out during the cruise. The ORS Stratus buoys are equipped with two Improved Meteorological (IMET) systems, which provide surface wind speed and direction, air temperature, relative humidity, barometric pressure, incoming shortwave radiation, incoming longwave radiation, precipitation rate, and sea surface temperature. Additionally, the Stratus 8 buoy received a partial CO2 detector from the Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory (PMEL). IMET data are made available in near real time using satellite telemetry. The mooring line carries instruments to measure ocean salinity, temperature, and currents. The ESRL instrumentation used during the 2008 cruise included cloud radar, radiosonde balloons, and sensors for mean and turbulent surface meteorology. Finally, the cruise hosted a teacher participating in NOAA’s Teacher at Sea Program.

Description: Funding was provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration under Grant No. NA17RJ1223 for the Cooperative Institute for Climate and Ocean Research (CICOR).

Description: The Ocean Reference Station at 20°S, 85°W under the stratus clouds west of northern Chile and Peru is being maintained to provide ongoing, climate-quality records of surface meteorology, of air-sea fluxes of heat, freshwater, and momentum, and of upper ocean temperature, salinity, and velocity variability. The Stratus Ocean Reference Station, hereafter ORS Stratus, is supported by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrations (NOAA) Climate Observation Program. It is recovered and redeployed annually, with cruises that have come in October or November. During the November 2003 cruise of Scripps Institution of Oceanography's R/V Roger Revelle to the ORS Stratus site, the primary activities where the recovery of the WHOI surface mooring that had been deployed in October 2002, the deployment of a new WHOI surface mooring at that site, the in-situ calibration of the buoy meteorological sensors by comparison with instrumentation put on board by Chris Fairall of the NOAA Environmental Technology Laboratory (ETL), and observations of the stratus clouds and lower atmosphere by NOAA ETL and Jason Tomlinson from Texas A&M. The ORS Stratus buoys are equipped with two Improved Meteorological systems, which provide surface wind speed and direction, air temperature, relative humidity, barometric pressure, incoming shortwave radiation, incoming longwave radiation, precipitation rate, and sea surface temperature. The IMET data are made available in near real time using satellite telemetry. The mooring line carries instruments to measure ocean salinity, temperature, and currents. On some deployments, additional instrumentation is attached to the mooring to measure rainfall and bio-optical variability. The ETL instrumentation used during the 2003 cruise included a cloud radar, radiosonde balloons, and sensors for mean and turbulent surface meteorology. In addition to this work, buoy work was done in support of the Ecuadorian Navy Institute of Oceanography (INOCAR) and of the Chilean Navy Hydrographic and Oceanographic Service (SHOA). The surface buoy, oceanographic instrumentation, and upper 500 m of an INOCAR surface mooring at 2°S, 84°W that had been vandalized were recovered and transferred to the Ecuadorian Navy vessel B. A. E. Calicuchima. A tsunami warning mooring was installed at 75°W, 20°S for SHOA. SHOA personnel onboard were trained during the cruise by staff from the NOAA Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory (PMEL) and National Data Buoy Center (NDBC). The cruise hosted two teachers participating in NOAA's Teacher at Sea Program, Deb Brice from San Marcos, California and Viviana Zamorano from Arica, Chile.

Description: Funding was provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration uncer Contract Number NA17RJ1223.

Description: During the summer of 2001, several moorings and cruises were used as part of the CBLAST-Low (Coupled Boundary Layer Air-Sea Transfer under low wind conditions) pilot experiment in the North Atlantic, south of Martha’s Vineyard Island, MA, USA. Six subsurface tide gauges were deployed around the study site for a period of approximately 3 months during the summer of 2001. Further, two surface buoys equipped with meteorological instrumentation and subsurface arrays that measured temperature, conductivity and velocity were deployed during the months of July and August 2001. For a short intensive operating period during July 2001, a newly manufactured three-dimensional mooring designed to sample three-dimensional properties of the upper ocean was deployed for a period of 6 days. During the Intensive Operating Period (IOP) along-shelf and across-shelf conductivity-temperature-depth (CTD) sections were completed as well as a drifting array designed to passively collect data from the upper water column released for approximately 24 hours. This report describes the instrumentation and type of moorings deployed by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Upper Ocean Processes (WHOI UOP) group as well as data return and quality from the CBLAST-Low 2001 pilot study. This is summarized in graphical and tabular form in this report.

