CTD and LADCP measurements in the Kane Gap (Eastern Tropical Atlantic) in 2009–2022
Description
Repeated CTD and LADCP surveys in the Kane Gap (Eastern Tropical Atlantic, about 9.3–9.5° N, 19.7–19.9° W) were carried out during eight Russian expeditions from 2009 to 2022: cruises 27, 29, 32, and 62 of the R/V "Akademik Ioffe" (May 2009, October 2009, October 2010, and August 2022), cruises 34 and 36 of the R/V "Akademik Sergey Vavilov" (October 2011 and October 2012), and cruises 33 and 44 of the R/V "Akademik Nikolay Strakhov" (December 2016 and October 2019). The Kane Gap is a narrow abyssal passage connecting the Sierra Leone and Cape Verde basins. The main objective of these surveys was to measure the bottom gravity currents of Antarctic Bottom Water in the passage, to estimate its transport, and to study the variability of its thermohaline structure and flow direction. Most of the stations were arranged as cross-sections over the main sill of the passage; in 2019 and 2022, sections along the passage were also performed. A total of 27 full water depth casts (down to the bottom) were performed. The Conductivity-Temperature-Depth (CTD) profilers Sea-Bird Electronics SBE 19plus (2009–2019) and Idronaut Ocean Seven 320Plus (2022) were used. The Lowered Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (LADCP) was a 300 kHz Teledyne RD Instruments WorkHorse Monitor. The raw LADCP data were processed using the LDEO Software version IX. The approach to the bottom was controlled using an altimeter. The dataset contains the list of stations (stations_list.txt) and two folders. The CTD folder contains one text file per station with the following columns: cruise, station, date and time (UTC), longitude, latitude, depth (m), in situ temperature (°C), salinity (PSU), and potential temperature (°C). The LADCP folder contains one text file per station: a header with the cruise, station, date, start time, start coordinates, and magnetic deviation, followed by the profiles of depth (m), eastward (U) and northward (V) velocity components (m/s), and the velocity error (m/s).