Hodges Benjamin A.

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Hodges

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UCTD and EM/APEX measurements in support of the April 2015 AirSWOT Campaign : cruise and data report

(Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 2015-12) Farrar, J. Thomas ; Hodges, Benjamin A. ; Bigorre, Sebastien P. ; Galbraith, Nancy R. ; Girton, James B. ; Chao, Yi

AirSWOT is an aircraft mounted instrument for measuring and imaging sea surface height (SSH), and it is similar to the SWOT (Surface Water Ocean Topography) instrument that will be deployed on a satellite in 2020. A field campaign was conducted in April 2015 to examine the performance of AirSWOT and to better understand how the measurement is affected by surface waves and currents. Supporting measurements were collected from the R/V Shana Rae, the R/V Fulmar, and a second aircraft (a Partenavia P68 operated by Aspen Helicopter, Oxnard,CA for UCSD/SIO). From 17-20 April 2015, the R/V Shana Rae, a 50-foot research vessel, was used for collection of Underway CTD (or UCTD) measurements and for deployment and recovery of three EM/APEX floats in a study area off the central California coast. The UCTD measurements are being used to estimate the sea surface height signal associated with variations in ocean density structure. The EM/APEX floats provide time series of the same, as well as vertical profiles of ocean velocity. The purpose of this report is to document the shipboard operations on the R/V Shana Rae and the resulting UCTD and EM/APEX data sets.
Slocum gliders provide accurate near real-time estimates of baleen whale presence from human-reviewed passive acoustic detection information

(Frontiers Media, 2020-02-25) Baumgartner, Mark F. ; Bonnell, Julianne M. ; Corkeron, Peter ; Van Parijs, Sofie M. ; Hotchkin, Cara ; Hodges, Benjamin A. ; Bort Thornton, Jacqueline ; Mensi, Bryan L. ; Bruner, Scott M.

Mitigating the effects of human activities on marine mammals often depends on monitoring animal occurrence over long time scales, large spatial scales, and in real time. Passive acoustics, particularly from autonomous vehicles, is a promising approach to meeting this need. We have previously developed the capability to record, detect, classify, and transmit to shore information about the tonal sounds of baleen whales in near real time from long-endurance ocean gliders. We have recently developed a protocol by which a human analyst reviews this information to determine the presence of marine mammals, and the results of this review are automatically posted to a publicly accessible website, sent directly to interested parties via email or text, and made available to stakeholders via a number of public and private digital applications. We evaluated the performance of this system during two 3.75-month Slocum glider deployments in the southwestern Gulf of Maine during the spring seasons of 2015 and 2016. Near real-time detections of humpback, fin, sei, and North Atlantic right whales were compared to detections of these species from simultaneously recorded audio. Data from another 2016 glider deployment in the same area were also used to compare results between three different analysts to determine repeatability of results both among and within analysts. False detection (occurrence) rates on daily time scales were 0% for all species. Daily missed detection rates ranged from 17 to 24%. Agreement between two trained novice analysts and an experienced analyst was greater than 95% for fin, sei, and right whales, while agreement was 83–89% for humpback whales owing to the more subjective process for detecting this species. Our results indicate that the presence of baleen whales can be accurately determined using information about tonal sounds transmitted in near real-time from Slocum gliders. The system is being used operationally to monitor baleen whales in United States, Canadian, and Chilean waters, and has been particularly useful for monitoring the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale throughout the northwestern Atlantic Ocean.
EcoMapper operations---KN209-1

(Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 2012-12) Hodges, Benjamin A. ; Fratantoni, David M.

