Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute
Apex/ISUS Float List

A brief description of the floats that have been deployed. Access real time data here.

Float Designation Dates Deployed Where

Link to Data File

These are tab delimited, ASCII text files in OceanDataView format.

Why?
5145MtyBay 9/17 to 9/21/2007 Monterey Bay A short test deployment of float 5145 to verify operation of ISUS. The float profiled twice each day for 5 days and was then recovered.
5145Hawaii

12/22/2007 to 10/2011

 

Hawaii Ocean Time series (HOT) station Planned four year deployment to assess long-term ISUS sensor performance. Low nitrate concentrations in surface waters near HOT will allow us to assess sensor drift over years. Float 5145 profiled once per day for the first 7 days and is now profiling every 5 days. The NO3 sensor stopped 9/2010 due to a software problem. The float was recovered 10/31/2011 to recalibrate the sensor.
5146SoOcean 2/21/2008 to 3/2011 Southern Ocean on the CLIVAR I6S Line at 50 degrees S, which is southeast of Africa Seasonal consumption of nitrate during spring/summer phytoplankton blooms in the Southern Ocean tracks new primary production (NPP). Long-term measurements of nitrate will allow us to assess changes in NPP over interannual time scales.
5143StnP 8/31/2008 to 8/2011 Ocean Station Papa at 50 North, 145 West in the Gulf of Alaska Seasonal consumption of nitrate during spring/summer phytoplankton blooms in the Subarctic North Pacific tracks new primary production (NPP). Long-term measurements of nitrate will allow us to assess changes in NPP over interannual time scales.
5426DrakePass 1/7/2009 to present Drake Passage at 55 South, 80 West in the Southern Ocean Seasonal consumption of nitrate during spring/summer phytoplankton blooms in the Southern Ocean tracks new primary production (NPP). Long-term measurements of nitrate will allow us to assess changes in NPP over interannual time scales.
6391Bermuda 10/12/2009 to present Bermuda Atlantic Time Series (BATS) station Four year deployment in the North Atlantic. This deployment will test the ability of the Apex/ISUS to resolve small nutrient injection events, which occur during deep winter mixing near BATS.
6401MtyBay

8/3/2009 to 8/6/2009

Monterey Bay A four day test deployment of float 6401 offshore of Monterey Bay. This is a modified Apex float that is designed to carry more biogeochemical sensors and to make sensor integration much easier. 6401 carries an ISUS nitrate sensor and an Aanderaa oxygen optode.
6401Hawaii

11/6/2009 to present

Hawaii Ocean Time series (HOT) station Four year deployment to assess long-term ISUS sensor performance. Low nitrate concentrations in surface waters near HOT will allow us to assess sensor drift over years in extended Apex float design.
6891Hawaii

Deployed May 22, 2010

Hawaii Ocean Time series (HOT) station Four year deployment to assess long-term ISUS sensor performance. Low nitrate concentrations in surface waters near HOT will allow us to assess sensor drift over years in extended Apex float design.
6400StnP Deployed June 18, 2010 Ocean Station Papa at 50 North, 145 West in the Gulf of Alaska Four year deployment at Station Papa. This float will be our first to carry biooptical sensors (Wetlabs FLBB for chlorophyll fluorescence and optical backscattering, which is proportional to particle abundance), in addition to nitrate, oxygen and CTD.
6976Bermuda November 12, 2010 Bermuda Atlantic Time Series (BATS) station Four year deployment in the North Atlantic. This deployment will test the ability of the Apex/ISUS to resolve small nutrient injection events, which occur during deep winter mixing near BATS.
6403Hawaii

Deployed Jan. 09, 2011

Hawaii Ocean Time series (HOT) station Four year deployment to assess long-term ISUS sensor performance. Low nitrate concentrations in surface waters near HOT will allow us to assess sensor drift over years in extended Apex float design. The float array at Hawaii will allow meso-scale variability to be assessed.
6972StnP Deployed Feb. 16, 2011 Ocean Station Papa at 50 North, 145 West in the Gulf of Alaska Four year deployment at Station Papa.
7564Arctic Deployed Aug. 23, 2011 Greenland Sea between Greenland, Svalbard & Norway Four year deployment in the Greenland Sea region of the Arctic Ocean. This float is equipped with nitrate, oxygen and biooptics (Wetlabs FLBB for chlorophyll fluorescence and optical backscattering, which is proportional to particle abundance).
6966Hawaii Deployed Sept 1, 2011 Recovered Nov. 1, 2011 Hawaii Ocean Time series (HOT) station Four year deployment to assess long-term ISUS sensor performance. The ISUS in this system is produced by Satlantic and is the prototype for a commercial design. Note this float has an intermittent connection on the CTD and does not return all of the normal samples. It was recovered to repair the CTD.
6975Bermuda October 5, 2011 Bermuda Atlantic Time Series (BATS) station Four year deployment in the North Atlantic. This deployment will test the ability of the Apex/ISUS to resolve small nutrient injection events, which occur during deep winter mixing near BATS.
7622Hawaii

Deployed Nov. 2, 2011

Hawaii Ocean Time series (HOT) station Four year deployment to assess long-term SUNA nitrate sensor performance. SUNA is an external nitrate sensor designed by Satlantic with a different optical design than ISUS.
6967SoAtlantic Deployed Dec. 11, 2011 South Atlantic Four year deployment in the South Atlantic/Southern Ocean north of the Polar Front. The float is equipped with biooptical sensors in addition to nitrate and oxygen.
6381ArabianSea Deployed Dec. 16, 2011 Arabian Sea Four year deployment in the Arabian Sea over an intense oxygen minimum. The float will be used to study coupling between oxygen and denitrification The float is equipped with biooptical sensors in addition to nitrate and oxygen.
Last updated: Jan. 23, 2012