PROTEVS-MED field experiments: Very High Resolution Hydrographic Surveys in the Western Mediterranean Sea

From 2015 to 2018 five field experiments (9 legs) have been performed in the Western Mediterranean Basin during winter or early spring. Thanks to the intensive use of a towed vehicle undulating in the upper oceanic layer between 0 and 400 meter depth (i.e. a Seasoar), a large amount of very high resolution hydrographic transects have been performed, to measure the mesoscale dynamics (slope current and its instabilities, anticyclonic eddies, sub-mesoscale coherent vortices, frontal dynamics convection events, strait outflows) and sub-mesoscale processes like stirring, mixed layer or symmetric instabilities. When available, the data were completed with velocities recorded by Vessel Mounted Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (VMADCP) and by surface salinity and temperature recorded by ThermosalinoGraph (TSG). Some CTD casts have also been performed giving the background hydrography of the deep layers. In 2017, a Moving Vessel Profiler (MVP) has been deployed to manage even higher horizontal resolution. This data set is an unprecedented opportunity to investigate the very fine scale processes as the Mediterranean Sea is known for its intense and contrasted dynamics. It should be useful for modellers (who reduce the grid size below a few hundred meters) and expect to properly catch finer scale dynamics. Likewise, theoretical work could also be illustrated by in situ evidence embedded in this data set.

Disciplines

Physical oceanography

Keywords

Western Mediterranean Sea, High Resolution Transects, (Sub)Mesoscales Observations, Eddies, Fronts

Location

44.5N, 37.5S, 15E, -1W

Devices

CTD and LADCP casts :

- presure  (Sea-bird SBE-9 ; 0 at surface)

- sea water temperature (Sea-bird SBE-9; SBE 3 temperature sensor)

- sea water electrical conductivity (Sea-bird SBE-9; SBE 4 conductivity sensor) 

- practical salinity units  (derived computation)

- Currents velocities : RDI 150 kHz current profiler

SEASOAR transects :

- sea water temperature (Sea-bird SBE-9; SBE 3 temperature sensor)

- sea water electrical conductivity (Sea-bird SBE-9; SBE 4 conductivity sensor) 

- oxygen sensor SBE-43 ; chlorophyll a WetStar WET Labs fluorometer ; optical properties sensor (WET Labs C-Star)  

- practical salinity units  (derived computation)

MVP200  transect : Moving Vessel Profiler equiped

- Temperature, Salinity :  AML CTD

Ship Equipement  :

- vmadcp : RDI Teledyne150 kHz /  38kHz.

- tsg : Seabird SBE-21 

Data

FileSizeFormatProcessingAccess
protevsmed_swot_2018_leg2 Survey
436 MoCSV , NetCDF
protevsmed_swot_2018_leg2 Quicklook
79 MoPDF
protevsmed_swot_2018_leg1 Survey
94 MoCSV , NetCDF
protevsmed_swot_2018_leg2 Quicklook
51 MoPDF
protevsmed_2017_leg2 Survey
345 MoCSV , NetCDF
protevsmed_2017_leg2 Quicklook
59 MoPDF
protevsmed_2017_leg1 Survey
308 MoCSV , NetCDF
protevsmed_2017_leg1 Quicklook
38 MoPDF
protevsmed_2016 Survey
256 MoCSV , NetCDF
protevsmed_2016 Quicklook
63 MoPDF
protevsmed_2015_leg2 Survey
109 MoCSV , NetCDF
protevsmed_2015_leg2 Quicklook
39 MoPDF
protevsmed_2015_leg1 Survey
241 MoCSV , NetCDF
protevsmed_2015_leg1 Quicklook
39 MoPDF
How to cite
Dumas Franck, Garreau Pierre, Louazel Stephanie, Correard Stephanie, Fercoq Solenn, Le Menn Marc, Serpette Alain, Garnier Valerie, Stegner Alexandre, Le Vu Briac, Doglioli Andrea, Gregori Gerald (2018). PROTEVS-MED field experiments: Very High Resolution Hydrographic Surveys in the Western Mediterranean Sea. SEANOE. https://doi.org/10.17882/62352

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