Description: The Ocean Reference Station at 20° S, 85° W under the stratus clouds west of northern Chile and Peru is being maintained to provide ongoing, climate-quality records of surface meteorology, of air-sea fluxes of heat, freshwater, and momentum, and of upper ocean temperature, salinity, and velocity variability. The Stratus Ocean Reference Station (ORS Stratus) is supported by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Climate Observation Program. It is recovered and redeployed annually, with cruises that have come between October and December. During the December 2004 cruise of NOAA's R/V Ronald H. Brown to the ORS Stratus site, the primary activities where the recovery of the WHOI surface mooring that had been deployed in November 2003, the deployment of a new WHOI surface mooring at that site, the in-situ calibration of the buoy meteorological sensors by comparison with instrumentation put on board by staff of the NOAA Environmental Technology Laboratory (ETL), and observations of the stratus clouds and lower atmosphere by NOAA ETL and Jason Tomlinson from Texas A&M. The ORS Stratus buoys are equipped with two Improved Meteorological systems, which provide surface wind speed and direction, air temperature, relative humidity, barometric pressure, incoming shortwave radiation, incoming longwave radiation, precipitation rate, and sea surface temperature. The IMET data are made available in near real time using satellite telemetry. The mooring line carries instruments to measure ocean salinity, temperature, and currents. The ETL instrumentation used during the 2004 cruise included cloud radar, radiosonde balloons, and sensors for mean and turbulent surface meteorology. The atmospheric observations also benefited from the C-Band radar mounted on the R/V Ronald H. Brown. In addition to this work, buoy work was done in support of the Chilean Navy Hydrographic and Oceanographic Service (SHOA). A tsunami warning mooring was reinstalled at 75°W, 20°S for SHOA, after the previous buoy installed last year failed. SHOA personnel were onboard to direct the deployment and to gain experience. Four students from the University of Concepcion collected hydrographic data and water samples. One other Chilean student from the University of Chile was involved in the atmospheric sampling program, with a particular focus on the near coast jet. Finally, the cruise hosted a teacher participating in NOAA's Teacher at Sea Program, Mary Esther Cook, who used her experience to develop lessons for her class back in Arkansas.

Description: Funding was provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration under Contract Number NA17RJ1225.

Description: The Ocean Reference Station at 20°S, 85°W under the stratus clouds west of northern Chile is being maintained to provide ongoing climate-quality records of surface meteorology (air-sea fluxes of heat, freshwater, and momentum), and of upper ocean temperature, salinity, and velocity variability. The Stratus Ocean Reference Station (ORS Stratus) is supported by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Climate Observation Program. It is recovered and redeployed annually, with cruises between October and December. During the October 2007 cruise on the NOAA ship Ronald H. Brown to the ORS Stratus site, the primary activities were recovery of the Stratus 7 WHOI surface mooring that had been deployed in October 2006, deployment of a new (Stratus 8) WHOI surface mooring at that site; in-situ calibration of the buoy meteorological sensors by comparison with instrumentation put on board the ship by staff of the NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory (ESRL); and observations of the stratus clouds and lower atmosphere by NOAA ESRL. Meteorological sensors on a buoy for the Pacific tsunami warning system were also serviced, in collaboration with the Hydrographic and Oceanographic Service of the Chilean Navy (SHOA). The DART (Deep-Ocean Assessment and Reporting of Tsunami) carries IMET sensors and subsurface oceanographic instruments. A new DART II buoy was deployed north of the STRATUS buoy, by personnel from the National Data Buoy Center (NDBC) Argo floats and drifters were launched, and CTD casts carried out during the cruise. The ORS Stratus buoys are equipped with two Improved Meteorological (IMET) systems, which provide surface wind speed and direction, air temperature, relative humidity, barometric pressure, incoming shortwave radiation, incoming longwave radiation, precipitation rate, and sea surface temperature. Additionally, the Stratus 8 buoy received a partial pressure of CO2 detector from the Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory (PMEL). IMET data are made available in near real time using satellite telemetry. The mooring line carries instruments to measure ocean salinity, temperature, and currents. The ESRL instrumentation used during the 2007 cruise included cloud radar, radiosonde balloons, and sensors for mean and turbulent surface meteorology. Finally, the cruise hosted a teacher participating in NOAA’s Teacher at Sea Program.

Description: Funding was provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration under Grant No. NA17RJ1223 for the Cooperative Institute for Climate and Ocean Research (CICOR).

