Shelf MIxed Layer Experiment (SMILE) program description and coastal and moored array data report

Funding was provided by the National Science Foundation throughGrant No. OCE-87-16937.

The Shelf MIxed Layer Experiment (SMILE) was designed to study the response ofthe oceanic surface boundary layer over the continental shelf to atmospheric forcing. TheSMILE field program was conducted over the northern California shelf between Pt. Arenaand Pt. Reyes from mid-November 1988 to mid-May 1989. The field program consisted offive main components: (a) a long-term moored array to obtain current, temperature, andconductivity time series observations in the upper ocean over the shelf; (b) a short-termmoored instrument deployment to measure the vertical current shear and stratification inthe top 6 m of the water column; (c) shipboard CTD and acoustic Doppler current profiler(ADCP) surveys over the shelf and adjacent slope to map regional water property andcurrent distributions; (d) a long-term moored and coastal meteorological array including onesounding station to obtain time series observations of the atmospheric surface forcing andmonitor the structure of the marine boundary layer; and (e) overflights with an instrumentedaircraft to measure the spatial structure of the surface wind, wind stress, and heat flux fieldsunder different atmospheric conditions.This report has two objectives: (a) to describe the SMILE field program, includingoverviews of the five components, and (b) to present a statistical and graphical summaryof the atmospheric (wind, air temperature, pressure, relative humidity, short- and longwaveradiation) and oceanic (current, water temperature, and conductivity) long-term arraymeasurements made as part of SMILE. A more detailed description of the instrumentationused in SMILE and an assessment of instrument performance and accuracy are presentedseparately by Dean et al. (1991).