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Hydrographic data from the OPTOMA program

by J. Edward Johnson

The OPTOMA (Ocean Prediction Through Observation, Modeling and Analysis) Program, seeks to understand the mesoscale (fronts, eddies, and jets) variability and dynamics of the California Current System (CCS) and to determine the scientific limits to practical mesoscale ocean forecasting. OPTOMA 23 is the last of the OPTOMA surveys and it is unique in that this was the first effort to integrate concurrent satellite, drifting buoy, ship, and aircraft data in a comprehensive oceanographic, meteorological, and acoustical study of the CCS. Specific goals of the airborne surveys were to: provide synoptic data for objective analysis of various parameters (e.g., SST from AXBT and PRT-5, mixed layer depth, thermal structure); provide initialization, boundary condition updating, and verification fields for dynamical model forecasts; and coordinate the observational strategy of the R/V POINT SUR by using near real time analyses to vector the ship into areas of interesting mesoscale activity.