This report describes the collection of water property data from EcoMapper AUVs during the R/V Knorr 209-1 cruise as part of the SPURS (Salinity Processes Upper-ocean Regional Study) project. Post-processing was required to improve the quality of the raw data, particularly salinity, and is documented herein. Initial results from temperature and salinity records are presented. The measurements are concentrated in the upper 10 meters of the mixed layer during calm conditions, and reveal significant diurnal warming (up to 3°C) and salinification (up to 0.1 psu) of the surface (< 1 meter) layer. The mixing promoted by the motion of the research vessel destroys this shallow stratification, so the ability of the AUVs to sample undisturbed water hundreds of meters from the ship was critical to the effort of accurately resolving it.
UCTD and EcoCTD Observations from the CALYPSO Pilot Experiment (2018): Cruise and Data Report

(Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 2019-01) Dever, Mathieu ; Freilich, Mara ; Hodges, Benjamin A. ; Farrar, J. Thomas ; Lanagan, Thomas ; Mahadevan, Amala

From May 27, 2018 to June 02, 2018, a scientific campaign was conducted in the Alboran Sea as part of an ONR Departmental Research Initiative, CALYPSO. The pilot cruise involved two ships: the R/V Socib, tasked with sampling fixed lines repeatedly, and the NRV Alliance that surveyed along the trajectory of Lagrangian platforms. A large variety of assets were deployed from the NRV Alliance, with the objective to identify coherent Lagrangian pathways from the surface ocean to interior. As part of the field campaign, an Underway-CTD (UCTD) system was used to measure vertical profiles of salinity, temperature and other properties while steaming, to achieve closely spaced measurements in the horizontal along the ship's track. Both a UCTD probe and an biooptically augmented probe, named EcoCTD, were deployed. The EcoCTD collects concurrent physical and bio-optical observations. This report focuses exclusively on the data collected by these two underway systems. It describes th e datasets collected during the pilot cruise, as well as the important processing steps developed for the EcoCTD.
Novel and flexible approach to access the open ocean: Uses of sailing research vessel Lady Amber during SPURS-2.

(Oceanography Society, 2019-06-14) Rainville, Luc ; Centurioni, Luca R. ; Asher, William E. ; Clayson, Carol A. ; Drushka, Kyla ; Edson, James B. ; Hodges, Benjamin A. ; Hormann, Verena ; Farrar, J. Thomas ; Schanze, Julian J. ; Shcherbina, Andrey Y.

SPURS-2 (Salinity Processes in the Upper-ocean Regional Study 2) used the schooner Lady Amber, a small sailing research vessel, to deploy, service, maintain, and recover a variety of oceanographic and meteorological instruments in the eastern Pacific Ocean. Low operational costs allowed us to frequently deploy floats and drifters to collect data necessary for resolving the regional circulation of the eastern tropical Pacific. The small charter gave us the opportunity to deploy drifters in locations chosen according to current conditions, to recover and deploy various autonomous instruments in a targeted and adaptive manner, and to collect additional near-surface and atmospheric measurements in the remote SPURS-2 region.
From salty to fresh—salinity processes in the Upper-ocean Regional Study-2 (SPURS-2) : diagnosing the physics of a rainfall-dominated salinity minimum

(The Oceanography Society, 2015-03) Schmitt, Raymond W. ; Asher, William E. ; Bingham, Frederick ; Carton, James A. ; Centurioni, Luca R. ; Farrar, J. Thomas ; Gordon, Arnold L. ; Hodges, Benjamin A. ; Jessup, Andrew T. ; Kessler, William S. ; Rainville, Luc ; Shcherbina, Andrey Y.

One of the notable features of the global ocean is that the salinity of the North Atlantic is about 1 psu higher than that of the North Pacific. This contrast is thought to be due to one of the large asymmetries in the global water cycle: the transport of water vapor by the trade winds across Central America and the lack of any comparable transport into the Atlantic from the Sahara Desert. Net evaporation serves to maintain high Atlantic salinities, and net precipitation lowers those in the Pacific. Because the effects on upper-ocean physics are markedly different in the evaporating and precipitating regimes, the next phase of research in the Salinity Processes in the Upper-ocean Regional Study (SPURS) must address a high rainfall region. It seemed especially appropriate to focus on the eastern tropical Pacific that is freshened by the water vapor carried from the Atlantic. In a sense, the SPURS-2 Pacific region will be looking at the downstream fate of the freshwater carried out of the SPURS-1 North Atlantic region. Rainfall tends to lower surface density and thus inhibit vertical mixing, leading to quite different physical structure and dynamics in the upper ocean. Here, we discuss the motivations for the location of SPURS-2 and the scientific questions we hope to address.
Horizontal stirring over the Northeast U.S. Continental Shelf: the spatial and temporal evolution of surface eddy kinetic energy

