Subproject: Tides in tiie CICAR Region. Coastal and pelagic 

 measurements and near-bottom current measurements were made 

 to obtain more accurate transport calculations, to study the varia- 

 bility of currents at the entrance to the Caribbean, and to provide 

 a prototype for the international deep-sea tide program. 



By the completion of the first year, AOML scientists for 1 month 

 (September-October 1971) deployed and recovered two pelagic 

 pressure and near-bottom current measuring systems in the eastern 

 Caribbean. They also for 1 month (July-August 1971) deployed 

 and recovered two shallow capsules (current meter temperature 

 sensor and tide gage) in the western Caribbean. 



Data obtained were tide records for 1 month at 4-km. depth near 

 the M , amphidrome; near-bottom current records at both locatioas; 

 and two 1 -month shallow tide gage records in the western Car- 

 ibbean. 



Subproject: Lagrangian Measurements of Ocean Currents. The 

 purpose of this project is to determine the nature and evaluate the 

 extent of the ageostrophic components of flow in the western Car- 

 ibbean where the Yucatan Current forms. Measurements will be 

 made of the acceleration of parcels tagged by drift buoys in relation 

 to the surrounding mass distribution. 



Field work completed in the western Caribbean included tracking 

 sets of near-surface drogue-buoys, approximately along the paths 

 indicated in figure 26. Nansen bottle, bathythermograph (BT), and 

 conductivity-temperature-depth data were obtained along these 

 tracklines by the RV Researcher. This ship also made two expend- 

 able bathythermograph (XBT) surveys to determine the initial 

 drogue deployment position and spent 3 nights making BT sections 

 and tracking drogue buoys in the vicinity of Swan Island. The 

 NOAA ship RV Discoverer made salinity-temperature-depth and 

 rosette multi-sampler measurements along many tracks in the west- 

 ern Caribbean. The RV Eastward used XBT probes, supplied by 

 AOML, to obtain measurements in the Yucatan Channel. 



In the Gulf of Mexico, three to five shallow parachute 

 drogues were deployed on August 26, 1971, in the region where the 



Florida Current was forming, about 100 km. north of the axis of 

 the Yucatan Strait. The drogues were tracked for 5 days over a 

 distance of 520 km. in a sinusoidal path. 



20° 



15' 



85° 



FIGURE 26.— Tracklines and drogue tracks by RV 

 Researcher in western Caribbean, July 1971. 



Zooplankton were also gathered during CICAR 

 studies involvinR NOAA's Discoverer and Oregon II 

 and the Mexican research vessel Uribe. 



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