The AlborEX dataset: sampling of submesoscale features in the Alboran Sea

AlborEX (Alboran Sea Experiment) consisted of a multi-platform, multi-disciplinary experiment carried out in the Alboran Sea (Western Mediterranean Sea) between May 25 and 31, 2014. The observational component of AlborEx aimed to sample the physical and biogeochemical properties of oceanographic features present along an intense frontal zone, with a particular interest in the vertical motions in its vicinity. To this end, the mission included 1 research vessel (66 profiles), 2 underwater gliders (adding up 554 profiles), 3 profiling floats and 25 surface drifters.

Near real-time ADCP velocities were collected nightly and during the CTD sections. All of the profiling floats acquired temperature and conductivity profiles, while the Provor-bio float also measured oxygen and chlorophyll-a concentrations, colored dissolved organic matter, backscattering at 700 nm, downwelling irradiance at 380, 410, 490 nm, and photo-synthetically active radiation (PAR).

In the context of mesoscale and submesoscale interactions, the AlborEX dataset constitutes a particularly valuable source of information to infer mechanisms, evaluate vertical transport and establish relationships between the thermal and haline structures and the biogeochemical variable evolution, in a region characterised by strong horizontal gradients provoked by the confluence of Atlantic and Mediterranean Waters, thanks to its multi-platform, multi-disciplinary nature.

The most recent version of the dataset is available at http://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1328238.