The Oleander Project: High-resolution observations of the dynamic ocean between New Jersey and Bermuda

近三十年来，一艘商业集装箱船CV夹竹桃号（CV Oleander）作为志愿海洋观测船，每周往返于新泽西州伊丽莎白港和百慕大汉密尔顿之间。该船的航线穿过中大西洋湾（MAB）大陆架和斜坡，以及墨西哥湾流和马尾藻海，这是一系列不同的地区，汇集了亚极地和热带水域，并对北大西洋西部的海洋环流、热输送、生物生产力和海洋碳循环产生重大影响。在船上进行的测量包括声学多普勒电流分析器（ADCP）的流速和消耗性深海温度记录仪（xbt）和热盐记录仪的温度。然而，最近一次更换船只，必须改变海洋仪器的装置，并随后减少从船上装载的adcp返回的数据。该项目的重点是解决仪器性能问题，使夹竹桃恢复常规的海洋数据返回。二氧化碳分压（pCO2）的观测也与热盐记录仪一致，并且有一个连续的浮游生物记录仪用于浮游生物取样。该项目将使最新的夹木桃号科学传感器上线，并继续和加强这艘商业船只沿着单一路线定期服务的现场测量。这些测量对于研究北大西洋西部的海洋环流、热输送、生物生产力和海洋碳循环至关重要。湾流系统的年际和年代际变化具有区域和整个盆地的意义。墨西哥湾流的蜿蜒影响了与周围水域的交换过程。此外，气候模式指出大西洋经向翻转环流（AMOC）的快速变化，其温暖分支在墨西哥湾流中携带，并表明AMOC的变异也驱动了在大陆架和海岸上观测到的变化。为了了解潜在的过程并验证或反驳基于模型的假设，需要对墨西哥湾流和周围水域进行数十年的现场记录。夹叶树线覆盖了陆架、斜坡、墨西哥湾流和马尾藻水域，非常适合直接测量与AMOC相关的通量，并与其他纬度的AMOC估算值进行比较，以检查经向一致性。对美国东北部大陆架和斜坡上的长期变化和事件尺度过程的驱动因素的进一步了解，对人口密集、具有重要商业渔业的沿海大陆架生态系统的物候和健康具有重要意义。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

For nearly three decades, a commercial container vessel, CV Oleander, has served as a volunteer oceanographic observing ship during weekly round-trip voyages between Port Elizabeth, NJ and Hamilton, Bermuda. The vessel’s route crosses the Mid Atlantic Bight (MAB) shelf and slope as well as the Gulf Stream and Sargasso Sea – a diverse set of regions that bring together subpolar and tropical waters and critically influence ocean circulation, heat transport, biological productivity and the marine carbon cycle in the western North Atlantic. Measurements made from the ship include current velocity from Acoustic Doppler Current Profilers (ADCP) and temperature from expendable bathythermographs (XBTs) and thermosalinograph. The most recent vessel replacement, however, necessitated changes in the installations of the oceanographic instrumentation and subsequent reduction in data return from the ship-mounted ADCPs. This project is focused on resolving the instrument performance issues and returning the Oleander to routine return of oceanographic data. Observations of partial pressure of carbon-dioxide (pCO2) are also made in-line with the theromosalinograph and there is a continuous plankton recorder for sampling plankton.This project will bring the newest Oleander’s scientific sensors online, and to continue and enhance the in situ measurements made possible by this commercial vessel’s regular service along a single route. These measurements are essential for studies of ocean circulation, heat transport, biological productivity and the marine carbon cycle in the western North Atlantic. Interannual to decadal variability in the Gulf Stream system has both regional and basin-wide implications. Gulf Stream meandering impacts exchange processes with surrounding waters. In addition, climate models point to rapid change in the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), whose warm limb is carried within the Gulf Stream, and suggest that AMOC variability also drives changes observed on the shelf and coast. To understand the underlying processes and to validate or refute the model-based hypotheses, there is a need for in situ multidecade records of the Gulf Stream and surrounding waters. The Oleander Line with its coverage of shelf, slope, Gulf Stream and Sargasso waters is well-suited to directly measure fluxes associated with the AMOC and to compare with AMOC estimates from other latitudes to examine meridional coherence. Increased understanding of the drivers of both the long-term changes and the event-scale processes on the shelf and slope off the Northeast US has implications for the phenology and health of the shelf ecosystems along the highly populated coast with commercially important fisheries.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.