RAFOS

Initial testing of 780 Hz RAFOS sources in Davis Strait, substantiated by the performance of the operational array, indicates effective navigation ranges of 100-150 km in ice-covered waters.

The RAFOS floats submerged 700 or 1,500 meters deep into a layer of cold water called Labrador Sea Water, which originally sank from the surface of the Labrador Sea.

The "RAFOS" floats were configured to submerge at 700 or 1,500 meters depth - within the layer of the ocean where one constituent of the cold southward-flowing water, called Labrador Sea Water, travels.

Dubbed the OairbridgeO, the link with Afghanistan is normally maintained using the RAFOs Lockheed TriStar transports (below) and Boeing C-17 strategic transports, plus a variety of leased commercial passenger and freight aircraft.

Drifters such as Argo, RAFOS, and Spray (now being developed by Brechner Owens at WHOI and Russ Davis at Scripps Institution of Oceanography) are pre-programmed to deflate and inflate a bladder, which causes them to sink as much as 2,000 meters (6,500 feet) in the ocean and then rise again to the surface as they are carried along by currents.

WHOI has played a major role in the evolution of drifting sensors from Swallow floats through SOFAR and RAFOS drifters to today's rapidly improving family of profilers (ALACE, PALACE, SLOCUM--see Oceanus Fall/Winter 1996 for an article on these instruments).