Abstract:

This dataset contains temperature, conductivity, specific conductance, salinity, sound velocity, and density data collected with CTD casts on 6-17 December 2013 off Santa Rosa Island, Florida, as part of the Surfzone Coastal Oil Pathway Experiment (SCOPE), focused on measuring the inner-shelf and surf-zone processes responsible for oil transport. There were seven casts on each of the first two days, and twelve on the third day. The water column was sampled down to a depth of about 10-23 m, depending on location. The nominal sampling rate was 2 seconds. The intensive three-week SCOPE field campaign also employed a cross-shore array of fixed instruments to measure winds, waves, currents, and water properties from 10 m water depth to the shoreline; surface drifters; dye releases; and moving-vessel measuring platforms. This unique set of observations is valuable both for quantifying nearshore physics and mixing estimates, and for assessing nearshore model forecasts. The observations captured a wide range of wind- and wave-forcing due to a number of synoptic winter storms that occurred during the experiment. 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:

Jamie MacMahan. 2016. Surfzone Coastal Oil Pathways Experiment (SCOPE) CTD casts near Santa Rosa Island, Florida, December 2013. Distributed by: GRIIDC, Harte Research Institute, Texas A&M University–Corpus Christi. doi:10.7266/N77P8WBR

Purpose:

CTD casts were performed off vessels involved with the SCOPE experiment to determine the hydrographic context for other measurements. The overall goal was to learn more about the nearshore processes responsible for oil transport near Santa Rosa Island, FL. This unique set of observations is valuable both for quantifying nearshore physics and mixing estimates, and for assessing nearshore model forecasts.

Data Parameters and Units:

Each CTD cast ASCII file contains these variables: Pressure (Decibar), Depth (Meter), Temperature (Celsius), Conductivity (MicroSiemens per Centimeter), Specific conductance (MicroSiemens per Centimeter), Salinity (Practical Salinity Scale), Sound velocity (Meters per Second), Density (Kilograms per Cubic Meter); as well as date, time, and location information

Individual Files: