Fisheries Oceanography in Coastal Alabama (FOCAL) Mooring Data (Fall 2015)

The oceanographic community routinely collects time-series data of hydrographic properties and water current velocity of the marine environment. Such data are essential for establishing baseline characteristics of marine and estuarine ecosystems. These data are from a small coastal ocean observing system 25 kilometers southwest of the mouth of Mobile Bay, Alabama (30.0902 N 88.2116 W), that the Dauphin Island Sea Lab has been operating. The overarching goal of the proposed research was to identify and determine the kinematic and dynamic transport processes that govern the distribution, dispersion, dilution, and fate of oil-derived substances in Alabama's coastal waters. As such, the project examined the flow field characteristics on the Alabama shelf from both the Eulerian perspective. The data were collected between 28 July and 09 December, 2015. The instruments during that time period were deployed on 28 July, replaced on 14 Oct. Instrument data have been combined to produce separate data files: temperature data (five thermistors, and two CTDs (two moored)) and velocity data (upward looking ADCP).