The Air-Sea Interaction Profiler (ASIP) was developed to provide high spatial- and temporal-resolution observations of the mixed layer of the ocean. Fundamental design parameters were that it would be (i) autonomous in order to avoid any ship-induced noise, and to provide Lagrangian datasets (ii) upwardly-rising in order to resolve the small-scale processes to the immediate ocean surface. ASIP was initially deployed in 2007 after three years of engineering development and it is currently in its 4th iteration. It has been at many locations in the World's oceans for different scientific objectives and has generated over three thousand profiles of mixed layer turbulence since its inception. This talk will provide a synthesis of these observations, which provide new insights into the dynamics of the turbulent mixed layer.

 

mixed layer, asip, turbulence