Sponsor

Principal funding is provided by Office Of Naval Research.

Upper Ocean Mooring Data Repository - ASREX 93: The Acoustic Surface Reverberation Experiment

Overview:

The 1993 Acoustic Surface Reverberation Experiment (ASREX 93), funded by the Office Of Naval Research, took place in the western North Atlantic, roughly half way between Bermuda and Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. The nominal water depth was 5370 m. This field study was intended to improve understanding of near-surface acoustic reverberation in high sea states. The Upper Ocean Processes Group deployed two oceanographic moorings as part of a five mooring array. One of the UOP moorings was dedicated to the measurement of surface waves, the other measured meteorological and oceanographic variables.

Location:

Centered at approximately 34°N, 70°W in the western North Atlantic.
A map is available.

Duration:

5 months, December 1993 to March 1994

Mooring Specifications:

A discus buoy with meteorological and oceanographic instrumentation and a wave-rider buoy were deployed in near proximity to each other (separation approximately 40 km) as part of a five mooring array. A schematic map was created by RSMAS. Only results from the discus buoy mooring are documented here. Mooring details are available in a table.

Instrumentation:

The discus mooring was outfitted with two independent meteorological sensor systems. The primary system contained sensors sufficient for estimating the bulk fluxes of momentum and heat. A single meteorological record was created for the site using the primary system, supplemented by data from the secondary system when necessary. The variables observed are listed in the table of meteorological instrumentation.

Ocean temperature and velocity were measured from 1 m to 500 m depth with sensors attached to the mooring line. Both temperature and velocity were measured from 5 to 20 m with 5 m resolution and at 50, 150, 300 and 500 m. Temperature was also measured at 1 m depth, and between 20 and 500 m depth with vertical resolution that varied from 25 to 50 m. The variables observed are listed in the table of oceanographic instrumentation.

Data:

More detailed information and access to data files is organized by data type:

Meteorology
Water Velocity
Temperature

References:

• Galbraith, N.R., A. Gnanadesikan, W.M. Ostrom, E.A. Terray, B.S. Way, N.J. Williams, S.H. Hill, and E. Terrill, 1996: Meteorological and Oceanographic Data During the ASREX III Field Experiment: Cruise and Data Report, Woods Hole Oceanographic Inst. Tech. Rep 96-10, Woods Hole, MA, 247 pp. abstract pdf

See also RSMAS web site at the University of Miami.