Thalassa PIRATA-FR33
Cruise summary report
| Cruise Info. | |
| Ship name (ship code) | Thalassa (35HT) |
| Cruise identifier | PIRATA-FR33 |
| Cruise period | 2023-03-04 — 2023-04-09 |
| Status | Completed |
| Port of departure | Mindelo, Cape Verde |
| Port of return | Mindelo, Cape Verde |
| Purpose | Research |
| Objectives | PIRATA (« Prediction and Research Moored Array in the Tropical Atlantic ») is a multinational programme (France, Brazil, USA) of operational oceanography initiated in 1997 within the international CLIVAR (Climate Variability and predictability) program framework, and realized in the framework of an international cooperation between USA, Brazil and France (committed countries through a Memorandum of Understanding). It constitutes the main observations network in the tropical Atlantic (CLIVAR, OOPC, GOOS, GCOS) for climate prediction and research, and contributes to OceanSITES.
PIRATA is a program for the studies of air-sea interaction in the Tropical Atlantic to seasonal, interannual or longer timescale. PIRATA maintained a network of 18 ATLAS buoys that allow the description and understanding of the evolution of the upper ocean thermal structure, ocean-atmosphere exchanges of heat and water, spatial and temporal variations of momentum. Observed parameters are used to estimate the exchanges at the air-sea interface along with the oceanic thermohaline structure down to 500m depth. Oceanic (temperature and salinity between the surface and 500m) and atmospheric at the ocean surface (wind direction, wind velocity, air temperature, relative humidity, rainfall, shortwave radiation) data are daily transmitted in real time through ARGOS, and available through internet. PIRATA needs yearly cruises to replace all the buoys and, in this framework, France (through IRD) is in charge of 6 ATLAS/T-Flex moorings located in the Gulf of Guinea (at 23°W-0°N, 3°W-0°N, 10°W-10°S, 10°W-6°S, 10°W-0°N and 10°W-20°S) and of three equatorial current meter moorings at 23°W-0°N, 10°W-0°N and 3°W-0°N). The present cruise PIRATA-FR33 (33rd cruise of this program) main objective is the yearly servicing of these 6 ATLAS/T-Flex buoys and of the equatorial current meter mooring at 10°W-0°N. |
| Chief scientist | Jerome Llido (Laboratoire d'Etude en Géophysique et Océanographie Spatiales) |
| Project | Prediction and Research Moored Array in the Tropical Atlantic (PIRATA) |
| Cruise report |  (0.25 MB) |
| Ocean/sea areas | |
| General | North East Atlantic Ocean (limit 40W) South East Atlantic Ocean (limit 20W) |
| Specific | St Helena |
| Track charts | (0.24 MB) |
