Long-term regional marine surface water measurements in the Caribbean, Bahamas and Straits of Florida

The Explorer of the Seas, a 311 m long cruise liner operated by Royal Caribbean Cruises, Ltd. (RCCL), cruises from Miami, Fl through both the Eastern and Western Caribbean on alternating weeks. In 2000, a cooperative agreement between RCCL and the University of Miami established two staffed onboard laboratories with comprehensive meteorological and oceanographic instrumentation which includes flowing seawater environmental sensors. One of the benefits operating on a cruise liner that cruises at an average speed of 20 knots, is the sheer geographic regional coverage that can be obtained over repetitive tracks each year. Both of the alternating 7-day cruise tracks are over 2000 nm long each week. This amounts to an impressive 110,000 nm of regional cruise track coverage each year. Since May 2001, the flowing seawater system has operated continuously and been maintained by the two onboard technicians. Lessons learned from the over four years of continuous operation will be presented along with a summary of environmental sensor data time series focusing on the salinity and temperature records. Maintenance issues, design modifications and salinity and temperature calibration histories will be included.