We had a very successful mooring recovery cruise and all instruments were recovered. The weather was calm and recoveries went smoothly thanks to the helpful crew of the Oceanus and the many cruise participants. The whole operation took place during three legs. In addition to the recoveries were able to occupy the CMO across shelf hydrographic transect twice separated by 9 days. During this time we observed the formation of a warm surface mixed layer in response to strong solar heating during the long days and clear skies. We thank Derek Manov and Rocky Geyer for the loan of their CTD's during this cruise. At the end of the cruise we redeployed Sandy Williams' Tri-pod and a guard mooring to support Jim Ledwell's dye injection cruise in July.

The moored array group had over 80 scientific instruments deployed for over 10 months, with most recording several variables. Our most notable problem was wind sensor failures due, presumably, to large waves associated with several very strong storms (including Hurricane Edouard). Fortunately, Jim Edson's sonic anemometer worked the entire time and is consequently critical to our interpretation of both the meteorological and oceanographic observations. Fouling by fishing gear was limited to the top two current meters at the alongshore site and the top current meter at the inshore site. Although biofouling was heavy on some of the moorings, our antifouling worked well on the current meters and most of the conductivity sensors.

We are very excited about the good data return and about the fact that the deployment spanned the breakdown of stratification in the fall and its re-establishment in the spring. The breakdown of stratification in the fall primarily occurred during several strong storm events, including Edouard. Our concentration of instruments in the surface and bottom boundary layers appears to have been a wise choice, as both layers show significant variability during these strong forcing events. Indeed, the data set appears well suited to exploring our hypothesis that the evolution of stratification is principally controlled by processes in the surface and bottom boundaries.

Primary objective:

• To recover all moorings and tripods deployed for the Coastal Mixing and Optics Program.

Secondary objectives:

• To obtain hydrographic data across the shelf in the region and
• to redeploy the BASS-Tripod in support of the upcoming purposeful tracer studies.

Leg 1: June 9-12

• alongshore site: recovered subsurface, 2 guards, toroid.
• central site: recovered
  • Dickey (UCSB) mooring
  • Agrawal tripod
  • guard with wind
  • Williams tripod
• completed CMO hydrographic transect stations 1-23

Leg 2: June 12-15

• First 14 CTD stations completed
• inshore site: recovered subsurface, 2 guards, toroid.
• central site: recovered
  • Plueddemann fan beam mooring
  • 2 guard moorings and guard with wind sensors subsurface and
  • central discus
• completed Pickard's Shelf Break Front hydrographic transect with 20 CTD stations

Leg 3: June 15-16

• central site: Deployed Williams tripod and guard mooring
• offshore site: recovered 2 guard moorings, subsurface and toroid
• reoccupied all 23 CMO hydrographic stations

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* This page maintained by J.J.Fredericks

Last Modified: 29 December, 1997