Abstract:

Sea-surface slope estimates from polarized sea-surface images collected during the GLAD experiment in the northern Gulf of Mexico in July 2012. In July 2012, the Consortium for Advanced Research on Transport of Hydrocarbon in the Environment (CARTHE) conducted the Grand Lagrangian Deployment (GLAD) experiment in the northern Gulf of Mexico near DeSoto Canyon and the Deepwater Horizon spill site. During the GLAD experiment, more than 300 surface ocean drifters were launched in an attempt to measure multi-scale near surface dispersion. The drifters were drogued at 1 meter and most of them were launched in triplets (initially separated by roughly 100 meters). The drifters reported their GPS positions every five minutes via Globalstar satellite over a nominal period of three months. This dataset was created by the Consortium for Advanced Research on Transport of Hydrocarbon in the Environment (CARTHE). This research was made possible by a grant from BP/The Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative.

Suggested Citation:

Haus, Brian. 2015. Sea-surface slope measurements from polarized imagery during the GLAD experiment in the northern Gulf of Mexico, July 2012.. Distributed by: GRIIDC, Harte Research Institute, Texas A&M University–Corpus Christi. doi:10.7266/N7XS5S95

Publications:

Laxague, N. J. M., Haus, B. K., Bogucki, D., & Özgökmen, T. (2015). Spectral characterization of fine-scale wind waves using shipboard optical polarimetry. Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, 120(4), 3140–3156. doi:10.1002/2014jc010403

Purpose:

These sea-surface slope fields were computed from high-resolution polarimetric images of the sea surface taken on-board the RV Walton Smith during the GLAD experiment. These images were collected to determine the character of the sea-surface at small scales to better understand the processes controlling fluxes across the air-sea boundary.

Data Parameters and Units:

NetCDF directories [Non-Stationary, Stationary] with NetCDF data parameters: Sx = bow-stern slope (non-dimensional) [640x640 array] Sy = port-starboard slope (non-dimensional) [640x640 array] im_num = frame time (number of 1/60 second intervals after run start) GLAD_sea_slope_run_stats.dat: run (count) Start date/time (YYYY-MM-DD hh:mm:ss) End date/time (YYYY-MM-DD hh:mm:ss) Number of frames (count) GLAD_ship_positions.dat: date/time (YYYY-MM-DD hh:mm:ss) Longitude (decimal degrees) Latitude (decimal degrees)

Individual Files: