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Please be advised of an opportunity for two graduate students (or volunteers) to participate at sea on an upcoming NOAA Western Boundary Time Series cruise in the North Atlantic that will be servicing the UK’s Rapid moorings for the meridional overturning circulation (MOC) array along 26N. Two of the positions will be to assist with the physical oceanography program on this cruise including carrying out the CTD casts, assisting with documentation and water sampling, and examination of the data. 

The cruise is currently scheduled to occur from about 14 February 2012 to 6 March 2012 on the NOAA Ship Ronald H. Brown starting and stopping in Charleston, SC. The cruise will consist of a three short sections in the Straits of Florida and Northwest Providence Channel and the main section east of Abaco Island, Bahamas including approximately 6-7 days of mooring operations. 

The current cruise dates are:
• load ship in Charleston, SC 12-13 February 2012
• depart Charleston 14 February 2012
• occupy WBTS section Transect (~19-22 days at sea)
• arrive Charleston, SC 6 March 2012

There is no financial support for student participants, however travel expenses can be negotiated through the University of Miami’s Cooperative Research Institute.

Training will be provided on board ship at the start of the cruise. Some basic computer skills are required.

The cruise will provide an excellent opportunity to work at sea, and to get to know the oceanography of the North Atlantic. The student positions are open to any volunteers and will stay open until filled.  Foreign nationals will need to be approved for participation through NOAA.  All cruise participants must take a TB test within one year and fill out a health questionnaire.  Graduate students must have approval from their graduate advisors for participation.

Dr. Molly Baringer (NOAA-AOML) will be Chief Scientist.  

For additional information on this program, please visit the following web sites:
http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/phod/wbts/index.php
http://www.noc.soton.ac.uk/rapidmoc/
http://www.rsmas.miami.edu/users/mocha/

Approximately 60 stations are planned where we lower a CTD/rosette to measure the temperature, salinity, oxygen, and currents from just below the sea surface to approximately 10 meters above the ocean bottom.  During each of these stations we also collect up to 24 water samples for measurement of various water properties, including dissolved oxygen and salinity.  Mooring operations include recovery and redeployment of four tall moorings with a mixture of microcats and current meters, and five short moorings including a short upward looking ADCP mooring, a 400 m mooring with microcats and current meters, and three bottom landers instrumented with bottom pressure recorders.  At five IES mooring sites we will stop to telemeter the data to the ship via acoustic telemetry using an over-the-side transducer.

Please note that rough sea conditions can be expected from time to time. Also, the cruise is fairly long. We thus recommend that students who apply be confident that they can handle such conditions.

Informal email letters of application for the 2 physical oceanographic positions may be sent to Chief Scientist Molly Baringer Molly.Baringer@noaa.gov)

The applicant should provide a brief summary of their research interests and experience, and graduate students should include the e-mail address of their advisor.

Sincerely,
Molly Baringer

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