A second buoy (ID #0373) was deployed by the USCGC Dallas as part of a 

 separate experiment on December 27, 1976. This experiment was conducted 

 jointly by NOAA (NDBO and the Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Lab- 

 oratories) and USCG as part of the New York Bight MESA program. This buoy 

 had a drogue attached to couple the buoy's motion to the water at 400 meters. 

 Since deployment, however, the drogue monitoring sensor has indicated that 

 the drogue is not attached or that the sensor has malfunctioned. Table VII-11 

 contains the positions and velocities of this buoy, and Figure 2-5 indicates 

 its track up to the time of this report. 



In a joint project by NMFS (Woods Hole) and URI's Coastal Resources Cen- 

 ter seabed drifters were released in an attempt to measure bottom currents at 

 Nantucket Shoals and Georges Bank. Seven releases of 150 drifters each were 

 made on January 6, 1977, to the west of the wreck site from a USCG helicopter. 

 Five drifters were also released at each station (except No. 27) occupied by 

 the second Delaware II cruise in January. An additional 150 drifters were 

 also released on URI Endeavor cruise EN-005 at the wreck site and at the lead- 

 ing edge of sediment contamination. To date, six seabed drifters have been 

 recovered according to C. Griscom of URI. The locations of recovery are indi- 

 cated in Table 2-2. 



2.2.4 Oil Velocity 



Oil velocity measurements were acquired both relative to fixed references 

 over short time periods and by navigational fixes on individual oil pancakes 

 over periods of hours during USCG mapping flights. On December 31 at 1340 a 

 pancake was marked by a datum marker buoy at 40^16'N, 66°56'W, and at 1630 a 

 NOAA drifting buoy was inserted into the same pancake. The latter is assumed 

 to have been locked into the oil for the first few days and is being tracked 

 twice daily by Nimbus-F at noon and midnight (see Section 2.2.3). The first 

 five values contained in Table VII-10 probably represent oil velocities. 



Differential velocities of oil and surface water were measured by the 

 SOR Team on helicopter and fixed-wing aircraft flights. Dye patches were 

 used to mark the surface water, and the separation and direction of oil and 

 water were then measured as a function of time. These data are primarily 

 contained in photographs and tape recordings. The following summarizes two 

 of the best sets of such measurements, based on both photographic data 

 reduction and visual observations made from a hovering helicopter, with a 

 USCG-developed viewfinder used for distance measurements. 



The first set was obtained on December 19, -1976. During this flight, at 

 about 1100 EST, J. Gait and J. Mattson of the SOR Team released three dye 

 "pills" in a line downwind and ahead of the patch. The oil pancake was at 

 the far end of the horseshoe-shaped slick, 18 nautical miles long, emanating 

 from the Avgo Merchn.nt (Photograph 22, Appendix III) . Using time- lapse 

 photography, and knowing the altitude of the aircraft and the acceptance 

 angle of the camera lens, the differential oil/water velocity can be measured 

 directly. The table below summarizes the time-lapse photographs, which were 

 taken at an altitude of 500 feet with a 55-mm lens. Parentheses indicate 

 photographs taken at a lower altitude, for which distances were corrected. 



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