Observations of sea surface temperature and wave height were made from a large, manned spar buoy (R/P FLIP) ~100 km off the coast of Baja California. Surface temperature was measured with a radiation thermometer which viewed a disc on the surface 12 cm in diameter. The instrument responded to frequencies...
A strong, isolated October storm generated 0.35–0.7 m s⁻¹ inertial frequency currents in the 40-m deep mixed layer of a 300 km×300 km region of the northeast Pacific Ocean. The authors describe the evolution of these currents and the background flow in which they evolve for nearly a month following...
A new method is presented for estimating the vertical turbulent heat flux at the bottom of the daily mixed layer from the temperature data in the mixed layer and net solar irradiance data at the sea surface. We assume that fluctuations in the divergence of advective heat flux have longer...
Current meter data from two sites were analyzed for near-inertial motions generated by storm during the ten-month period of the Ocean Storms Experiment in the northeast Pacific Ocean. The most striking feature of the inertial wave response to storms was the almost instantaneous generation of waves in the mixed layer,...
Observations were made of downward solar radiation as a function of depth during an experiment in the North Pacific (35°N, 155°W). The irradiance meter employed was sensitive to solar radiation of wavelength 400–1000 nm arriving from above at a horizontal surface. Because of selective absorption of the short and long...
Leads act as windows through which solar radiation enters the upper ocean. Studies of the heat budget and ice melt require accurate parameterization of the albedo. Results from summertime measurements of albedo over leads show that under cloudy conditions the average albedo is 0.066 with a standard deviation of 0.007....
A thermistor chain was moored below the pack ice from 50–150 m in the Arctic Ocean for five days in 1981. Oscillations in temperature are attributed to the vertical dispalcement of internal waves. The spectral shape of isotherm dispalcement is consistent with the Garrett-Munk model and other internal wave observations,...
Twelve days of microstructure measurements at the equator (140°W) in November 1984 showed a
surprisingly strong effect of both the daily cycle of solar heating and wind on mixing in the upper ocean.
Because of limited variations in atmospheric forcing and currents during the experiment, processes in the
daily mixing...
A melt pond model is presented that predicts pond size and depth changes, given an
initial ice thickness field and representative surface fluxes. The model is based on the
assumption that as sea ice melts, fresh water builds up in the ice pore space and eventually
saturates the ice. Under...
The effects of ice keels on the upper ocean are examined using a combination of
turbulence measurements and output from a large-eddy simulation (LES) model. Two
cases are examined, one during the winter when the under-ice boundary layer is relatively
deep (~20 m) and near the freezing point and a...
High-resolution turbulence simulations are used to examine the importance of melt
pond geometry in setting pond growth rates and albedo. Modeling the circulation of
water in melt ponds using large-eddy simulation shows that both convective and windforced
conditions generate well-mixed ponds, suggesting that stratification is not a
significant factor in...
Ice-ocean heat exchange in polar leads was examined using a large-eddy simulation
model coupled to a slab ice model. Simulations were performed using an idealized square
domain for a range of lead sizes, surface wind stress (0.05–0.1 N/m²), and lead
temperature/salinity profiles. Particular emphasis was placed on understanding the role...
Repeated microstructure transects across filaments in the coastal transition zone (CTZ) have
Revealed fundamental structure and dynamics of the complicated features. The measurements allow
detailed momentum and vorticity analyses and provide a possible explanations for structural
asymmetry of the fronts. Observations made between July 2 and July 23, 1988, along...
Twelve days of microstructure measurements at the equator (140°W) in November 1984 showed a
surprisingly strong effect of both daily cycle of solar heating and wind on mixing in the upper ocean.
Because of limited variations in atmospheric forcing and currents during the experiment, processes in the
daily mixing cycle...
Internal gravity waves measured under the Arctic pack ice were strikingly different from measurements
at lower latitudes. The total wave energy, integrated over the internal wave frequency band, was lower by
a factor of 0.03-0.07, and the spectral slope at high frequency was nearly -1 in contrast to the -2...
A thermistor chain was towed 1400 km through the eastern North Pacific subtropical frontal zone in
January 1980. The observations resolve surface layer temperature features with horizontal wavelengths of
0.2-200 km and vertical scales of 10-70 m. The dominant features, which have horizontal wavelengths of
10-100 km, amplitudes of 0.2°-1.0°C,...
Horizontal wave number spectra of temperature in the unstably stratified oceanic surface layer were determined from measurements on a bow boom at a depth of 2 m. Spectra were estimated in the wavelength band from 2 m to 2 km, normalized in accordance with Monin-Obukhov similarity theory, and averaged in...
Vertical cross-sections of temperature in the Sargasso Sea and across
the Gulf Stream and a warm core ring were obtained with a towed thermistor
chain in September 1981. The thermistors were distributed in the upper
70 to 120 m during three runs. Salinity was also measured at two locations
on...
The FRONTS-80 experiment is a joint investigation supported by the
Office of Naval Research (ONR) as the lead agency with additional contributions
from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA),
the National Space Administration (NASA), the U.S. Navy and the Canadian
Forces. Support from these agencies is gratefully acknowledged. We...
This report presents time series measurements of velocity, temperature and conductivity made during the Lead Experiment (LEADEX). These observations were made in the Beaufort Sea, Arctic Ocean, in the vicinity of 73°N, 144°W, during March-April 1992. Month-long observations at the base camp were made between the surface and 400 m...
This report presents moored observations of velocity, temperature, and conductivity
made at the "0" Camp during CEAREX (Coordinated Eastern Arctic Experiment).
The measurements were made in the Arctic Ocean, near 83 ON and 5 ° to 11 °E, from
sensors suspended below the ice during March-April 1989.
This report presents observations from a single mooring of velocity, temperature, conductivity, and pressure, made as part of the Ocean Storms experiment, conducted in the N.E. Pacific Ocean (47° 25.4' N, 139° 17.8' W) from August 1987 to June 1988. The mooring contained a total of 14 current meters, 4...
Observations of temperature and pressure between 10 and 70 m depth
were taken with a towed thermistor chain during late August and early September, 1978, about 400 km northwest of Scotland as a part of the JASIN Experiment. The chain was usually towed at a speed of 3 mis around...
This data report contains observations made from R/P FLIP as part of the first process-oriented NORPAX (North Pacific Experiment) experiment. The experiment was named POLE to indicate that the horizontal extent of sampling was small compared to the largest scale investigated in NORPAX.
The part of the experiment reported here...
Observations of temperature and pressure in the upper 100 m were taken with a towed thermistor chain in January 1980 north of Hawaii. The observations were taken as a part of a cooperative investigation of the North Pacific subtropical front entitled FRONTS-80. The chain was towed on four occasions over...