Western Boundary Time Series cruise

Pedro Pena, Erik Valdes, and Robert Roddy, all with AOML's Physical Ocea nography Division, and AOML communications intern Ed Pritchard conducted a hydrographic survey along 27 0N in the Florida Straits on April 9-10.

The cruise aboard the R/V F.G. Walton Smith was conducted in support of the ongoing Western Boundary Time Series program to quantify volume transport and water mass changes occurring in the Florida Current. During the cruise, researchers deployed a CTD (conductivity- temperature- depth) instrument to obtain full water column measurements of salinity, temperature, and oxygen. This survey and others like it are used to calibrate daily estimates of the Florida Current volume transport derived from a submarine telephone cable deployed across the Straits. A CTD instrument used for water column profiling sits ready on the deck of the RV F.G. Walton Smith as the ship leaves the Port of Miami for the Straits of Florida