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PALACE Floats

PALACE floats give information both about the circulation and density profiles. In this preliminary study , I will treat them as roving CTD stations. The PALACE floats in the Labrador Sea were placed near the predicted region of convection and were programmed to profile to a depth of 600 or 1500 meters. I have chosen 4 sample floats between $56-58^{\circ} N and
52-54^{\circ} W$ which profiled temperature and salinity to a depth of 1500 meters at 4 different times (see Figs. 13-14). This is a comparison between a profile at one particular time and a 10-day average model profile. During convection, it would be highly surprising for these two profiles to be very similar. However, the temperature profiles at mid-depth seem to agree within .2 degrees Celsius with the float data. The surface correlation is predictably much worse. It is surprising to note that the January profiles are quite inconsistent although this is closest to the initialization time. In previous hydrographic comparisons, the deepening of the mixed layer in the model agreed very well with the data. The discrepancy in the January profile may be due to the fact that this is not a statistically stable comparison. A method of spatially averaging many floats and model gridpoints may yield a better interpretation.


next up previous
Next: Sea Surface Height Up: Density Structure Previous: Bravo Mooring
Jake Gebbie 2003-04-10