Summary: | The 2013 PIRATA Northeast Extension (PNE) and Aerosols and Ocean Science Expedition (AEROSE) Cruise RB-13-01 was designed to: (1) collect a suite of oceanographic and meteorological observations in the northeast Tropical Atlantic; (2) recover and redeploy the four moorings that belong to the Northeast Extension of the PIRATA array; (3) recover and redeploy the TFlex mooring near 20N, 38W; (4) to perform a sensor swap for the PIRATA mooring at 0ºN, 23ºW; and (5) to recover and redeploy two hydrophone moorings as well as deploy an additional hydrophone mooring. The oceanographic component of (1) includes the collection of data along 23ºW using CTD-O2/rosette/LADCP, XBTs and an underway CTD and the collection of XBT and underway CTD profiles on the return transit to Puerto Rico. The 23W section cuts through the climatologically significant Tropical North Atlantic (TNA) region, including the southeast corner of the subtropical North Atlantic (a region of subduction for the subtropical cell circulation); the Guinea Dome and oxygen minimum shadow zone where the subtropical and tropical gyres meet, and the Tropical Atlantic current system. The meteorological component of (1) focused on the measurement of aerosols, ozone and atmospheric conditions. All scientific goals of RB-13-01 were achieved.
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