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APEX (Autononomous Profiling Explorer)
Phenomena-Released Profilers Key to Warm Eddy Studies
Back to APEX
WHOI physical oceanographer Amy Bower and senior engineer Jim Valdes inspect an innovative carousel device designed to automatically release yellow float when warm water eddies pass by in the Labrador Sea. The carousel carries six floats, which travel with the eddies and measure their water properties. (Photo by Tom Kleindinst, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)
In an innovative use of profiler floats, WHOI physical oceanographer Amy Bower moored two six-profiler carousels near the 3000-meter bottom of the Labrador Sea in fall 2007. They were strategically placed in the path of warm eddies that are shed, mostly in winter, from a warm current flowing around Greenland and drift into the cold Labrador Sea. Sensors placed along a line rising toward the surface were designed to trigger release of a profiler upon detection of a passing eddy. The profiler then would travel along with the eddy, reporting its progress and characteristics via satellite. The concept was validated when eddies triggered float releases in December 2007 and February 2008. In the event that no eddies were detected, the profilers were set up for timed releases. The experiment will run through fall 2009.
The carousel concept, called Submerged Autonomous Launch Platform (SALP), was developed in the WHOI Applied Systems Laboratory, headed by Dave Fratantoni. In its full implementation, SALP communicates acoustically with nearby moored sensors to enable environmentally adaptive sampling. A prototype SALP was deployed for two years near Bermuda and successfully launched numerous drogued, satellite-tracked surface drifters into mid-ocean mesoscale eddies.
For more information on the Labrador Sea experiment, visit Oceanus magazine
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