ON THE BENTHIC BOUNDARY-LAYERS DYNAMICS

The Shirshov Institute of Oceanology in cooperation with other special ized Russian institutions has developed autonomous self-contained inst ruments (ADS) for long-term investigations of the benthic boundary lay er (BBL) of the ocean. This paper is an analysis of the experience of ADS's application for long-term investigations of the BBL's dynamics b ased upon direct measurements of velocity components 2.5-25 m above th e bottom, simultaneous observation of benthic water temperature and co ncurrent measurements of local seismicity of the sea-floor, as recorde d by ADSs, which were deployed more than 50 times at depths ranging fr om 730-6125 m on the bottom of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans and the Mediterranean Sea. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved .