RV Ronald H. Brown Cruise RB0901, 15 Apr-06 May 2009. RAPID Mooring Cruise Report

Abstract

This report describes the mooring operations conducted during RV Ronald H. Brown cruiseRB0901 between 15 April and 5 May 2009.These mooring operations were completed as part of the United Kingdom Natural EnvironmentResearch Council (NERC) funded RAPID-WATCH Programme to monitor the AtlanticMeridional Overturning Circulation at 26.5°N. The primary purpose on this cruise for the UKteam was to service the RAPID Western Boundary moorings while the US team worked on theWestern Boundary Time Series project.Cruise RB0901 was from Charleston, South Carolina to Charleston, South Carolina andcovered the Western Boundary moorings deployed on cruises SJ08 and RB0701. This cruisewas the seventh annual refurbishment of the Western Boundary section of an array of mooringsdeployed across the Atlantic in order to continuously observe the Atlantic MeridionalOverturning Circulation (MOC). This array will be further refined and refurbished duringsubsequent years.The instruments deployed on the array consist of a variety of current meters, bottom pressurerecorders, and CTD loggers, which, combined with time series measurements of the FloridaChannel Current and wind stress estimates, will be used to determine the strength and structureof the MOC at 26.5°N.(http://www.noc.soton.ac.uk/rapid