(American Geophysical Union, 2022-05-21) Kirincich, Anthony R. ; Hodges, Benjamin A. ; Flament, Pierre J. ; Futch, Victoria

This study examines the spatial and temporal variability of eddy kinetic energy over the Northeast Shelf using observations of surface currents from a unique array of six high frequency radar systems. Collected during summer and winter conditions over three consecutive years, the horizontal scales present were examined in the context of local wind and hydrographic variability, which were sampled concurrently from moorings and autonomous surface vehicles. While area-averaged mean kinetic energy at the surface was tightly coupled to wind forcing, eddy kinetic energy was not, and was lower in magnitude in winter than summer in all areas. Kinetic energy wavenumber spectral slopes were generally near k−5/3, but varied seasonally, spatially, and between years. In contrast, wavenumber spectra of surface temperature and salinity along repeat transect lines had sharp k−3 spectral slopes with little seasonal or inter-annual variability. Radar-based estimates of spectral kinetic energy fluxes revealed a mean transition scale of energy near 18 km during stratified months, but suggested much longer scales during winter. Overall, eddy kinetic energy was unrelated to local winds, but the up- or down-scale flux of kinetic energy was tied to wind events and, more weakly, to local density gradients.
AUV observations of the diurnal surface layer in the North Atlantic salinity maximum

(American Meteorological Society, 2014-06) Hodges, Benjamin A. ; Fratantoni, David M.

Autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) surveys of temperature, salinity, and velocity in the upper 10 m of the ocean were carried out in low-wind conditions near the North Atlantic surface salinity maximum as part of the Salinity Processes in the Upper Ocean Regional Study (SPURS) project. Starting from a well-mixed state, the development, deepening, and decay of a warm salty diurnal surface layer was observed at <1-h resolution. The evaporation rate deduced from the freshwater anomaly of the layer corroborates measurements at a nearby flux mooring. Profiles within a few hundred meters of the stationary research vessel showed evidence of mixing, highlighting the effectiveness of AUVs for collecting uncontaminated time series of near-surface thermohaline structure. A two-dimensional horizontal subsurface survey within the diurnal warm layer revealed coherent warm and cool bands, which are interpreted as internal waves on the diurnal thermocline.
OC449-09 Data Report : St. Thomas, USVI to Bermuda, December 1-10, 2008

(Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 2009-10) Kirincich, Anthony R. ; Hodges, Benjamin A. ; Fratantoni, David M. ; Bahr, Frank B.

Data collected during multiple surveys of hydrography, velocity, and biological quantities are presented from a 9-day cruise aboard the R/V Oceanus near the island of St. Thomas, USVI and a subsequent transit to Bermuda during December, 2008. This cruise (OC449-09) was undertaken primarily to field test a newly acquired towed-undulating body, the Scanfish. The Scanfish and a second towed body, the Video Plankton Recorder (VPR), were used to survey hydrographic, optical, and biological properties north and south of St. Thomas. Conductivity-Temperature-Depth (CTD) casts and plankton net-tows were made at locations along the survey transects for inter-comparison. The VPR was also used to profile conditions between St. Thomas and Bermuda during transit. An overview of the cruise is given along with descriptions of the data collection methods, processing steps taken, and data products available for distribution.
Salinity and temperature balances at the SPURS central mooring during fall and winter

(The Oceanography Society, 2015-03) Farrar, J. Thomas ; Rainville, Luc ; Plueddemann, Albert J. ; Kessler, William S. ; Lee, Craig M. ; Hodges, Benjamin A. ; Schmitt, Raymond W. ; Edson, James B. ; Riser, Stephen C. ; Eriksen, Charles C. ; Fratantoni, David M.

