The Bermuda Testbed Mooring (BTM)

The Bermuda Testbed Mooring is a deep sea mooring located ~80 km southeast of Bermuda near the Bermuda Atlantic Time-series Study (BATS) site.   The mooring consists of a large surface float, with an attached cable that is anchored at the bottom of the ocean by a very heavy weight.  Many different kinds of oceanographic instruments are deployed along the cable that continuously measure ocean properties such as currents, temperature, salinity, and nutrients.  Moorings provide a way of looking at ocean data at very high "resolution" (lots of measurements in a short period of time).  This is helpful because oceanographers can miss important events by only sampling once or twice a month from a ship.  To learn more, check out the web site at: http://www.icess.ucsb.edu/opl/btm.htm l