The Polar Floats Program

Author

Manley, Thomas O. ; Gascard, Jean-Claude ; Owens, W. Brechner

Author_Institution

Lamont-Doherty Geol. Lab., Columbia Univ., Palisades, NY, USA

Volume

14

Issue

2

fYear

1989

fDate

4/1/1989 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

186

Lastpage

194

Abstract

The Polar Floats Program, an adaptation of midlatitude SOFAR float technology to the polar regions, is used to monitor subsurface circulation patterns over large spatial and temporal scales as well as to track mesoscale features in near realtime. The program is comprised of three major components that are now under development: an 80-Hz float transducer, American and French sea-ice-deployable listening stations using ARGOS data telemetry (ARS and SOFARGOS, respectively), and the software needed for real-time tracking. The adaptation of SOFAR technology to the planar regime demands modifications of the existing design from both environmental and acoustical standpoints. The authors describe the development and use of SOFAR technology within a relatively small sector of the north polar region that encompasses several thousand kilometers around Fram Strait (located between Greenland and Spitsbergen).<>

Keywords

geophysical fluid dynamics; oceanographic equipment; oceanographic regions; oceanographic techniques; remote sensing; seawater; sonar; underwater sound; 0 to 4000 m; 1 km to 6 Mm; 260 to 1560 Hz; 60 to 160 dB; 80 Hz; 80-Hz float transducer; ARGOS data telemetry; ARS; Arctic Ocean Eurasian basin; Arctic Ocean large-scale circulation; Fram Strait; Greenland; Polar Floats Program; SOFAR float technology; SOFARGOS; Spitsbergen; Svalbard; deep acoustic waveguide; deep ocean dynamics; deep sound channel; mesoscale features real-time tracking; north polar region; polar oceanic regions; polar regions; sea-ice-deployable listening stations; subsurface circulation patterns; underwater sound propagation; water masses tracking; Acoustic transducers; Arctic; Ferroelectric films; Frequency; Monitoring; Nonvolatile memory; Oceans; Prototypes; Random access memory; Testing;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Oceanic Engineering, IEEE Journal of

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0364-9059

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/48.16832

Filename

16832