A summary of historical SOFAR float data in the western North Atlantic 1972-81

Abstract

SOFAR float observations from the years 1972 to 1981 have been edited and analyzed to·produce a uniform and error-free data set suitable for archiving. These data were collected from the western North Atlantic during three major experiments directed by H. T. Rossby of the .University of Rhode Island. The data are shown here in plots of the composite and individual trajectories, as time series plots of velocity components, and for the LDE floats, as time series plots of temperature, pressure, vertical velocity, and vertical displacement. These data comprise about 72 years of SOFAR float observations, and are a unique resource for Lagrangian studies of the North Atlantic circulation.