From 1975 to 1978, thirty-one satellite-tracked free-drifting surface
buoys were launched in the Gulf Stream system. Most of these buoys were
launched in cyclonic rings, as part of an interdisciplinary Gulf Stream ring
experiment, Other buoys were launched in anticyclonic rings and the Gulf
Stream itself; one buoy was launched in a cyclonic Kuroshio ring. The basic
data set consists of buoy trajectories and sea surface temperature and
velocity measurements along trajectories.
The main results consist of a series of 19 buoy trajectories in rings
from which the movement of rings is inferred and a series of 20 buoy trajectories
in the Gulf Stream. Rings frequently coalesced with the Gulf
Stream, and some reformed as modified rings. The trajectories of buoys in
the Stream reveal that at times surface currents are strongly influenced by
topographic features such as seamounts and ridges. Most buoys in the Stream
continued to move eastward until they reached the vicinity of the Grand
Banks (50°W) where they rapidly fanned out, some moving northward, others
eastward across the mid-Atlantic Ridge, still others southward and westward .
