Variability of the Bottom Flow as Measured by Currentmeters in the SAMOC Basin-wide Array

The SAMBAR Project (FAPESP - grant 2017/09659-6) is a Brazilian contribution to the international effort to investigate the variability of the meridional fluxes across the SAMOC Basin-wide Array (SAMBA). In addition to regular oceanographic cruises on the western half of the zonal line extending along 34.5^oS, it includes the deployment and maintenance of currentmeter-pressure enabled inverted echosounders (C-PIES). Some instruments have been in place since 2012. Analysis of the velocity data sampled by two of these C-PIES (Sites AA: 50^oW and BB: 48.2^oW) from 12-Dec-2012 to 16-Dec-2014 show intense intra-annual variability, with mean in the order of 1.0 centimeter per second and standard deviation three to four times higher. In spite of the short length of the time series, one interesting aspect from the preliminary analyses are noticeable differences in annual mean values and standard deviations, for the two consecutive years. This indicates also some interannual variability. Two of the most recent additions to the C-PIES array, moored in the central part of SAMBA, are equipped with two data shuttles each, programmed to be released in Jan/2020 and Jan 2021. The data transmitted via satellite in the first release, together with additional data from the older instruments and products of numerical models, will be used to enhance the discussions on the variability of the near-bottom flow across the western half of SAMBA.