Resources in Place
- Western boundary measurements have been collected continuously since March 2009 with an array of pressure-equipped inverted echo sounders (USA-NOAA) along 34.5S that have been supported with ship time and hydrographic (CTD) observations from partners in Argentina (UBA/SHN) and Brazil (USP, Navy).
- In December 2012 this western array was augmented by three additional current-and-pressure-equipped inverted echo sounders (Brazil-USP).
- Brazil (USP) has been funded to further augment the western array by adding a bottom pressure sensor and a moored ADCP on the western shelf and upper slope in December 2013.
- France (LPO) has been funded to deploy current-and-pressure-equipped inverted echo sounders and two bottom-moored ADCPs on the eastern boundary in late 2013. These instruments will build upon the knowledge gained by a smaller earlier pilot array at this same location during 2008-2010.
- South Africa (UCT, DEA) has been funded to deploy an array of short and tall moorings measuring temperature, salinity and velocity on the eastern boundary in late 2013.
- Trans-basin expendable bathythermograph sections are collected quarterly (USA-NOAA) along 34.5S, with trans-basin conductivity-temperature-depth sections collected less frequently in the region of 25S-34.5S as well (USA-NOAA/NSF, United Kingdom, Brazil).
- A group of North and South American countries operating through the Intra-Americas-Institute for Climate Change Research (IAI) have a large shelf-monitoring program planned for the western boundary that complement well the western end of the trans-basin array (USA-MIT, USA-OSU, Argentina-SHN).
Other existing global in situ and satellite data sets will provide crucial information for analysis and attribution of the data from the recommended program:
- Germany (AWI) has an array of pressure-equipped inverted echo sounders along the nearby oblique GoodHope line that extends southward towards Antarctica.
- USA-NOAA/CIMAS has been funded to investigate the meridional variability of the SAMOC using altimetry observations; with a comparison/validation component using Argo, XBT, model-derived estimates.
- Several groups already collect additional hydrographic observations in the region that would be extremely valuable for analysis purposes (Argentina, Brazil, France, Germany, Spain, Russia, South Africa, the United Kingdom, the United States).
- The global observing system, particularly the ARGO float network, the global drifter array, and satellite observations of sea height, sea-surface temperature, sea-surface salinity (SMOS and Aquarius), and surface wind will also be crucial for analysis and attribution of signals observed by the moored system.