Long Term Upper Ocean Study (Lotus) at 34°N, 70°W : meteorological sensors, data, and heat fluxes for May-October 1982 (Lotus-3 and Lotus-4)

Abstract

Meteorological data have been gathered from a moored surface buoy at 34°N, 70°W in the Long Term Upper Ocean Study (LOTUS) experiment. The meteorological results from the first year of LOTUS are encouraging; the data returned from redundant sensors agree closely. Surface heat fluxes calculated from the observations show the annual cycle of heat transfer to the mixed layer. This report documents the meteorological sensors on the LOTUs-3 (May 1982-october 1982) and LOTUS-4 (November 1982-March 1983) surface buoys. It describes in detail the telemetry of the meteorological data via the ARGOS satellite system. The measurements returned from LOTUS-3 are presented and evaluated. Monthly heat fluxes at the sea surface are computed using the bulk formulas and compared with the long-term means. The errors in the heat fluxes have been estimated.