Astoria Canyon Current Meter Mooring Measurements 1983

Seven Aanderaa current meter moorings (AC831-AC837) collected high-frequency oceanographic data in and around the Astoria Canyon off the Pacific Northwest coast. The dataset contains filtered and quality-controlled measurements of current speed, direction, and water temperature, sampled at 15-minute intervals. It was created by researchers at the University of Washington and is cited in multiple peer-reviewed studies on coastal circulation and canyon dynamics.

Use Cases

• Analyzing the response of steep-sided submarine canyons to time-variable wind forcing using current speed and direction time-series.
• Studying advection-driven upwelling dynamics over a shelf break canyon using the resolved u and v current components.
• Investigating the spin-up effects of a submarine canyon on coastal circulation patterns using temperature and current data.
• Validating numerical models of coastal oceanography for the Washington and Oregon continental shelf and slope.

Strengths

• Data underwent quality control, including editing for spurious values and application of a 5-point binomial filter spanning ~1.25 hours.
• Measurements from seven distinct mooring locations provide spatial coverage in and around the Astoria Canyon.
• High temporal resolution with data sampled at 15-minute intervals captures detailed current variability.

Limitations

• Critical metadata conflicts: the 'last updated' date is reported as both 1983-09-22 and 2026-03-05 across sources.
• Specific column names, total row count, file size, and data license are not provided by any source.
• The temporal coverage is limited to a single season from May to September 1983.

Provenance

Source

University of Washington, hosted by NOAA NCEI.

Collection Method

Deployed Aanderaa current meter moorings measuring speed, direction, and temperature.

Time Range

1983-05-19 to 1983-09-22

Freshness

2026-03-05 23:17:50.133365

Geography

Astoria Canyon, North East Pacific Coast (Washington/Oregon continental shelf and slope).