Description: Funding provided by the Office of Naval Research under Contract No. N00014-01-1-0029 and from the Secretary of the Navy / CNO Chair Grant No. N00014-99-1-0090.

Description: During the summer of 2002, six surface moorings and one subsurface mooring were deployed south of Martha's Vineyard, Cape Cod, Massachusetts. The moorings were deployed from June to September 2002 to collect meteorological and oceanographic data. This was done both to support the Coupled Boundary Layered Air-Sea Transfer Low wind (CBLAST-Low) cooperative experiment and to address the question of regional predictability in the littoral regime under research supported by a Secretary of the Navy/Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) Chair. The aim was to capture the mesoscale development and response of inner shelf waters to local synoptic atmospheric, tidal and larger scale oceanic forcing under predominantly low wind conditions. This report covers the operational aspects of the 2002 experiment, including deployment, recovery, and mooring setups, as well as basic data returns.

Description: Funding was provided by the Office of Naval Research under Contract Numbers N00014-01-1-0029 and N00014-99-1-0090.

Description: The Ocean Reference Station at 20°S, 85°W under the stratus clouds west of northern Chile is being maintained to provide ongoing, climate-quality records of surface meteorology, of air-sea fluxes of heat, freshwater, and momentum, and of upper ocean temperature, salinity, and velocity variability. The Stratus Ocean Reference Station (ORS Stratus) is supported by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrations (NOAA) Climate Observation Program. It is recovered and redeployed annually, with cruises that have come between October and December. During the October 2006 cruise of NOAA's R/V Ronald H. Brown to the ORS Stratus site, the primary activities where recovery of the Stratus 6 WHOI surface mooring that had been deployed in October 2005, deployment of a new (Stratus 7) WHOI surface mooring at that site, in-situ calibration of the buoy meteorological sensors by comparison with instrumentation pub on board by staff of the NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory (ESRL, formerly ETL), and observations of the stratus clouds and lower atmosphere by NOAA ESRL. A buoy for the Pacific tsunami warning system was also serviced in collaboration with the Hydrographic and Oceanographic Service of the Chilean Navy (SHOA). The old DART (Deep-Ocean Assessment and Reporting of Tsunami) buoy was recovered and a new one deployed which carried IMET sensors and subsurface oceanographic instruments. Argo floats and drifters were also launched and CTD casts carried out during the cruise. The ORS Stratus buoys are equipped with two Improved Meteorological (IMET) systems, which provide surface wind speed and direction, air temperature, relative humidity, barometric pressure, incoming shortwave radiation, incoming longwave radiation, precipitation rate, and sea surface temperature. The IMET data are made available in near real time using satellite telemetry. The mooring line carries instruments to measure ocean salinity, temperature, and currents. The ESRL instrumentation used during the 2006 cruise included cloud radar, radiosonde balloons, and sensors for mean and turbulent surface meteorology. Stratus 7 also received a new addition to its set of sensors: a partial CO2 detector from the Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory (PMEL). Aerosol measurements were also carried out onboard RHB by personnel of the University of Hawaii. Finally, the cruise hosted a teacher participating in NOAA's Teacher at Sea Program.

Description: Funding was provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration under Grant No. NA17RJ1223.