One part of the Salinity Processes in the Upper-ocean Regional Study (SPURS) field campaign focused on understanding the physical processes affecting the evolution of upper-ocean salinity in the region of climatological maximum sea surface salinity in the subtropical North Atlantic (SPURS-1). An upper-ocean salinity budget provides a useful framework for increasing this understanding. The SPURS-1 program included a central heavily instrumented mooring for making accurate measurements of air-sea surface fluxes, as well as other moorings, Argo floats, and gliders that together formed a dense observational array. Data from this array are used to estimate terms in the upper-ocean salinity and heat budgets during the SPURS-1 campaign, with a focus on the first several months (October 2012 to February 2013) when the surface mixed layer was becoming deeper, fresher, and cooler. Specifically, we examine the salinity and temperature balances for an upper-ocean mixed layer, defined as the layer where the density is within 0.4 kg m–3 of its surface value. The gross features of the evolution of upper-ocean salinity and temperature during this fall/winter season are explained by a combination of evaporation and precipitation at the sea surface, horizontal transport of heat and salt by mixed-layer currents, and vertical entrainment of fresher, cooler fluid into the layer as it deepened. While all of these processes were important in the observed seasonal (fall) freshening at this location in the salinity-maximum region, the variability of salinity on monthly-to-intraseasonal time scales resulted primarily from horizontal advection.
CLIMODE bobber data report : July 2005 - May 2009

(Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 2010-03) Fratantoni, David M. ; McKee, Theresa K. ; Hodges, Benjamin A. ; Furey, Heather H. ; Lund, John M.

This report summarizes direct observations of Eighteen Degree Water (EDW) subduction and dispersal within the subtropical gyre of the North Atlantic Ocean. Forty acoustically-tracked bobbing, profiling floats (“bobbers”) were deployed to study the formation and dispersal of EDW in the western North Atlantic. The unique bobber dataset described herein provides insight into the evolution of EDW by means of direct, eddy-resolving measurement of EDW Lagrangian dispersal pathways and stratification. Bobbers are modified Autonomous Profiling Explorer (APEX) profiling floats which actively servo their buoyancy control mechanism to follow a particular isothermal surface. The CLIVAR Mode Water Dynamics Experiment (CLIMODE) bobbers tracked the 18.5°C temperature surface for 3 days, then bobbed quickly between the 17°C and 19°C isotherms. This cycle was repeated for one month, after which each bobber profiled to 1000 m before ascending to the surface to transmit data. The resulting dataset (37/40 tracked bobbers; more than half still profiling as of January 2010) yields well-resolved trajectories, unprecedented velocity statistics in the core of the subducting and spreading EDW, and detailed information about the Lagrangian evolution of EDW thickness and vertical structure. This report provides an overview of the experimental procedure employed and summarizes the initial processing of the bobber dataset.
Tracking a surrogate hazardous agent (Rhodamine Dye) in a coastal ocean environment using In Situ measurements and concentration estimates derived from drone images

(MDPI, 2021-11-02) Filippi, Margaux ; Hanlon, Regina ; Rypina, Irina I. ; Hodges, Benjamin A. ; Peacock, Thomas ; Schmale, David G.

New tools and technology are needed to track hazardous agents such as oil and red tides in our oceans. Rhodamine dye (a surrogate hazardous agent) was released into the Atlantic ocean in August 2018, and experiments were conducted to track the movement of the dye near the water surface within three hours following the release. A DrOne Water Sampling SystEm (DOWSE), consisting of a 3D-printed sampling device tethered to a drone, was used to collect 26 water samples at different locations around the dye plume. Rhodamine concentrations were measured from the drone water samples using a fluorometer and ranged from 1 to 93 ppb. Dye images were taken during the drone-sampling of surface water containing dye and at about 10 m above the sampling point. These images were post-processed to estimate dye concentrations across the sampling domain. A comparison of calibrated heat maps showed that the altitude images yielded dye distributions that were qualitatively similar to those from images taken near the ocean surface. Moreover, the association between red ratios and dye concentrations yielded trendlines explaining up to 67% of the variation. Drones may be used to detect, track and assist in mitigating hazardous agents in the future.
EcoCTD for profiling oceanic physical-biological properties from an underway ship

(American Meteorological Society, 2020-05-08) Dever, Mathieu ; Freilich, Mara ; Farrar, J. Thomas ; Hodges, Benjamin A. ; Lanagan, Thomas ; Baron, Andrew J. ; Mahadevan, Amala

The study of ocean dynamics and biophysical variability at submesoscales of O(1) km and O(1) h raises several observational challenges. To address these by underway sampling, we recently developed a towed profiler called the EcoCTD, capable of concurrently measuring both hydrographic and bio-optical properties such as oxygen, chlorophyll fluorescence, and optical backscatter. The EcoCTD presents an attractive alternative to currently used towed platforms due to its light footprint, versatility in the field, and ease of deployment and recovery without cranes or heavy-duty winches. We demonstrate its use for gathering high-quality data at submesoscale spatiotemporal resolution. A dataset of bio-optical and hydrographic properties, collected with the EcoCTD during field trials in 2018, highlights its scientific potential for the study of physical–biological interactions at submesoscales.
Autonomous multi-platform observations during the Salinity Processes in the Upper-ocean Regional Study

(Oceanography Society, 2017-06) Lindstrom, Eric ; Shcherbina, Andrey Y. ; Rainville, Luc ; Farrar, J. Thomas ; Centurioni, Luca R. ; Dong, Shenfu ; D'Asaro, Eric A. ; Eriksen, Charles C. ; Fratantoni, David M. ; Hodges, Benjamin A. ; Hormann, Verena ; Kessler, William S. ; Lee, Craig M. ; Riser, Stephen C. ; St. Laurent, Louis C. ; Volkov, Denis L.

The Salinity Processes in the Upper-ocean Regional Study (SPURS) aims to understand the patterns and variability of sea surface salinity. In order to capture the wide range of spatial and temporal scales associated with processes controlling salinity in the upper ocean, research vessels delivered autonomous instruments to remote sites, one in the North Atlantic and one in the Eastern Pacific. Instruments sampled for one complete annual cycle at each of these two sites, which are subject to contrasting atmospheric forcing. The SPURS field programs coordinated sampling from many different platforms, using a mix of Lagrangian and Eulerian approaches. This article discusses the motivations, implementation, and first results of the SPURS-1 and SPURS-2 programs.
A thin layer of phytoplankton observed in the Philippine Sea with a synthetic moored array of autonomous gliders

(American Geophysical Union, 2009-10-23) Hodges, Benjamin A. ; Fratantoni, David M.

A synthetic moored array composed of five buoyancy-propelled autonomous underwater gliders was used to characterize mesoscale variability and phytoplankton distribution in a 100 km × 100 km domain in the Philippine Sea east of Luzon Strait for 10 days in May 2004. The study area, located east of the Kuroshio near the subtropical front, is dominated by strong internal tides, by energetic westward-propagating mesoscale eddies with azimuthal velocities exceeding 50 cm/s, and by a deep (130 m) maximum in chlorophyll fluorescence. Each glider in the array was instructed to maintain geographic position while repeatedly profiling to 200-m depth. Good station-keeping performance enabled the resulting series of vertical profiles to be interpreted in the same manner as a physically moored chain of instruments. Although organized primarily as a demonstration of glider capabilities, this field exercise provides a unique data set for examining biological-physical interactions in the open ocean. Here we report on the evolution of a thin layer of phytoplankton observed near the deep chlorophyll maximum. Coincident observations of fine structure in temperature and salinity suggest that the thinning process of this layer was driven primarily by physical forcing, most probably vertical shear associated with energetic diurnal internal waves, as opposed to a biological mechanism, such as convergent swimming, grazing, or spatial variation in growth rate.
CALYPSO 2019 Cruise Report: field campaign in the Mediterranean

(Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 2020-01) Mahadevan, Amala ; D'Asaro, Eric A. ; Allen, John T. ; Almaraz García, Pablo ; Alou-Font, Eva ; Aravind, Harilal Meenambika ; Balaguer, Pau ; Caballero, Isabel ; Calafat, Noemi ; Carbornero, Andrea ; Casas, Benjamin ; Castilla, Carlos ; Centurioni, Luca R. ; Conley, Margaret ; Cristofano, Gino ; Cutolo, Eugenio ; Dever, Mathieu ; Enrique Navarro, Angélica ; Falcieri, Francesco ; Freilich, Mara ; Goodwin, Evan ; Graham, Raymond ; Guigand, Cedric ; Hodges, Benjamin A. ; Huntley, Helga ; Johnston, T. M. Shaun ; Lankhorst, Matthias ; Lermusiaux, Pierre F. J. ; Lizaran, Irene ; Mirabito, Chris ; Miralles, A. ; Mourre, Baptiste ; Navarro, Gabriel ; Ohmart, Michael ; Ouala, Said ; Ozgokmen, Tamay M. ; Pascual, Ananda ; Pou, Joan Mateu Horrach ; Poulain, Pierre Marie ; Ren, Alice ; Tarry, Daniel R. ; Rudnick, Daniel L. ; Rubio, M. ; Ruiz, Simon ; Rypina, Irina I. ; Tintore, Joaquin ; Send, Uwe ; Shcherbina, Andrey Y. ; Torner, Marc ; Salvador-Vieira, Guilherme ; Wirth, Nikolaus ; Zarokanellos, Nikolaos

This cruise aimed to identify transport pathways from the surface into the interior ocean during the late winter in the Alborán sea between the Strait of Gibraltar (5°40’W) and the prime meridian. Theory and previous observations indicated that these pathways likely originated at strong fronts, such as the one that separates salty Mediterranean water and the fresher water in owing from the Atlantic. Our goal was to map such pathways and quantify their transport. Since the outcropping isopycnals at the front extend to the deepest depths during the late winter, we planned the cruise at the end of the Spring, prior to the onset of thermal stratification of the surface mixed layer.
Horizontal Stirring over the Northeast U.S. Continental Shelf: the Spatial and Temporal Evolution of Surface Eddy Kinetic Energy

(Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 2021-09-30) Kirincich, Anthony R. ; Flament, Pierre J. ; Futch, Victoria ; Hodges, Benjamin A.

This data was collected by Kirincich as part of the Submesoscale Dynamics Over The Shelf Study, with field observations in 2018 and 2019, as well as the HFR_winds project with field work in 2020. The analysis products presented were used to examine the space and time scales of eddy kinetic energy over the wide, shallow, NES continental shelf using a novel implementation of HFR to achieve spatial and temporal resolutions sufficient to capture the horizontal scales of velocity variability. The data consists of estimates of the near-surface horizontal (East and North) ocean currents made via High Frequency (HF) radar-based remote sensing of the Ocean backscatter spectrum as well as in situ moored hydrographic, velocity, and surface winds, and mobile surface hydrographic observations collected via autonomous vehicles. Data were collected within three separate measurement periods: July to December 2018, July to December 2019, and October to December 2020.
Evaluation of ocean currents observed from autonomous surface vehicles

(American Meteorological Society, 2023-10-02) Hodges, Benjamin A. ; Grare, Laurent ; Greenwood, Benjamin ; Matsuyoshi, Kayli ; Pizzo, Nick ; Statom, Nicholas M. ; Farrar, J. Thomas ; Lenain, Luc

The development of autonomous surface vehicles, such as the Boeing Liquid Robotics Wave Glider, has revolutionized our ability to collect surface ocean–lower atmosphere observations, a crucial step toward developing better physical understanding of upper-ocean and air–sea interaction processes. However, due to the wave-following nature of these vehicles, they experience rapid shifting, rolling, and pitching under the action of surface waves, making motion compensation of observations of ocean currents particularly challenging. We present an evaluation of the accuracy of Wave Glider–based ADCP measurements by comparing them with coincident and collocated observations collected from a bottom-mounted ADCP over the course of a week-long experiment. A novel motion compensation method, tailored to wave-following surface vehicles, is presented and compared with standard approaches. We show that the use of an additional position and attitude sensor (GPS/IMU) significantly improves the accuracy of the observed currents.

Hodges Benjamin A.

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