EK80 Water Column Sonar Data Collected During GU2101

C. Operating Area (include map/figure showing op area)
Northern Gulf of Mexico originating with a checkout station directly offshore from Pascagoula, MS. A primary objective of this cruise will be to conduct validation measurements at the WaveCis Aeronet-OC site located at approximately 28.87oN and 90.48oW. It is expected to spend at least a few clear sky days at this location. The rest of the days will be spent sampling features of interest present during the rest of the cruise. These include the Mississippi Bight, the Atchafalaya outflow, and offshore out to approximately 150 nm.
The plan includes sampling transient features present in the region at the time of the project. These sampling locations could span from the Florida coast to Galveston Bay. Tentative cruise track (Fig. 1) is shown below along with daily locations in Table 1. Cruise track will be adjusted to maximize
characterization of processes and features of interest present during the project. In addition, one issue is that we need cloud free skies to maximize our work. We will be working
with the crew to make adjustments to the cruise track daily.
D. Summary of Objectives:
Observe and measure inherent and apparent optical properties of water masses for three primary objectives: 1) JPSS VIIRS ocean color satellite validation; 2) Inter-calibration and inter-comparison of validation techniques and measurements; and 3) optical characterization of ocean variability (i.e. coastal, near-shore, cross-shelf, eddies, fronts, filaments, blue water).