Description: The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) Hawaii Ocean Timeseries (HOT) Site (WHOTS), 100 km north of Oahu, Hawaii, is intended to provide long-term, high-quality air-sea fluxes as a coordinated part of the HOT program and contribute to the goals of observing heat, fresh water and chemical fluxes at a site representative of the oligotrophic North Pacific Ocean. This report documents recovery of the WHOTS-1 mooring, deployed in August 2004 near 22.75°N, 158°W, and deployment of the WHOTS-2 mooring at the same site. Both moorings were outfitted with Air-Sea Interaction Meteorology (ASIMET) systems to measure, record, and transmit the surface meteorological variables necessary to compute air-sea fluxes of heat, moisture and momentum. In cooperation with R. Lukas of the University of Hawaii, the upper 155 m of the moorings were outfitted with oceanographic sensors for the measurement of temperature, conductivity and velocity. The WHOTS mooring turnaround was done on the Scripps Institution of Oceanography Ship Melville, Cruise TUIM-10MV. The cruise took place between 23 and 30 July 2005.

Description: Funding was provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration under Grant No. NA17RJ1223 and the Cooperative Institute for Climate and Ocean Research (CICOR).

Description: The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) Hawaii Ocean Timeseries (HOT) Site (WHOTS), 100 km north of Oahu, Hawaii, is intended to provide long-term, high-quality air-sea fluxes as a part of the NOAA Climate Observation Program. The WHOTS mooring also serves as a coordinated part of the HOT program, contributing to the goals of observing heat, fresh water and chemical fluxes at a site representative of the oligotrophic North Pacific Ocean. The approach is to maintain a surface mooring outfitted for meteorological and oceanographic measurements at a site near 22.75°N, 158°W by successive mooring turnarounds. These observations will be used to investigate air–sea interaction processes related to climate variability. The first three WHOTS moorings (WHOTS-1 through 3) were deployed in August 2004, July 2005 and June 2006, respectively. This report documents recovery of the WHOTS-3 mooring and deployment of the fourth mooring (WHOTS-4). Both moorings used Surlyn foam buoys as the surface element and were outfitted with two Air–Sea Interaction Meteorology (ASIMET) systems. Each ASIMET system measures, records, and transmits via Argos satellite the surface meteorological variables necessary to compute air–sea fluxes of heat, moisture and momentum. The upper 155 m of the moorings were outfitted with oceanographic sensors for the measurement of temperature, conductivity and velocity in a cooperative effort with R. Lukas of the University of Hawaii. A pCO2 system was installed on the WHOT-3 buoy in a cooperative effort with Chris Sabine at the Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory. The WHOTS mooring turnaround was done on the University of Hawaii research vessel Kilo Moana, Cruise KM-07-08, by the Upper Ocean Processes Group of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. The cruise took place between 24 June and 1 July 2007. Operations began with deployment of the WHOTS-4 mooring on 25 June at approximately 22°40.2′N, 157°57.0′W in 4756 m of water. This was followed by meteorological intercomparisons and CTDs at the WHOTS-4 and WHOTS-3 sites. The WHOTS-3 mooring was recovered on June 28th followed by CTD operations at the HOT site and shipboard meteorological observations at several sites to the south of the mooring site. This report describes these cruise operations, as well as some of the in-port operations and pre-cruise buoy preparations.

Description: Funding was provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration under Grant No. NA17RJ1223 for the Cooperative Institute for Climate and Ocean Research (CICOR).

Description: The Ocean Reference Station at 20°S, 85°W under the stratus clouds west of northern Chile is being maintained to provide ongoing climate-quality records of surface meteorology, air-sea fluxes of heat, freshwater, and momentum, and of upper ocean temperature, salinity, and velocity variability. The Stratus Ocean Reference Station (ORS Stratus) is supported by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Climate Observation Program. It is recovered and redeployed annually, with past cruises that have come between October and January. A NOAA vessel was not available, so this cruise was conducted on the chartered ship, Moana Wave, belonging to Stabbert Maritime. During the 2011 cruise on the Moana Wave to the ORS Stratus site, the primary activities were the recovery of the subsurface part of the Stratus 10 WHOI surface mooring, deployment of a new (Stratus 11) WHOI surface mooring, in-situ calibration of the buoy meteorological sensors by comparison with instrumentation installed on the ship by staff of the NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory (ESRL), and collection of underway and on station oceanographic data to continue to characterize the upper ocean in the stratus region. The Stratus 10 mooring had parted, and the surface buoy and upper part had been recovered earlier. Underway CTD (UCTD) profiles were collected along the track and during surveys dedicated to investigating eddy variability in the region. Surface drifters and subsurface floats were also launched along the track. The intent was also to visit a buoy for the Pacific tsunami warning system maintained by the Hydrographic and Oceanographic Service of the Chilean Navy (SHOA). This DART (Deep- Ocean Assessment and Reporting of Tsunami) buoy had been deployed in December 2010.

