The Deep Water Dispersion Experiment: RAFOS float data report June 2016 - January 2019

Abstract

This is the final data report for all acoustically-tracked subsurface RAFOS floats deployed for the “Deep Water Dispersion Experiment: RAFOS Float Study in Support of Analysis of Possible Consequences of Large Scale Oil-Spills under Various Scenarios” (DWDE). This study is part of the larger program “Deep and Shallow Particle Dispersion and Biological Connectivity over the Continental Slope in the Western Gulf of Mexico”, of the Gulf of Mexico Research Consortium (CIGoM). The objective of the DWDE project was to measure and evaluate the ocean circulation at various depths in order to estimate the rates and pathways by which a passive tracer (e.g. pollutant, nutrients, etc.) would spread. The experiment consisted of the deployment 93 RAFOS floats and five sound source moorings (needed for tracking the floats underwater) over the course of five cruises, between June 2016 and January 2019, in the Perdido region of the Gulf of Mexico. The floats were deployed nearly simultaneously at stacked depths of 300 and 1500 dbar, in sets of 2-4 instruments per station, for calculating dispersion statistics. Mission lengths for the floats were set to ~12 to 18 months. Included in this report are cruise summaries, statistics and notes on sound source and float performance, sound source drift calculations, description of the RAFOS float data processing steps, and figures.