Salinity Variability and Its Role in the Barrier-Layer Formation during TOGA-COARE

Abstract

Abstract During the intensive observation period of TOGA-COARE between November 1992 and February 1993, two R/V Franklin cruises, FR09/92 and FR01/93, were carried out to study the response of oceanic surface layer temperature and salinity to atmospheric inputs such as wind, radiation, precipitation, etc. A total of seven Seasonar surveys (each has a square of about 50 km) were designed and performed to monitor the variations in oceanic heat and freshwater content. This paper focuses on the observed salinity variation in spatial and time scales and its association with the barrier layer production. During the first and second 1992 surveys, a salinity front was observed. The crossing-front salinity difference was at least 0.16 from the surface down to below 40 m, implying a freshwater influx of about 20 cm. MIT Doppler radar located on R/V Vickers showed very heavy and persistent storm rains covered a very large area of a few hundred square kilometers west of the surveys for two days before the surveys sta...