Falkor: We’ve Got Data!

The moment that all field scientists crave has arrived – preliminary data!  Team T-Beam ran two successful profiles and are hot on the trail of identifying the area of highest energy of the internal tide.  Here’s an update of their progress so far.  During a preliminary 30 hour period, the ship steamed back and forth across a 200km transect thought to be the most likely location of the T-Beam (Transect C1 – C2).  The midpoint of this transect marked the location of one of the moorings deployed by the Revelle. During this trek we traversed the transect six times and the shipboard ADCP collected water velocity data down to 800 meters depth.  As we’ve discussed before, the ADCP measures current velocity in two orthogonal directions, North-South (the V-velocities) and East-West (the U-velocities).  Taking these two directional velocities together gives a picture of the overall trajectory of the current.  Remember that the internal tide is driven by the semi-diurnal tidal cycle and the tides move in a back and forth direction (like when the tide comes in and then goes back out on a beach). The semi-diurnal tide in the Tasman Sea should move bi-directionally along a NW – SE line.

 

This contour plot shows the amplitude of the current velocity with depth along a 200km transect (100km on either side of mooring A1 at 0).  The blue astrix indicates the location north (negative numbers) of the mooring buoy that shows unusually high velocities that are likely associated with the internal tide. SOI/Amy Waterhouse, Sam Kelly and Luc Rainville

A sign of the sine wave

In addition, the velocities of the semi-diurnal tide over time will fit on a sine curve.  What this shows is the velocity speeds up and slows down at different times in the cycle (for example, when the tide is all the way in, the current speed approaches zero).  The velocity also changes direction (positive and negative) depending on whether the tide is coming or going.  Here’s where the preliminary data provide some promising results.  When the science team plotted all of the ADCP velocity data onto a graph, the velocities over time fit onto a sine curve with the correct period – a good indication that the data are representing the expected tidal cycle.  Also exciting is that the relationship between the U velocities (N-S) and the V velocities (E-W) indicates that the current is moving in the same directional angle as the T-Beam.  So they are pretty sure that they’ve found the internal tide beam!!  Previously the location of the internal tide beam was only predicted by a (very sophisticated) computer model.  This is what scientists call ground-truthing a model.

 

Plot showing the velocity sine wave of a tidal cycle. http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_American_Practical_Navigator/Chapter_9

 

Another graph showing a large increase in velocity in both U and V directions around 30-60 km north of the mooring. Drops and spikes at the very ends of the graph are artifacts of the transect.  SOI/Amy Waterhouse, Sam Kelly and Luc Rainville

Planning the next step

Another interesting development is that there is an area along the 200km transect that shows much higher velocities than the surrounding areas. This can be seen in a graphic called a contour plot, which uses color to visualize velocity and direction through the water column.  In this contour plot, there is an area (*) where the velocity is very high (dark red/black). Could it represent the center of the T-Beam?  We don’t know for sure just yet, but not surprisingly, this is the location that the science team decided to conduct the first full LADCP/CTD profile (F2).

 

Shipboard ADCP transect (line connecting C1 to C2) and the locations of LADCP/CTD profiles at F2 and F3. Google Earth/Amy Waterhouse

The second profile was located further north along the transect (F3). Each of these profiles was conducted over 30 hrs between the surface and 1700m depth, with a full cast (up and down) occurring every 2 hours.  Those data now await further analysis, as the scientists decide their next move.  At the moment, we are back in port for a few hours picking up some new equipment and preparing for another round of profiles.

 

Spencer Kawamoto and Hayley Dosser take advantage of port time switch out the batteries in the LADCPs for the next round of profiles. SOI/Judy Lemus

– Judy Lemus, Falkor

The Tasman Tidal Dissipation Experiment//Supported by the National Science Foundation