Description: The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) Hawaii Ocean Timeseries (HOT) Site (WHOTS), 100 km north of Oahu, Hawaii, is intended to provide long-term, high-quality air-sea fluxes as a coordinated part of the HOT program and contribute to the goals of observing heat, fresh water, and chemical fluxes at a site representative of the oligotrophic North Pacific Ocean. The approach is to maintain a surface mooring outfitted for meteorological and oceanographic measurements at a site near 22.75N 158W by successive mooring turnarounds. These observations will be used to investigate air-sea interaction processes related to climate variability. The first WHOTS mooring (WHOTS-1) was deployed in August 2004. WHOTS-1 was recovered and WHOTS-2 deployed in July 2005. This report documents recovery of the WHOTS-2 mooring and deployment of the third mooring (WHOTS-3) at the same site. Both moorings used Surlyn foam buoys as the surface element and were outfitted with two Air-Sea Interaction Meteorology (ASIMET) systems. Each system measures, records, and transmits via Argos satellite, the surface meteorological variables necessary to compute air-sea fluxes of heat, moisture, and momentum. WHOTS-2 was equipped with one Iridium data transmitter, and WHOTS-3 had two Iridium data transmitters. In cooperation with R. Lukas of the University of Hawaii, the upper 155 m of the morrings were outfitted with oceanographic sensors for the measurement of temperature, conductivity, and velocity. The WHOTS mooring turnaround was done on the Scripps Institution of Oceanography ship Revelle, Cruise AMAT-07, by the Upper Ocean Processes Group of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and Roger Lukas’group at the University of Hawaii. The cruise took place between 22 and 29 June 2006. Operations on site were initiated with an intercomparison of shipboard meteorological observations with the WHOTS-2 buoy. Dr. Frank Bradley, CSIRO, Australia, assisted with these comparisons. This was followed by recovery of the WHOTS-2 mooring on 24 June. A number of recovered instruments were calibrated by attaching them to the rosette frame of the CTD. Shallow CTD profiles were taken every two hours for 12 hours on the 25th of June. A fish trap was deployed on June 25th by John Yeh, a University of Hawaii graduate student. The WHOTS-3 mooring was deployed on 26 June at approximately 22°46'N, 157°54'W in 4703 m of water. A ship-buoy intercomparison period and series of shallow CTDs followed along with a second deployment of the fishtrap. A NOAA Teacher-At-Sea, Diana Griffiths, and a NOAA Hollings Scholar, Terry Smith, participated in the cruise. This report describes the mooring operations, some of the pre-cruise buoy preparations and CTD casts taken during the cruise, the fish trap deployments, and the experiences of the Teacher-at-Sea and Hollings Scholar.

Description: Funding was provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration under grant No. NA17RJ1223 for the Cooperative Institute for Climate and Ocean Research (CICOR).

Description: The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) Hawaii Ocean Timeseries Site (WHOTS), 100 km north of Oahu, Hawaii, is intended to provide long-term, high-quality air-sea fluxes as a part of the NOAA Climate Observation Program. The WHOTS mooring also serves as a coordinated part of the Hawaiian Ocean Timeseries (HOT) program, contributing to the goals of observing heat, fresh water and chemical fluxes at a site representative of the oligotrophic North Pacific Ocean. The approach is to maintain a surface mooring outfitted for meteorological and oceanographic measurements at a site near 22.75°N, 158°W by successive mooring turnarounds. These observations will be used to investigate air–sea interaction processes related to climate variability. The first WHOTS mooring (WHOTS-1) was deployed in August 2004. Turnaround cruises for successive moorings (WHOTS-2 through WHOTS-5) have typically been in either June or July. This report documents recovery of the WHOTS-5 mooring and deployment of the sixth mooring (WHOTS-6). The moorings utilize Surlyn foam buoys as the surface element and are outfitted with two Air–Sea Interaction Meteorology (ASIMET) systems. Each ASIMET system measures, records, and transmits via Argos satellite the surface meteorological variables necessary to compute air–sea fluxes of heat, moisture and momentum. The upper 155 m of the mooring is outfitted with oceanographic sensors for the measurement of temperature, conductivity and velocity in a cooperative effort with R. Lukas of the University of Hawaii (UH). A pCO2 system is installed on the buoy in a cooperative effort with Chris Sabine at the Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory. Dr. Frank Bradley, CSIRO, Australia, assisted with meteorological sensor comparisons. A NOAA “Teacher at Sea” and a NOAA “Teacher in the Lab” participated in the cruise. The WHOTS mooring turnaround was done on the University of Hawaii research vessel Kilo Moana, Cruise KM-09-16, by the Upper Ocean Processes Group of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in cooperation with UH and NOAA’s Earth System Research Laboratory, Physical Sciences Division (ESRL/PSD). The cruise took place between 9 and 17 July 2009. Operations began with deployment of the WHOTS-6 mooring on 10 July at approximately 22°40.0'N, 157°57.0'W in 4758 m of water. This was followed by meteorological intercomparisons and CTDs at the WHOTS-6 and WHOTS-5 sites. The WHOTS-5 mooring was recovered on 15 July 2009. The Kilo Moana then moved to the HOT central site (22°45.0'N, 158°00.0'W) for CTD casts. This report describes the cruise operations in more detail, as well as some of the in-port operations and pre-cruise buoy preparations.

Description: Funding was provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration under Grant No. NA17RJ1223 for the Cooperative Institute for Climate and Ocean Research (CICOR).