Collaborative Research: Field Testing RAFOS-Enabled SOLO Floats (SGER)

0243315欧文斯该提案将建造三个新的RAFOS启用等密度跟随海洋学拉格朗日观测器（SOLO）浮标，并在部署在北大西洋的声源阵列中对其进行测试。该实验是一个重要的技术演示项目，它汇集了为其他一些现场项目开发的软件和硬件，以生产具有重要新功能的新型浮子。这些浮标将基于SOLO浮标设计，因此，无论它们在世界上的哪个地方，至少每10天都可以跟踪一次，并在它们上升到海洋表面时提供温度和盐度剖面。它们将配备RAFOS接收器，以便当它们在声源的声学范围内时，可以每天跟踪它们，以提供100天左右的更高频率速度轨迹。它们也将被编程为遵循等密度线，这样我们就可以观察到与海洋中的主要混合有关的沿着等密度线表面的浮子位移。最后，浮标的设计将利用新的双向通信能力，以便在部署后实验要求发生变化或任何传感器出现故障时可以重新编程。这种设计的浮标将特别适合最终部署在南大洋。南极绕极流（ACC）的高速和恶劣海况使其成为难以部署和维护流速计的区域，这意味着浮子是估计涡流通量的首选方法。由于其强大的流动，ACC很可能在浮子电池耗尽之前很久就将浮子从声穿透的盆地中平流出来，这意味着纯RAFOS浮子可能无法为其任务的重要部分提供有用的数据。在南大洋，等密度线跟踪能力很重要，因为据认为主要的混合是沿ACC强烈倾斜的等密度线表面沿着发生的。这一发展可能有助于物理海洋学和气候方面的广泛研究。

0243315 OwensThis proposal will build three new RAFOS-enabled isopycnal-following Sounding Oceanographic Lagrangian Observer (SOLO) floats and test them within a sound sourcearray that is being deployed in the North Atlantic. The experiment is an important technology demonstration project that brings together software and hardware that have been developed for a number of other field programs to produce a novel float with important new capabilities. The floats will be based on the SOLO float design so that, at the least, they can be tracked every 10 days no matter where they go in the world and provide temperature and salinity profiles when they rise to the ocean surface. They will be equipped with RAFOS receivers so that when they are within acoustic range of sound sources, they can be tracked daily to provide higher frequency velocity trajectories that are of order 100 days in length. They will also be programmed to follow isopycnals, so that we can observe float displacements along isopycnal surfaces that are associated with the primary mixing in the ocean. Finally, the floats will be designed to take advantage of new two-way communication capabilities, so that they can be reprogrammed if experimental requirements change after deployment or if any of their sensors fail. Floats of this design will be particularly well-suited for eventual deployment in the Southern Ocean. The high velocities and rough sea state of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) make it a difficult region to deploy and maintain current meters, meaning that floats are the preferred method for estimating eddy fluxes. Because of its strong flow, the ACC is likely to advect floats out of an ensonified basin long before the depletion of the float batteries, meaning that pure RAFOS floats may not provide useful data for significant portions of their missions. Isopycnal-following capabilities are important in the Southern Ocean, because the predominant mixing is thought to occur along the strongly tilted isopycnal surfaces of the ACC. This proposal will support development of technology that merges current RAFOS float capabilities with existing ARGO float technology. This development is likely to be useful in a wide range of research in physical oceanography and climate..