U.S./Chinese Ship of Opportunity Sampling Program

Columbia University, New York NY

Investigators

Abstract

This work is the continuation of a joint project with the Polar Research Institute of China to make measurements of the structure of the upper ocean in the northern Weddell Sea along the route taken by the PRI's antarctic supply vessel, R/V Xue Long. The observations, obtained from expendable instruments, complement existing hydrographic observations along various transects through the northwestern Weddell Sea region and data from moored current meter arrays in the Weddell-Scotia confluence zone. This effort builds upon a successful series of expendable bathythermographs and conductivity-temperature-depth probes obtained by the science party on board the R/V Xue Long in the 1998 pilot phase of this project. The west-to-east transit of the Weddell Sea by the ship makes it possible to obtain a series of ocean soundings that are otherwise unobtainable. The information is particularly important because it has been shown that the Indian Ocean sector is an anomalous region with respect to connections between antarctic and lower latitude climatic features and indices. In the pilot program the necessary data acquisition system, both software and hardware, were installed in the ship and an excellent working relationship with Chinese antarctic scientists was developed.