RV Oceanus OC452
Cruise summary report
| Cruise Info. | |
| Ship name (ship code) | RV Oceanus (32OC) |
| Cruise identifier | OC452 |
| Cruise period | 2009-06-09 — 2009-06-13 |
| Status | Completed |
| Port of departure | Woods Hole, United States |
| Port of return | Woods Hole, United States |
| Purpose | Research |
| Objectives | RV Oceanus cruise 452 contributed to a joint Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory research programme, funded by the US National Science Foundation, investigating the characteristics and consequences of interannual variations in the Northwest Atlantic's Deep Western Boundary Current (DWBC). The study documented temperature, salinity, tracer, and velocity variations of the DWBC by maintaining a 6-element moored array spanning the continental slope southeast of Woods Hole, and repeatedly occupying a hydrographic section along this line. A companion research programme at the Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory sampled bottom pressure variability at our line and along an additional measurement line to the north. The array south of New England is quantifying changes in DWBC water properties, stratification (potential vorticity), and transport. The high-spatial-resolution sampling possible from the ship is helping to verify that the moored array resolves the structure of the boundary current as well as returning water samples for at-sea and shoreside tracer analyses. |
| Chief scientist | John M Toole (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Department of Physical Oceanography) |
| Project | RAPID-WAVE |
| Coordinating body | WHOI; POL |
| Cruise report |  (0.06 MB) |
| Ocean/sea areas | |
| General | North West Atlantic Ocean (limit 40W) |
| Specific | North-west Atlantic, south of New England. |
| Track charts | (0.05 MB) |
| Data held at BODC | |
| Discrete samples | |
| 2 Instrument mooring |
