54
Russ E. Davis
Group (Taft et al., 1974) placed five surface moorings between 1
◦ S and 1
◦ N in the
equatorial Pacific to observe current variability. Four of the moorings were lost, leading to the general perception that it was extremely difficult to maintain moorings in
this region. Under Halpern’s leadership, Milburn’s careful quantitative design studies
and innovative choice of components, including low-drag fairings on the mooring
line in high-current regions, led to a first successful deployment of 1 month in 1976
(Halpern et al., 1976) and an eventual service life of 6 months. This development
opened the equatorial Pacific to sustained moored observations and, through the experience and testing gained, eventually led to the ATLAS moored buoy (Milburn and
McLain, 1986) that was the mainstay of the supremely successful TAO array.
At the Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO), interest turned to air–sea
interaction and the anomalies of North Pacific surface temperature brought into focus
by Jerome Namias. The NORPAX program began in the late 1960s under the direction
of John Isaacs and Tim Barnett with a focus on these anomalies, which today we
associate with the Pacific Decadal Oscillation and remote responses to El Ni˜ no. This
work had begun with extensive observations using tautly moored Bumble Bee buoys
(famous for recording data by photographing panels of gauges). NORPAX planned
to use Monster Buoys, which at 12-m diameter and 50 tons were aptly named buoys
powered by an onboard diesel generator and reporting data by high-frequency radio
links (Petre and Devereux, 1968). In the early 1970s the high cost of Monster Buoys
and a tenuous science plan led ONR and NSF to reconstitute the program under the
leadership of Charles Cox. Cox, renowned for his pioneering work in microstructure
and much more of a creative genius than an organization man, was an inspired choice.
Initially the focus stayed on the North Pacific. New academic participants were sought
and new observational tools were instituted, particularly widespread use of XBTs and
development of surface drifters and the shipboard Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler
(ADCP).
No good deed goes unpunished. Warren White and Buzz Bernstein vigorously
complained about Cox’s suggestion that they create the TRANSPAC XBT program.
Nevertheless, they built a tremendously successful observing system (see White,
1987) that produced a substantial data set and supported numerous publications,
particularly by White and Bernstein. The program was eventually taken over by
NOAA and languished as the number of probes deployed decreased each year.
A better-received suggestion from Cox was development of the shipboard
ADCP. He learned of commercial acoustic backscatter “speed logs” used on ships and
suggested they could provide substantial valuable data on upper-ocean currents if they
could be range gated. ONR supported Lloyd Regier and I to work with Amatek-Straza
and later RD Instruments to convert speed logs into ADCPs. For technical reasons
associated with range gating and the difference between bottom reflection and volume
backscatter, this was more complicated than adding range bins to the speed log. A
major hurdle was developing a flexible yet accurate method of measuring the Doppler
shift and in this respect the pioneering work on acoustic Doppler profilers by Pinkel
(1979) was extremely important to the design discussion. We never really achieved
Russ E. Davis
Group (Taft et al., 1974) placed five surface moorings between 1
◦ S and 1
◦ N in the
equatorial Pacific to observe current variability. Four of the moorings were lost, leading to the general perception that it was extremely difficult to maintain moorings in
this region. Under Halpern’s leadership, Milburn’s careful quantitative design studies
and innovative choice of components, including low-drag fairings on the mooring
line in high-current regions, led to a first successful deployment of 1 month in 1976
(Halpern et al., 1976) and an eventual service life of 6 months. This development
opened the equatorial Pacific to sustained moored observations and, through the experience and testing gained, eventually led to the ATLAS moored buoy (Milburn and
McLain, 1986) that was the mainstay of the supremely successful TAO array.
At the Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO), interest turned to air–sea
interaction and the anomalies of North Pacific surface temperature brought into focus
by Jerome Namias. The NORPAX program began in the late 1960s under the direction
of John Isaacs and Tim Barnett with a focus on these anomalies, which today we
associate with the Pacific Decadal Oscillation and remote responses to El Ni˜ no. This
work had begun with extensive observations using tautly moored Bumble Bee buoys
(famous for recording data by photographing panels of gauges). NORPAX planned
to use Monster Buoys, which at 12-m diameter and 50 tons were aptly named buoys
powered by an onboard diesel generator and reporting data by high-frequency radio
links (Petre and Devereux, 1968). In the early 1970s the high cost of Monster Buoys
and a tenuous science plan led ONR and NSF to reconstitute the program under the
leadership of Charles Cox. Cox, renowned for his pioneering work in microstructure
and much more of a creative genius than an organization man, was an inspired choice.
Initially the focus stayed on the North Pacific. New academic participants were sought
and new observational tools were instituted, particularly widespread use of XBTs and
development of surface drifters and the shipboard Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler
(ADCP).
No good deed goes unpunished. Warren White and Buzz Bernstein vigorously
complained about Cox’s suggestion that they create the TRANSPAC XBT program.
Nevertheless, they built a tremendously successful observing system (see White,
1987) that produced a substantial data set and supported numerous publications,
particularly by White and Bernstein. The program was eventually taken over by
NOAA and languished as the number of probes deployed decreased each year.
A better-received suggestion from Cox was development of the shipboard
ADCP. He learned of commercial acoustic backscatter “speed logs” used on ships and
suggested they could provide substantial valuable data on upper-ocean currents if they
could be range gated. ONR supported Lloyd Regier and I to work with Amatek-Straza
and later RD Instruments to convert speed logs into ADCPs. For technical reasons
associated with range gating and the difference between bottom reflection and volume
backscatter, this was more complicated than adding range bins to the speed log. A
major hurdle was developing a flexible yet accurate method of measuring the Doppler
shift and in this respect the pioneering work on acoustic Doppler profilers by Pinkel
(1979) was extremely important to the design discussion. We never really achieved