MBL Experiment Overview
The unique research platform R/P FLIP was used for 30 days in April-May off of Monterey,
California, to study the interactions of the wind and upper ocean in the Marine Boundary Layer (MBL)
experiment, Phase II. The physics of the energy exchanges between the air and ocean are not well
understood and require specific experiments to obtain parameterizations of the complex processes for
use in computer models of weather forecasting, climate studies, ocean wave prediction and upper-ocean
thermal structure.
FLIP (FLoating Instrument Platform) is a 360-foot long spar buoy owned by the US Navy and
operated by the Marine Physical Laboratory of the University of California's
Scripps Institution of Oceanography.
In use for over 30 years, FLIP's raison d'etre is its' high degree of
stability once vertical in the water which enables precision oceanographic and meteorological
measurements to be obtained free of pitching, rolling and heaving motions typical of conventional
ships. In 10-foot seas, FLIP's vertical motion is only a few inches. FLIP is towed
to the site of interest in the horizontal position, and `flips' to the vertical position in about
20 minutes by flooding tanks in the long tube-shaped stern section. Once vertical, FLIP can be
free-drifting or moored to the bottom by long anchor lines of nylon rope. In the MBL experiment,
FLIP was in a three-point moor in about 6000 feet of water. The keel was positioned to withing 5 degrees
of North, and held to within about 15 degrees of North depending on the wind drag on the asymmetrical
booms during the experiment.
For the MBL experiment, FLIP's stability attracted 5 groups of researchers who made
measurements in the ocean, of the ocean's wavy surface and in the atmospheric boundary layer. The
principle researchers and measurements were:
