Abstract

This paper describes an instrument which has been used successfully at a field site in the Bight of Abaco, Bahamas, to monitor the atmospheric pressure field above surface gravity waves in the frequency range .5 to 5. rad/s. The atmospheric pressure is sampled at fixed elevations with a cone-shaped probe having a pressure coefficient of less than .02 magnitude for angles of attack less than 15°; the probe is mounted on a vane to minimize horizontal angles of attack. The pressure signal is conducted to a subsurface transducer through a mercury-sealed bearing. Overall system noise is estimated to be of order .5 µbars and is largely wave-incoherent.

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