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SPURS Synthesis. Research Objectives: • Budget calculations Resolve important terms of the freshwater and heat budgets of the upper 1000 m on temporal scales of a few days and spatial scales of the order of 100 to 1000 km around the salinity maximum .
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SPURS Synthesis • Research Objectives: • • Budget calculations • Resolve important terms of the freshwater and heat budgets of the upper 1000 m on temporal scales of a few days and spatial scales of the order of 100 to 1000 km around the salinity maximum. • • Mixed layer formation, restratification, and erosion • Identify and quantify the processes responsible for the formation of a ~100-m thick surface mixed layer in the winter, for its re-stratification in the spring and summer and its relationship to the sub-surface salinity maximum. Assess the importance of lateral gradients in the time evolution of the mixed layer. • • Near-surface measurements • Provide a detailed description and analysis of the near-surface (top 5 m) temperature and salinity fields during a complete annual cycle, paying special attention to the role of this near-surface structure in air-sea interaction and its relevance to interpretation of satellite measurements.
Budget calculations • Specific Tasks: • Estimatehorizontal advection and vertical advection. • Estimate entrainment fluxes during the wintertime mixed layer. • Synthesize turbulence estimates(Gliders, ship-based profilers, MLF, mooring). • Make objective maps of the all the data in the SPURS region • Calculate salt and heatbudgets • Evaluate how representative the SPURS measurements are in the context of seasonal and interannualvariability
Budget calculations: Objective maps Decorrelation scales: 40 km and 5 days Moorings Seagliders Argo floats UCTD Note: Size of data marker is scaled by when it was collected relative to the central time.
Budget calculations: Turbulence timeseries Extended (many months) dissipation measurement from autonomous Seagliders.
Mixed layer dynamics • Specific Tasks: • Investigation of seasonal evolution of themixed layer depth and thermohaline characteristics in response to changing surface forcing, advection, and mixing. • Investigation of intrusions at the base of the mixed layer. • Investigation of inertial motions and internal waves. Left: Evolution of the upper ocean salinity observed by Mixed Layer Lagrangian floats. Right: Advection of Lagrangian floats relative to the center of the mooring array and the “SPURS box” (grey square).
Near-surface variability • Specific Tasks: • Investigation of the dielcycle. • Study the impact of evaporation under low wind conditions on the near surface salinity. • Investigation of transient fresh pools. Temperature in the upper 10 meters over two days of T-Glider profiling, showing afternoon warming, particularly on Sept. 29th. Such days were also characterized by enhanced surficial salinity and enhanced near-surface turbulence .