Research Vessel Cape Hatteras
The R/V CAPE HATTERAS is owned by the National Science Foundation and operated under a renewable Charter Party Agreement by the Duke/UNC Oceanographic Consortium. Her homeport is at Duke University Marine Laboratory in Beaufort, North Carolina.
11 March 2013
01 February 2013 | Beaufort, NC
14 January 2013
14 January 2013
19 July 2012 | Straits of Florida
19 July 2012
04 July 2012
15 November 2011 | East Flower Garden Banks, Gulf of Mexico
06 November 2011 | East Flower Garden Back, Gulf of Mexico
05 November 2011 | Gulf of Mexico
27 August 2011 | North Charleston, SC
26 August 2011 | North Charleston, SC
25 August 2011 | off SC coast
23 August 2011 | off the coast of NC
23 August 2011 | Off the coast of NC
06 August 2011 | Gulf of Mexico
05 August 2011 | GUlf of Mexico
30 June 2011 | Gulf of Mexico
30 June 2011 | Charleston, SC
25 May 2011 | Mission Annelid: Success
CH 0910
05 August 2010 | 200 miles SSE of Beaufort NC
Steve / 84 F wind 10 kn SW
Lateral Mixing Test Cruise
Summary (From Jim Ledwell)
This cruise is the first of a series of three field operations in a study of lateral stirring in the upper ocean sponsored by the Office of Naval Research. The goal of this test cruise is to shake down some of the newer operations in the project, such as sampling dye patches with a Moving Vessel Profiler, a towed Acrobat, and a Webb Research Corporation Glider. We are also dusting off some of the more familiar operations of preparing and releasing dye and following dye patches with the aid of both the ship's ADCP and of drogued drifters. We are also practicing the use of satellite images and a real-time ocean model to choose sites for dye releases and exchange of data between ship and shore. All of these functions are being tested by performing two dye releases in the stratified water in the upper 50 m of the water column and following the dye patches for 1 day for the first release and 3 or 4 days for the second release. Operations in 2011 and 2012 will involve two or three ships, plus an aircraft for the 2011 experiments, so two-way communications between ship and shore will be critical and we are testing as much of this process as we can with one ship and a few drifters and a glider in the water.
The scientific interest of this test cruise and of the overall study is to try to understand how the ocean is stirred horizontally on spatial scales of 100 m to 10 km. This range of scales is below the range resolvable with numerical models of large-scale ocean circulation. It is also a range of scales for which the dynamics are relatively complicated. There are many kinds of processes that can play a role, depending on the circumstances, and oceanographers do not have these well sorted out, and may be missing some. We will study these processes and test hypotheses about their relative importance by observing the evolution of dye patches, while measuring the motions and density field of the water within which the dye is released as thoroughly as we can.
Pictured is Jim Ledwell watching the dye being injected with AB Steve Dixon standing by.
Summary (From Jim Ledwell)
This cruise is the first of a series of three field operations in a study of lateral stirring in the upper ocean sponsored by the Office of Naval Research. The goal of this test cruise is to shake down some of the newer operations in the project, such as sampling dye patches with a Moving Vessel Profiler, a towed Acrobat, and a Webb Research Corporation Glider. We are also dusting off some of the more familiar operations of preparing and releasing dye and following dye patches with the aid of both the ship's ADCP and of drogued drifters. We are also practicing the use of satellite images and a real-time ocean model to choose sites for dye releases and exchange of data between ship and shore. All of these functions are being tested by performing two dye releases in the stratified water in the upper 50 m of the water column and following the dye patches for 1 day for the first release and 3 or 4 days for the second release. Operations in 2011 and 2012 will involve two or three ships, plus an aircraft for the 2011 experiments, so two-way communications between ship and shore will be critical and we are testing as much of this process as we can with one ship and a few drifters and a glider in the water.
The scientific interest of this test cruise and of the overall study is to try to understand how the ocean is stirred horizontally on spatial scales of 100 m to 10 km. This range of scales is below the range resolvable with numerical models of large-scale ocean circulation. It is also a range of scales for which the dynamics are relatively complicated. There are many kinds of processes that can play a role, depending on the circumstances, and oceanographers do not have these well sorted out, and may be missing some. We will study these processes and test hypotheses about their relative importance by observing the evolution of dye patches, while measuring the motions and density field of the water within which the dye is released as thoroughly as we can.
Pictured is Jim Ledwell watching the dye being injected with AB Steve Dixon standing by.
Comments
| Vessel Name: | R/V Cape Hatteras |
| Hailing Port: | Beaufort, NC |
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| Home Page: | www.rvcapehatteras.org |
R/V Cape Hatteras's Photos - Main
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pictures taken during our cruise sampling in and around the oil spill
23 Photos
Created 13 June 2010
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Port: Beaufort, NC
