Publication Date

3-1991

GSO Technical Report Number

91-2

Comments

Data sets are available online at the National Centers for Environmental Information (http://www.nodc.noaa.gov/) under accession number 9400108.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.

Abstract

The SYNoptic Ocean Prediction experiment (SYNOP) was undertaken with the goal that increased understanding of the Gulf Stream obtained through coordinated observations could be integrated with numerical models, including predictive models of the Gulf Stream. Our moored experiment, which began in the fall of 1987, consists of two separate arrays in the Gulf Stream as part of the SYNOP program. The Inlet array of inverted echo sounders (IES) and deep current meters measures key parameters that that describe the variability of the Gulf Stream and the deep western boundary current (DWBC) near Cape Hatteras. In this region the Gulf Stream first flows into deeper water and crosses over the DWBC. The Central array of IESs, in a 350 km square centered on the Gulf Stream near 68 o W, monitors the thermocline structure of the Gulf Stream in the region of large meanders and frequent interactions with rings. The array also contained thirteen tall current meter moorings, that reached into the Gulf Stream core. Additionally most of the IESs in the interior of the array are outfitted with bottom pressure recorders (PIES). IES data recovered during the summer of 1990, from the Year 3 deployment period, are documented here by plots and tables of basic statistics and pertinent deployment information. Altogether 32 IES records are presented, plus pressure records at 12 sites. he echo sounders were recovered during a cruise aboard the R/V Endeavor, EN216 (4 August 1990 to 5 September 1990). The IESs had been deployed the previous summer during cruises on the R/V Oceanus, OC207 (26 May 1989 to 21 June 1989) and OC210 (8 August 1989 to 1 September 1989). One IES was exchanged in mid-October 1989 using the R/V Cape Henlopen. The plots are time series of measured travel time, pressure, temperature; the residual pressure; and low-pass filtered records of residual pressure, thermocline depth, and temperature. A brief description of the experiment is given; the standard steps of data processing are discussed along with special processing for several IES records that had different problems.

COinS