Publication Date:
2022-05-26
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 past cruises that have come between October and
January. A NOAA vessel was not available, so this cruise was conducted on the chartered ship,
Moana Wave, belonging to Stabbert Maritime.
During the 2011 cruise on the Moana Wave to the ORS Stratus site, the primary activities were
the recovery of the subsurface part of the Stratus 10 WHOI surface mooring, deployment of a
new (Stratus 11) WHOI surface mooring, in-situ calibration of the buoy meteorological sensors
by comparison with instrumentation installed on the ship by staff of the NOAA Earth System
Research Laboratory (ESRL), and collection of underway and on station oceanographic data to
continue to characterize the upper ocean in the stratus region. The Stratus 10 mooring had parted,
and the surface buoy and upper part had been recovered earlier. Underway CTD (UCTD)
profiles were collected along the track and during surveys dedicated to investigating eddy
variability in the region. Surface drifters and subsurface floats were also launched along the
track.
The intent was also to visit a buoy for the Pacific tsunami warning system maintained by the
Hydrographic and Oceanographic Service of the Chilean Navy (SHOA). This DART (Deep-
Ocean Assessment and Reporting of Tsunami) buoy had been deployed in December 2010.
Description:
Funding was provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
under Grant No. NA0900AR4320129
Keywords:
Moana Wave (Ship) Cruise Stratus 11
;
Marine meteorology
;
Oceanography
Repository Name:
Woods Hole Open Access Server
Type:
Technical Report
Format:
application/pdf
