PIRATA-FR08
Type | Oceanographic cruise |
---|---|
Set | This cruise is part of the set PIRATA |
Ship | L'Atalante |
Ship owner | Ifremer |
Dates | 15/11/2000 - 03/12/2000 |
Chief scientist(s) | GRELET Jacques |
IRD CENTRE DE BRETAGNE IFREMER Centre de Bretagne ZI Pointe du diable CS10070 29280 PLOUZANE +33 (0)2 98.22.45.01 |
|
DOI | 10.17600/10090 |
Objective | PIRATA is a multinational project, with participants from Brazil, France and the USA. The French contribution involves installation and maintenance (yearly visit t each site) of an array of 6 ATLAS buoys (the original PIRATA array had 12 buoys in all) in the Eastern part of the tropical basin (Gulf of Guinea). The parameters observed in real-time (ARGOS transmission) by each ATLAS system will enable heat exchanges at the air-sea interface and the thermohaline structure from the surface to a depth of 500 m to be reproduced. Daily assimilation of all data acquired (and logged locally) every 10 minutes, is transmitted by the ARGOS system over the world telecommunications system GTS and Internet. PIRATA mooring sites were chosen with respect to various scientific (key zones for ocean-atmosphere interactions) and logistic (ship time) criteria. Each PIRATA cruise lasts about two weeks (Abidjan-Abidjan). During these cruises, ATLAS systems were deployed and/or recovered (after one year), CTD measurements were taken along transects (0-1,000m), continuous underway current measurements (ADCP) and surface temperature and salinity using shipboard TSG were carried out. By integrating PIRATA data in numerical atmospheric and ocean circulation models, we should be able to understand and simulate seasonal to interannual variability in the tropical Atlantic climatology. The French portion of the PIRATA programme is comprised in the ECLAT project (climate studies in the tropical Atlantic) where subsurface current measurements (YoYo type)are also taken in the equatorial zone near 10°W, i.e., near a PIRATA array site (Java buoy at 10°W-Eq). The recovery of this current meter system (4 moorings in all, all four near 10°W-Eq) will be carried out during the PIRATA-FR8 cruise. |