Pioneer Array

Description

Disclaimer: All data are subject to revision without notice; exact locations of mooring sites are not yet finalized; exact depths of sensors will be determined at the time of deployment.

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Location and Sampling

Location, Central Mooring: 40° 08.5’N, 70° 47.5’W
Approximate Water Depth: 135 meters at center of moored array
AUV sampling area (approximate): 80 x 110 km box centered on moored array
Glider sampling area (approximate): 130 x 185 km box over outer shelf and slope sea

Platform Types

EOM surface moorings, surface-piercing profilers, subsurface wire-following profiler moorings, autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) and gliders

Description of Infrastructure

Three electro-mechanical (EM) surface moorings with wind, photovoltaic and fuel cell power generation, satellite communications, and meteorological sensors
A multi-function node (MFN) at the base of each EM mooring; two MFN supporting AUV docks
Five moorings with surface expressions and wire-following profilers.
Two surface-piercing profilers
Three AUVs
Six gliders

Station Summary

The backbone of the Pioneer Array will be a frontal-scale moored array with three electro-mechanical (EM) surface moorings and seven profiler moorings. Each surface mooring will incorporate a surface buoy with multiple sources of power generation and multiple surface and subsurface communications systems. Each surface mooring will be terminated by a Multi-Function Node (MFN) at its base. Two MFNs will incorporate docking stations for AUVs, while the third will be designed to support integration of science user instrumentation. All three MFNs will becapable of supporting multiple onboard (e.g., frame-mounted) sensors as well as external sensor packages connected by ROV wet-mateable connectors. Five profiler moorings with surface expressions for data telemetry will support wire-following profiling packages with a multidisciplinary sensor suite. Two surface-piercing profilers will use a buoyant sensor body capable of profiling from a few meters above the bottom up to the air-sea interface. In order to provide synoptic, multi-scale observations of the outer continental shelf, shelf break region, and continental slope, the moored array will be supplemented by nine mobileplatforms – six gliders and three AUVs. The role of the gliders will be to monitor the mesoscale field of the slope sea and outer shelf, resolving rings, eddies and meanders from the Gulf Stream as they impinge on the shelf breakfront. The AUVs will be the primary tools for resolving cross- and along-front “eddy fluxes” due to frontal instabilities, wind forcing, and mesoscale variability.