CTD observations in the Great South Channel during the South Channel Ocean Productivity Experiment, SCOPEX, May-June 1989

Abstract

CTD and acoustic Doppler current profiler (ADCP) observations were made in the Great South Channel (GSC) off the New England coast during R/V Endeavor cruise EN196 May 18 to June 12, 1989 as part of the South Channel Ocean Productivity EXperiment (SCOPEX). These observations were obtained using several sampling plans - a series of small-scale surveys in support of biological sampling and a large-scale survey of five cross-channel transects extending from Nantucket Shoals and the coast of Cape Cod to Georges Bank. The maximum sampling depth at each station was within a few meters of the bottom. The primary objectives of the hydrographic measurement program were to a) observe and characterize the temperature, salinity, density, oxygen, fluorescence and light transmission fields and their spatial variability in the Great South Channel off the New England coast, (b) resolve the low salinity surface plume-like structure usually observed east of Cape Cod in late spring, (c) define the front or boundary between the vertically well-mixed water over Nantucket Shoals, the GSC, Georges Bank, and the stratified water in the deeper southwestern Gulf of Maine, and (d) characterize water properties in regions of enhanced biological productivity. This report presents a summary in graphic and tabular form of the hydrographic observations made during cruise EN196 on the R/V Endeavor.