Fast thermistor string observations at the slope of Great Meteor Seamount

Abstract

International audienceA very fast thermistor string has been built to accommodate the scientific need to accurately monitor fast and vigorous internal wave and overturning processes above sloping bottoms in the ocean. The thermistors and their custom designed electronics can register temperature at an estimated precision of about 1mK with a response time faster than 0.25 s down to depths of 6000 m. The present string holds 128 synoptically measuring sensors at 0.5 m intervals, which are all read-out within 0.5 s. When sampling at 1Hz, the batteries and the memory capacity of the recorder allow for deployments of up to 2 weeks. Detailed examples of the first field observations are presented, which show overturning and very high-frequency (Doppler-shifted) internal waves besides occasionally large turbulent bores moving up the sloping side of Great Meteor Seamount, Canary Basin, North-Atlantic Ocean