Florida Current Transport from Voltage Measurements
Western Boundary Currents Measurements by the Pacific Marine Environmental
Laboratory and the Atlantic Ocean Marine Laboratory
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Thanks to
AT&T
and the Bahamas Telecommunications Corporation for access to their
cables and facilies. |
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The Florida Straits, showing cables at 27N and Key West to
Havana
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The motion of an ocean current through the earth's magnetic field creates
a cross-stream voltage. In the Straits of Florida at 27N, comparison of
voltage measurements and independent transport measurements during the
1980s established a linear relationship between voltage and transport of the stream.
Voltage differences across the Straits
of Florida were observed from 1982 to 1991 by the use of an out-of-service
cable spanning the Florida Current at 27 N between Jupiter Inlet, Florida
and Settlement Point, Grand Bahama Island. The observations were continued
through most of the 1990s using the in-service Florida-Bahama cable between
West Palm Beach, Florida and Eight Mile Rock, Grand Bahama Island (from
1985 through late 1998). After the cable's retirement from telephone service during 1999, it was
grounded at West Palm Beach and observations were
resumed from Grand Bahama in March, 2000.
Daily Transport Data, 1982 to 1998
Daily mean transport computed from voltage measurements on cables across
the Florida Straits from Settlement Point Florida (out-of-service telephone
cable) and West Palm Beach Florida (active telephone cable) to Grand Bahama
Island. These data have been corrected for geomagnetic signals and tides.
Dates: 18-Mar-1982 to 23-Oct-1998
Daily Transport Data, March 2000 onward
Daily transport values computed from voltage measurements on the
now retired Florida-Bahama cable across the Florida Straits
from Eight Mile Rock, Grand Bahama Island to
West Palm Beach, Florida. This is the same cable used during the 1990s
while still in service. Conversion to transport has been done using
the calibration factor derived during the 1980s from comparison of voltage and profiling data ,
with an adjustment for the geomagnetic secular variation based on the International
Geomagnetic Reference Field (IGRF).
Dates: 13-Mar-2000 onward.
References with Abstracts
Some publications describing the use of cables for measuring ocean transport.
Acknowledgements
People to contact
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