The Panulirus Hydrographic Stations: Years 59-64

学术价值：‘S’水电站位于百慕大东南约25公里处的马尾藻海，是维护时间最长的海洋水文时间序列的所在地。由海洋学家Henry Stommel和他的同事于1954年发起，这一无价的两周一次的时间序列已经存在了近58年。从历史上看，S水电站通过其核心水文测量和其他辅助工作，促进了多样化的测量计划。这些研究的主要主题是与气候问题有关的长期变化，使用了史无前例的近60年的物理水文学。这些数据清楚地表明，整个满水柱的年际和年代际变化很大，尽管上层海洋和深水的温盐特性存在重大的长期趋势。在与副热带模式水一致的水域(约300m水深)，温度和盐度的长期趋势分别为每年+0.009℃和0.002个盐度单位，而与拉布拉多海水一致的更深水域，观测趋势为每年-0.005℃和-0.001个盐度单位。有趣的是，在过去五年中，观测到的这些水团的趋势与长期趋势相反。通过建立与气候状态(北大西洋涛动)和大尺度物质输送(大西洋子午线翻转环流)的联系，水电站的“S”数据一直是帮助了解副热带气旋各种水团的变异性的重要资源。作为与其他研究人员合作的结果，“S”水电站项目继续提供广泛的研究清单，并对核心水文地质学进行补充，这些附属项目产生了最长的二氧化碳(现已有29年)、氚、氦和痕量有机物的时间序列。也许这个时间序列的一个更重要的方面是它为该地区的其他海洋学项目提供了支持框架和数十年的综合背景。这些数据被认为是对整个社区的一种服务，是公开分发的，因此是了解海洋过程的宝贵资源。本次授标的所有数据均已处理完毕，截至2010年12月的数据可供全面查阅，而截至2011年7月的数据可作为初步数据查阅。此次更新将保持几乎每两周一次的采样计划，包括深度CTD铸件和盐度和溶解氧的离散样本。广泛影响：通过为学生提供马尾藻海一日游，S水电站在基本输入输出系统的教育中发挥了重要作用，因此这些邮轮现在经常接待大量的学生群体(如普林斯顿大学毕业生)。事实证明，S水电站也是常驻本科生、研究生和当地高中生获取经验和开展独立研究项目的关键平台。由于持续时间较短，“S”号水电站邮轮继续对当地和国际媒体记者有用。在过去的一年里，来自《时代》杂志、国家地理和美国全国广播公司新闻频道的媒体团队参加了S水电站的邮轮旅行，发表了一些文章和纪录片，突出了这一时间系列及其在帮助了解海洋变异性和气候变化方面的作用。在过去几年中，这些邮轮上的教育和宣传活动大幅增加，这主要是因为R/V大西洋探险者号到达了基本输入输出系统。

Intellectual Merit:Hydrostation 'S' located some 25 km south east of Bermuda in the Sargasso Sea represents the site of the longest maintained oceanographic hydrography timeseries. Initiated by oceanographer Henry Stommel and co-workers in 1954, this invaluable biweekly timeseries has been in existence for nearly 58 years. Historically, the Hydrostation 'S' program through its core hydrography measurements and other ancillary work has facilitated a diversified measurement program. The dominant theme of these studies has been long term change relating to climate issues using the unprecedented near six decades of physical hydrography. These data clearly show substantial inter-annual and decadal variability throughout the full water column although significant long term trends exist in the thermohaline properties of both the upper ocean and deep waters. For waters consistent with subtropical mode water at this site (~300 m depth), the long term trend in temperature and salinity is + 0.009 C per year and 0.002 salinity units per year, respectively, while for deeper waters consistent with Labrador Sea Water , the observed trends are -0.005 C per year and -0.001 salinity units per year . Interestingly, for the past five years, the observed trends for these water masses are opposite to the long term trends. Hydrostation 'S' data have been an important resource in helping understand variability in the various water masses of the subtropical gyre by establishing links to climate state (North Atlantic Oscillation) and large scale mass transport (Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation). As a result of collaboration with other investigators, the Hydrostation 'S' program continues to deliver a broad research list and complementary to the core hydrography,these ancillary projects have yielded the longest time-series of carbon dioxide (now 29 years old), tritium and helium and trace organics.Perhaps one of the more important aspects of this timeseries is the support framework and multi-decadal synthesis context it provides for other oceanographic programs in this region. These data are considered as a service to the community as a whole being openly distributed and subsequently an invaluable resource for understanding ocean processes. All data for this current award have been processed and data through December 2010 are available for full access while data through July 2011 can be accessed as preliminary data. This renewal will maintain the same sampling program of near biweekly sampling consisting of deep CTD casts and discrete samples for salinity and dissolvedoxygen.Broader Impacts:Hydrostation 'S' cruises have played a large role in education at BIOS by providing students one day trips to the Sargasso Sea such that these cruises now routinely host large student groups (e.g., Princeton University graduates). Hydrostation 'S' cruises have also proved to be a key platform for resident undergraduate, graduate and local high school students, for gaining experience and conducting independent research projects. Due to their short duration, Hydrostation 'S' cruises continue to prove useful for both local and international media reporters. During this past year media teams from Time Magazine, National Geographic and NBC News have participated on Hydrostation 'S' cruises resulting in articles and documentaries highlighting this time-series and its role in helping understand ocean variability and climate change. In the past few years, there has been a large increase in educational and outreach activities on these cruises primarily due to the arrival of the R/V Atlantic Explorer at BIOS.