Title | Short-term observations of daily currents on the continental slope off Natal Bight, along the east coast of South Africa at location Dbn03 (April 2009 - September 2009) |
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Project | African Coelacanth Ecosystem Programme (ACEP) |
Authors |
Gavin Louw Marcel van den Berg Tarron Lamont |
Publisher | Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (2024) |
Contributors |
Contact Person: Marcel van den Berg |
Abstract | Between 2009 and 2013, multiple short-term mooring deployments were conducted to determine the oceanographic characteristics and variability along the KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) Bight, along the east coast of South Africa. One mooring (Sez01) was deployed off Sezela, about 79km south of Durban, at a depth of 30m, between June 2009 and July 2010. Three moorings (Dbn01, Dbn02, and Dbn03) were deployed off Durban at depths of 50m, 420m, and 570m, respectively, between January 2009 and September 2010, and two moorings (RiB01 and RiB02) were deployed off Richards Bay at depths of 30m and 580m, respectively, between February 2009 and September 2010. These moorings measured currents, as well as sub-surface and bottom temperatures across the continental shelf and along the continental slope of the KZN Bight. Here we present processed magnitude and direction of daily currents throughout the water column (44.35 - 524.35m) from an Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP) at location Dbn03 (29.99°S; 31.49°E) on the continental slope off Durban, between April 2009-September 2009. |
Methods | A bottom-mounted, upward-looking, 75kHz RD Instruments Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP) was configured with a bin size of 16m and a blanking distance of 5m, and deployed at location Dbn03 (29.99°S; 31.49°E), on the continental slope of Durban. The instrument measured hourly magnitude and direction throughout the water column (44.35 - 524.35m) between 01 April 2009 and 27 September 2009. These hourly values were corrected for magnetic declination, and then averaged to daily means for each depth bin. Only hourly values which showed ≥ 75% good beam data were used, and daily values were only generated for days on which there were 75% or more hourly readings. |
Data | |
Temporal extent | 01 Apr 2009 – 27 Sep 2009 |
Geographic extent |
KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
North: -29.0 |
Vertical extent |
Max: -524.35 m Min: -44.35 m |
Keywords | ACEP III - Ecosystem Processes in the KwaZulu-Natal Bight, ADCP, currents, INDIAN OCEAN, moorings, temperature |
Related resources |
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