MARVOR float present results from the SAMBA experiment

MARVOR is a multicycle subsurface RAFOS type float developed by IFREMER, in partnership with TEKELEC. The first 20 serial MARVORs were launched in February 1994 in the Brazil Basin for 30 2-month cycles at 800 dbar depth within the framework of the SAMBA experiment. The SAMBA experiment, a component of WOCE, will use a total of 100 MARVOR floats over a 5-year period with the objective to obtain a description and possibly an understanding of Antarctic Intermediate Water general circulation in the Brazil Basin. For their first 60-day cycle at 800 dbar the 20 MARVOR floats presently at sea have worked well. They show a general westward motion south of 21°S, weaker mean motions but stronger turbulence north of 21°S and evidence of a strong western boundary current along the coast north of Salvador da Bahia