USNS Bartlett cruise 40-B data report

Abstract

A joint cruise with Dr. Michael Gregg of the Applied Physics Laboratory at the University of Washington was conducted from 8-24 January, 1983, aboard the USNS Bartlett to study the effects of wintertime cooling in a warm core ring. At the beginning of the cruise an XBT survey of ring 821 (found at 40°40'N, 66°W, east of the New England Seamounts) showed a rather confused pattern of surface temperature and salinity with the average depth of the mixed layer about 30m. On January 16-17, a storm passed near the ring with winds to 45 knots and temperatures below 0°C. An XBT survey at the end of the cruise showed that vertical mixing and cooling during the outbreak of cold air resulted in a more coherent pattern in the surface temperature and salinity of the ring and an increase in the thickness of the mixed layer to 180 m.