program would be entirely complementary to the DOE-OMP Broadband. Acoustic Doppler 

 Current Profilers (ADCPs) would be used throughout the array, particularly in high shear zones 

 as centroids about which conventional taut wire moorings can be located. The bottom tripods, 

 the ADCPs and the upper surface current meters, collectively constitute a suite of velocity 

 measurements which essentially cover the entire water column. Salinity, temperature, pressure, 

 fluorescence and particle concentration measurements will be made throughout the array using 

 in-situ conductivity-temperature-pressure (CTD) sensors, fluorometers, transmissometers and 

 turbidity sensors. Sediment trap devices can be placed on taut wire moorings beyond the 

 shelfbreak below the euphoric zone, at mid-depths and near the bottom as required. 



Satellite and aircraft imagery sea surface temperature and near surface optical depth 

 (AVHRR), ocean color (SeaWifs), ocean topography (Topex), synthetic and real aperture radar 

 (SAR, RAR), surface sea state and wind (SSMI), surface chlorophyll (Lidar) will also be obtained 

 either in real time egs: (AVHRR optical depth, SeaWifs) or directly from collaborating 

 government agencies (National Aeronautics and Space Administration, i.e. NASA-Jet Propulsion 

 Lab, ONR-Naval Research Lab, NASA Wallops). The real-time satellite (AVHRR, and SeaWifs) 

 data will be used in a real time mode to guide shipboard surveys. Other satellite data will be 

 utilized to identify Gulf Stream (GS) related features outside and inside the array, and to 

 determine the impact of these features on the enclosed region through correlation with direct, 

 contemporaneous measurements of velocity and particle concentration and flux. 



STRENGTHS AND LIMITATIONS OF PROPOSED RESEARCH 



The limitations in meeting the physical oceanographic goals of the OMP program in the 

 MAB are a lack of state of the art mooring array equipment L.J. Pietrafesa has designed an 

 array that will meet the expressed needs of the bio-geo-chemists while allowing for volumetric, 

 salt and heat balances. A capital outlay is required. The Pi's presently in the program are 

 sufficient. 



STATUS OF RESEARCH 



This 3rd year period of OMP funding involves a four month field program which is 

 coordinated with the National Science Foundation CoOP field program to be conducted near 

 Duck, NC, and a 2 month field effort coordinated with the NSF/National Oceanic and 

 Atmospheric Administration/National Undersea Research Program field program to be conducted 

 at the proposed Mobil Drill site to the northeast of Cape Hatteras. The NSF CoOP program will 

 be conducted in water < 20 m deep, i.e. the inner shelf, while the NSF/NURP program will be 

 at 850m, on the upper slope, a known organic carbon deposition site. 



Keywords: sediment dynamics, benthic boundary layer, circulation, hydrography, fronts 



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