Warm Core Ring Project 19 April - 6 May, 1982

Abstract

The second cruise of the Warm Core Rings program marks the beginning of an intensive season of field study. Again, our interests are primarily concerned with measuring the bio-optical properties of rings and surrounding water masses. Through our observations of the horizontal and vertical distributions of phytoplankton and their pigments concurrent with observations of the submarine light field, we attempt to further our understanding of the relationship between light and photosynthetic organisms in the sea, and our ability to remotely sense them. Several modifications to the main objectives of the program's field efforts, from those of October 1981, are to be noted. Studies of ring 81-D in October 1981 was the first attempt for many investigators to make measurements in the unique environment of a warm core ring. As the likelihood of the ring surviving until the following field season was slim, no attempt was made to revisit the ring. Physical measurements were made from a constantly mobile platform, R/V Endeavor, while the biological platform, R/V Atlantis II, sat on station for days. Biological measurements ~vere spatially divided into three sub-areas: slope water, ring center, and the high velocity region.With our feet wet, the strategy was now to select a ring that would be long lived, such that it could be revisited several times during the field season. lfhile the physical measurements were being made in much the same fashion from R/V Endeavor, biologists were split among R/V Knorr and R/V Oceanus, with a resultant increase in mobility. Finally, measurements of the surrounding water masses grew to include the Gulf Stream and Sargasso Sea.