CTD Station 17
- Purpose: Search for the source of 3 separate 1995 buoyant plumes located midway between the Salty Dawg and High Rise vent fields.
- Summary: The first attempt was intriguing in that we saw a number of instabilities, but one of the conductivity cells went on the fritz early on. We returned to the surface, replaced the bad cell, and began the survey anew. During the second attempt there was excellent correspondence between buoyant plumes and targets. Good bottle samples were taken in strong inversions - one nearly as dramatic as those seen directly over MEF sources (Christian fell short of Fritz's theta anomaly record by less than 0.01oC!). A convenient range of currents during distinct plume encounters should help better locate the sources. Near the end of the tow, over by the E valley wall, an unusual near-bottom inversion was observed that inspired diverse explanations from Fritz (Ekman pumping relaxation), Christian (downslope flow and intrusion of super-dense brine), and Scott (near-bottom plume from a FRESH source).
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