Description: Funding was provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration under Grant No. NA0900AR4320129

Description: The Ocean Reference Station at 20°S, 85°W under the stratus clouds west of northern Chile is being maintained to provide ongoing climate-quality records of surface meteorology, air-sea fluxes of heat, freshwater, and momentum, and of upper ocean temperature, salinity, and velocity variability. The Stratus Ocean Reference Station (ORS Stratus) is supported by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Climate Observation Program. It is recovered and redeployed annually. A NOAA vessel was not available, so this cruise was conducted on the Melville, operated by the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. During the 2012 cruise on the Melville to the ORS Stratus site, the primary activities were the deployment of the Stratus 12 WHOI surface mooring, recovery of the previous (Stratus 11) WHOI surface mooring, in-situ calibration of the buoy meteorological sensors by comparison with instrumentation installed on the ship, and collection of underway and on station oceanographic data to continue to characterize the upper ocean in the stratus region. Underway CTD (UCTD) profiles were collected along the track. Surface drifters and subsurface floats were also launched along the track.

Description: Funding was provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration under Grant No. NA09OAR4320129.

Description: The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) Hawaii Ocean Timeseries (HOT) Site (WHOTS), 100 km north of Oahu, Hawaii, is intended to provide long-term, high-quality air-sea fluxes as a part of the NOAA Climate Observation Program. The WHOTS mooring also serves as a coordinated part of the HOT program, contributing to the goals of observing heat, fresh water and chemical fluxes at a site representative of the oligotrophic North Pacific Ocean. The approach is to maintain a surface mooring outfitted for meteorological and oceanographic measurements at a site near 22.75°N, 158°W by successive mooring turnarounds. These observations will be used to investigate air–sea interaction processes related to climate variability. The first four WHOTS moorings (WHOTS-1 through 4) were deployed in August 2004, July 2005, June 2006, and June 2007, respectively. This report documents recovery of the WHOTS-4 mooring and deployment of the fifth mooring (WHOTS-5). Both moorings used Surlyn foam buoys as the surface element and were outfitted with two Air–Sea Interaction Meteorology (ASIMET) systems. Each ASIMET system measures, records, and transmits via Argos satellite the surface meteorological variables necessary to compute air–sea fluxes of heat, moisture and momentum. The upper 155 m of the moorings were outfitted with oceanographic sensors for the measurement of temperature, conductivity and velocity in a cooperative effort with R. Lukas of the University of Hawaii. A pCO2 system was installed on the WHOTS-5 buoy in a cooperative effort with Chris Sabine at the Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory. The WHOTS mooring turnaround was done on the University of Hawaii research vessel Kilo Moana, Cruise KM-08-08, by the Upper Ocean Processes Group of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. The cruise took place between 3 and 11 June 2008. Operations began with deployment of the WHOTS-5 mooring on 5 June at approximately 22°46.1'N, 157°54.1'W in 4702 m of water. This was followed by meteorological intercomparisons and CTDs at the WHOTS-4 site. A period of calmer weather was taken advantage of to recover WHOTS-4 on 6 June 2008. The Kilo Moana then returned to the WHOTS-5 mooring for CTD operations and meteorological intercomparisons. This report describes these cruise operations, as well as some of the in-port operations and pre-cruise buoy preparations.

Description: Funding was provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration under Grant No. NA17RJ1223 for the Cooperative Institute for Climate and Ocean Research (CICOR).