SGER: Measurments of Mesoscale Surface Currents in Support of Space-Time Translocation Patterns of Reef Fish

*Graber 9721630在这项研究中，我们建议用高频遥感技术测量表层海流，以加强巴巴多斯西海岸考恩、路易莎和舒尔茨(美国国家科学基金会OCE：-9521104)正在进行的生物和物理采样阶段。这些测量将提供区域环流的空间和时间变异性的演变图，以及局部流动与巴西北部洋流反向反射时产生的涡旋的相互作用。该雷达将以高频模式运行，空间分辨率为1公里，并与船上的生物/物理采样计划相吻合。雷达海流将提供有关该区域主要气流成分的重要信息，如潮汐、风驱动、平均环流和剩余环流。高频雷达测量将被用来描述与巴西北部洋流反向反射产生的涡流有关的水文特征的时空尺度。将遥感海流添加到船上采样中，将提供对水面流量的直接测量。这些信息对于解释占据水柱上层的晚期幼虫的分布至关重要。将海流分解成几个分量将被用来研究气流是如何受到风等强迫因素的影响的。这在岛上的背风处特别有价值，那里的风应力在空间和时间上都会发生变化。将表层和次表层水流测量与生物采样相结合，将使我们能够审查珊瑚鱼幼体分布与岛屿水流模式之间的联系。具体地说，我们的研究可以评估近海中尺度事件对当地NOW制度和幼虫滞留命运的影响。这些知识对于了解珊瑚礁鱼类幼体在岛屿尾流环境中的移位模式至关重要。***

*** Graber 9721630 In this study we propose to augment the on-going biological and physical sampling phase of Cowen, Lwiza and Schultz (NSF OCE:-9521104) on the west coast of the oceanic island Barbados with surface current measurements using HF remote sensing technology. The measurements would provide maps of the evolution of the spatial and temporal variability in the regional circulation and the interactions of local flow with eddies generated at the retroflection of the North Brazil Current. The radar would operate in HF mode which would provide a spatial resolution of 1 km and would coincide with the shipboard biological/physical sampling scheme. The radar currents would provide crucial information on the dominant flow components such as tides, wind-driven, mean and residual circulation in this region. The HF radar measurements would be used to characterize the time space scales of the hydrographic signatures associated with eddies generated by the retroflection of the North Brazil Current. The addition of the remotely sensed currents to the shipboard sampling will provide direct measurements of the surface flow. Such information is crucial to interpreting the distribution of late-stage larvae that occupy this upper layer of the water column. Decomposing the current into components would be used to examine how the flow is influenced by such forcing agents as the wind. This is particularly valuable in the lee of the island where the wind stress will vary both spatially and temporally. Combining the surface and subsurface current measurements with the biological sampling would allow us to examine the linkages between reef fish larval distributions and island flow patterns. Specifically our study could assess the impact of offshore mesoscale events disturbing the local now regime and the fate of larval retention. Such knowledge is essential to understand the translocation patterns of coral reef fish larvae in an island wake environment. ***