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Enhancements to the 95°W TAO observing system are listed in Table 1. Sensor specifications and accuracies are documented in the TAO webpages. EPIC enhanced TAO "Next Generation ATLAS" mooring time series have at least hourly sample rates, sufficient temporal resolution to analyze diurnal and mesoscale ocean and atmosphere boundary layer variability. The EPIC enhanced array will be in place for 3-4 years, providing sufficient duration to observe seasonal to interannual variability.

Daily averages of nearly all measurements are telemetered to shore via Service Argos and made available in near-realtime via a PMEL maintained data archive website and ftp data base. Also, hourly values of barometric pressure and standard TAO surface measurements and daily-averaged values of subsurface temperature are telemetered to shore typically 2-4 times per day and made available in real-time to operational meteorological and oceanographic centers via the Global Telecommunications System (GTS). All data are quality checked and processed at PMEL. Processed data and high resolution (2-minute, 10-minute or hourly) data are available in delayed mode via PMEL and national data archives.

Table 1. Enhancements to the TAO 95°W observing system. OP signifies operational sites and, in the left column, operational measurements. Operational surface meteorological measurements (M) include wind speed and direction, air temperature and relative humidity. Operational ocean temperature (T) are at 1 m, and 10 subsurface depths. The enhancements include a suite of meteorological sensors, including shortwave (S) and longwave (L) radiometers, rain gauge (R), and barometric pressure (P); additional subsurface temperature sensors (T), surface and subsurface conductivity sensors (C) and current meters (U). Salinity is computed from coincident measurements of temperature and conductivity. The new moorings at 3.5°N, 10°N and 1°2N also include the full set of operational TAO measurements.



OP OP OP OP OP NEW OP OP NEW NEW
TAO OP 8°S 5°S 2°S 2°N 3.5°N 5°N 8°N 10°N 12°N
sfc M SLRP SLRP SLRP SLRP SLRP SLRP SLRP SLRP SLRP SLRP
1m T C C C C C C C C C C
5m TC TC TC TC TC TC TC TC TC TC
10m TCU TCU TCU TCU TCU TCU TCU TCU TCU TCU
20m T C C C C C C C C C C
40m T C CU CU CU CU CU CU C C C
60m T
80m T C C C C C C C C C C
100m T
120m T C C C C C C C C C C
140m T
180m T
300m T
500m T
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