TOGA COARE mooring deployment, mooring check-out and mooring recovery cruises : R/V Wecoma 7 October-1 November 1992, R/V Le Noriot 2 December-15 December 1992, R/V Wecoma 27 February-11 March 1993

Abstract

The Tropical Ocean - Global Atmosphere Coupled Ocean - Atmosphere Response Experiment (TOGA COARE) was conceived in order to improve understanding of the principal processes responsible for coupling of the ocean and atmosphere in the western Pacific warm pool region. Field work for TOGA COARE was concentrated in an Intensive Flux Array (IFA) and included a variety of atmospheric and oceanic platforms. The Upper Ocean Processes Group (UOPG) was involved in TOGA COARE through the preparation, deployment, and recovery of a heavily instrumented surface mooring for the observation of air-sea fluxes and oceanic temperature, salinity, and currents in the upper 300 m. The mooring was deployed at 1°,45.27'S, 155°,59.73'E on 21 October 1992 in 1744 m of water. An instrument check-out cruise was undertaken in December of 1992 in order to evaluate the meteorological systems on the buoy. The mooring was recovered on 4 March 1993. This report describes mooring deployment operations, the instrument check-out cruise, and the mooring recovery. UOPG personnel also assisted with the deployment and recovery of five other moorings as a part of the COARE IFA and these operations are discussed.