ATOC or Candide: towards depth-averaged temperature maps of the North Pacific Ocean
Brian Dushaw
Applied Physics Laboratory University of Washington
The ATOC Project has aquired trans-Pacific acoustic data from two acoustic sources: one located on Pioneer Seamount off the coast of California, the other located north of Kauai, Hawaii. Transmissions from these sources are detected by U.S. Navy SOSUS arrays located throughout the North Pacific. The time series of acoustic travel times from the Pioneer Seamount and Kauai transmissions are about 1 1/2 and 1 year long, respectively. Both time series have highly irregular sampling because of marine mammal protocols and temporary cable failures. These acoustic data are used to accurately estimate ocean temperature. At the time of writing this abstract, however, the overlap of the two timeseries is just beginning. The overlapping time series will for the first time allow estimates of temperature maps of the North Pacific basin using long-range acoustics because the acoustic paths from these sources criss-cross the North Pacific. This talk will show the initial maps of depth-averaged temperature of the North Pacific Ocean derived using the time series to be collected through Fall 1998.
