9632349 BRINK Physical and physical/biological measurements will investigate the sources, retention and losses of zooplankton and ichthyoplankton over Georges Bank during the U.S.GLOBEC Northwest Atlantic Field Studies Phase 2 program. This project will focus on issues involving retention (in the form of recirculation around the inner part of the Bank), losses from the southern flank of the Bank into the Slope Water, and losses westward into the Middle Atlantic Bight. A year-long, 9-element moored array will be placed along the southeastern end of the Bank to measure the local kinematics and dynamics of recirculation and to observe properties of the shelf break front (which is in effect the southern boundary of the Bank). Three highly resolved (1 km or better resolution) SeaSoar surveys are proposed along the southern flank to investigate losses due to warm-core rings, wind events, and shelf break eddies. SeaSoar surveys will measure normal physical variables (currents, temperature and salinity), and will include zooplankton observations made with a Video Plankton Recorder (VPR) and the Tracor Acoustic Profiling System (TAPS). ***
