The Nantucket Shoals Flux Experiment (NSFE79). Part I: A Basic Description of the Current and Temperature Variability

TLDR: The Nantucket Shoals Flux Experiment (NSFE79) as discussed by the authors was conducted across the continental shelf and upper slope of the South Atlantic from March 1979 to April 1980 to study the flow of shelf water from the Georges Bank/Gulf of Maine region into the Middle Atlantic Bight.

Abstract: The Nantucket Shoals Flux Experiment (NSFE79) was conducted across the continental shelf and upper slope south of Nantucket from March 1979 to April 1980 to study the flow of shelf water from the Georges Bank/Gulf of Maine region into the Middle Atlantic Bight. The experiment included a moored array of current meters and bottom instrumentation deployed at six locations across the shelf and upper slope spanning a depth range from 46 to 810 m, and supporting hydrographic observations. A basic description of the moored current and temperature data is given here with an emphasis on the low-frequency variability. In the summer period (April–August) when the local vertical stratification reached a maximum due to increased surface heating and reduced wind mixing, the mean flow over the shelf at all instruments was primarily along 1ocal isobaths towards the west. The subtidal current fluctuations were coherent both horizontally and vertically over the shelf, but not with current fluctuations observed ove...