Long-term, quality-controlled observations of near-shore wind momentum and heat flux at the Martha’s Vineyard Coastal Observatory’s Air-Sea Interaction Tower

Quality-controlled atmospheric and oceanic observations of the wind momentum flux and heat flux in the surface layer above the ocean are provided based on data collected at Martha’s Vineyard Coastal Observatory (MVCO). The main dataset consists of wind speed, momentum flux, and heat flux observations made in 16 years over a 20 year period at measurement heights of 20 m above mean sea level. Ancillary data for comparison with bulk formula such as coare 3.5 (Edson et al. (2013)) include air temperature, relative humidity, air pressure, ocean surface temperature, ocean current speed, and solar radia- tion. MVCO is composed of three main elements, an Air-Sea Interaction Tower (ASIT, 3 km south of Martha’s Vineyard in 17-m water; Figure 1a), a Meteorological Mast (Met, 4 km northeast of ASIT), and an 12-m underwater node (UN, 1.6 km northeast of ASIT in 12-m water). The majority of the observations were collected at ASIT, while the ancillary data are from a combination of ASIT, Met, and UN.