posted Mar 21, 2012 4:47 PM by WaveChasers APL
The Cha Ba/NEMO mooring allowed the first-ever characterization of the high-frequency internal wave field off our coast. Though many past studies have examined the low-frequency flows, the internal wave field has been largely unstudied. The forest two summers of data show a very active field of nonlinear internal waves. In the course of minutes, these waves rapidly drop the thermocline as much as 38 m - remarkable given the water depth is only 100 m. In fact, as a ratio of water depth, these waves appear to be the strongest observed anywhere in the world oceans, even the South China Sea. See a description and a preprint of our submission to The Oceanography Society (TOS) internal wave volume here. |
posted Feb 16, 2012 5:36 PM by Matthew Alford
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updated Feb 16, 2012 5:44 PM
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Congratulations John! This is the highest honor UW bestows upon its staff. You SO deserve it!!! |
posted Jan 7, 2012 11:44 AM by Matthew Alford
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updated Jan 9, 2012 8:30 AM
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 The Wavechasers team was preparing to deploy the HOT mooring 60 miles north of Oahu, Hawaii, when the R/V Kilo Moana developed a baseball-sized hole in the hull. Hours later, the ship's pumps were not able to keep up with the gush of water so the ship called the coast guard. Soon a C-130 aircraft dropped emergency pumps, a helicopter dropped rescue swimmers, and eventually the ship was able to keep up with the leak so that we made it back to Honolulu Harbor this morning. A diver just patched the hole, allowing the ship to pump out enough water to return to the dock. We'll be back at 11:30.
This was the top story at Honolulu's KHON.
Check out the original story at KHON, CNN and ABC.
We did not employ the mooring, but we are all safe. |
posted Nov 25, 2011 11:38 AM by Matthew Alford
Gunnar Voet has accepted our postdoc offer and will be joining us in March to work on the Samoan Passage project. Welcome Gunnar! |
posted Nov 25, 2011 11:37 AM by Matthew Alford
After languishing on a Journal of Marine Sciences editor's desk for months, the Aegean paper was resubmitted to JGR in August and was just accepted.
The PAPA paper was accepted last month as well - to appear soon in JPO. |
posted Nov 4, 2011 11:08 PM by WaveChasers APL
Cruise: successful. Alford and Mickett are going with Trevor the Kilo Moana marine tech and checking into a surf resort on the south side of Savaii.
Surfboards: check.
5' south swell: check.
Guitar: check.
Harmonica x 2: check.
Email: negative.
Back on the 12th. |
posted Nov 2, 2011 11:18 AM by WaveChasers APL
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updated Nov 4, 2011 11:13 PM
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posted Oct 29, 2011 3:28 PM by WaveChasers APL
After flying 32 hours via New Zealand to arrive in Samoa, we are now underway on the Samoan Passage mapping cruise. Check out our blog. |
posted Oct 1, 2011 9:27 AM by WaveChasers APL
Our last GRL paper was selected for a research highlight in AGU's publication, EOS:
Observations of abyssal flow and mixing
Scientists once thought the abyssal ocean, near the ocean bottom, was nearly stagnant, but recent observations show it is quite dynamic and that abyssal mix- ing plays an important role in the general circulation.
Contributing to understanding of abys- sal flow, Alford et al. report measurements of temperature and velocity in the abys- sal ocean from two moorings near Hawaii. They found three major cold events in their 2.5-year record, indicating that mix- ing events are strongly intermittent. They focus in detail on one unusual cold event that appeared in two pulses spaced about 2 weeks apart in September and October 2010. The event included an anomalously low temperature about 0.15°C below nor- mal temperatures that extended more than 500 meters above the ocean bottom as well as vigorous turbulent flows. (Geophysical Research Letters, doi:10.1029/2011GL048075, 2011) —EB
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posted Sep 30, 2011 2:25 PM by WaveChasers APL
In preparation for our next and final deployment in January, we recently tested the full system by suspending it in 9 m of water from a forklift on the dock. All went well.
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