Abstract:

On April 20th, 2017 (15:10 to 17:02 UTC) the RV Walton Smith performed two transects and a CTD cast near the Taylor oil plume and across the Mississippi River front. The directions and locations of the study area were carefully chosen as to avoid any accidental clogging of the different water sampling systems from the oil slick. The first transect was directed offshore to onshore on a North-West direction and the second one backtracking along the opposite direction (South-East). The vertical CTD cast to 110 meters depth was completed first. Surface temperature and salinity were measured continuously (1Hz) during the entire duration of both transects via a hull mounted flow-through system 1.5 m below the ship’s waterline using a thermosalinograph SBE 21 seacat (Seabird Electronics). Additionally, an Acrobat undulating towed vehicle (Sea-science) fitted with a SBE 49 Fast Cat CTD (Seabird Electronics) was deployed behind the ship throughout both transects. The acrobat was set to undulate from the surface to a maximum depth of approximately 48 meters at a targeted mean speed over ground (SOG) of 3 knots.

Suggested Citation:

Yannis Androulidakis, Vassiliki Kourafalou, Tamay Özgökmen, Oscar Garcia, Bjoern Lund, Matthieu Le Hénaff, Chuanmin Hu, Brian Haus, Cedric Guigand, HeeSook Kang, Lars Hole, Guillaume Novelli. 2018. Taylor platform oil plume tracking experiment: CTD cast and undulating towed CTD data, April 20, 2017. Distributed by: Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative Information and Data Cooperative (GRIIDC), Harte Research Institute, Texas A&M University–Corpus Christi. doi:10.7266/N74J0CKB

Publications:

Androulidakis, Y., Kourafalou, V., Özgökmen, T., Garcia-Pineda, O., Lund, B., Le Hénaff, M., … Horstmann, J. (2018). Influence of River-Induced Fronts on Hydrocarbon Transport: A Multiplatform Observational Study. Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans. doi:10.1029/2017jc013514

Purpose:

CTD and thermosalinograph (TSG) data were collected to characterize water masses around and across the frontal area created by the Mississippi River plume.

Data Parameters and Units:

Temperature (deg C), Depth (meters), Latitude (degree minutes), Longitude (degree minutes), Time/date (Julian), Conductivity (S/m), Density (kg/m^3), Salinity (psu)

Individual Files: