CENTRAL SURFACE MOORING (CP10CNSM)

The Pioneer MAB Central Surface Mooring is located on the Continental Shelf, approximately 30 meters deep. The MAB continental shelf north of Cape Hatteras is characterized by a persistent equator-ward current originating from the north, a shelfbreak front separating shelf and slope waters, distributed buoyancy inputs from rivers, variable wind forcing, and intermittent offshore forcing by Gulf Stream meanders. The Pioneer MAB Array is designed to resolve transport processes and ecosystem dynamics in the vicinity of the shelfbreak front, which is a region of complex oceanographic dynamics, intermittent mesoscale variability, and enhanced biological productivity.

Like other coastal moorings, the Pioneer MAB Central Surface Mooring is specifically designed to examine coastal-scale phenomena and withstand the challenging conditions of shallow coastal environments. The Surface Mooring contains instruments attached to a Surface Buoy floating on the sea surface, Near Surface Instrument Frame 7 meters below the surface, and a Seafloor Multi-Function Node (MFN) located on the seafloor. The Surface Buoy provides a platform on which to secure surface instruments above the sea surface, below the sea surface, and across the interface between. Additionally the Surface Buoy contains antennas to transmit data to shore via satellite.

Instruments

This site includes following instruments. To learn more about an instrument type, select its name on the left. To see the relevant data streams for a particular instrument, select the instrument code in the first column which will take you to the OOI Data Portal.