Title: Hydrographic data from the OPTOMA program
Description: 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.
Subjects: OCEAN MODELS, OCEAN CURRENTS, OCEANOGRAPHIC DATA,