PROGRESS
PMEL effort during the past year has been involved in mooring design, equipment acquisition, fabrication, testing, software development, organization of and participation in the deployment cruise, and interaction with the partners. A robust surface buoy and mooring have been designed for the high latitude deployments with an emphasis on stability and reliability to withstand the forces of typical winter storms. Instrumentation to measure surface meteorology, subsurface temperature, salinity, and velpcity has been integrated into a high-capacity controller mounted in an instrument well on the buoy. Real-time data telemetry will utilize the GOES Data Collection System (DCS) with data retrieval via a 5-m antenna and a Direct Readout Ground Station (DRGS) that was recently acquired at PMEL. A nearby ATOC mooring communicates with the PAPA surface buoy via an acoustic modem, and a compressed file of acoustic travel time information will be transmitted via GOES. In addition, PMEL deployed an upward looking 153.6kHz acoustic Doppler current profiler (ADCP) at Station P.
PLANS
Discussions with IOS/BC have been underway about coordinating field work and data analyses from the vicinity of PAPA in view of 3-4 cruises per year along Line P by the Canadian R/V Tully. We also are planning collaboration with investigators from a multi-institutional team representing UC Santa Barbara, PMEL, AOML, and Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute interested in nutrient, chemical, and bio-optical measurements on PAPA and possibly MOMMA. This activity will include engineering development, field work, and joint analyses of mooring data.
Funding for this NOPP study will expire near the end of 1999. Continuation of the PMEL mooring work in 2000 and beyond will require additional funding, the source of which has not yet been identified.
