Sy, A. et al. (2002): Upper Ocean Climate Ship-of-Opportunity Programme of BSH - A Status Report 
11 
2.2 Europe - Brazil line AX-11 
The Europe-Brazil line was 
established in 1981 by former 
DHI (now BSH) as the first 
German contribution to the 
IGOSS SOOP line system, 
and has been kept 
operational until today without 
major interruptions. The 
introduction of SEAS equip 
ment allowed an improved 
sampling strategy in 1990 
because the analysis of 
Emery et al. (1987) had 
shown that the original low 
density modus of this line 
was of limited scientific value 
only. Since the summer of 
1996 the measurements 
have been carried out by the 
German container vessel 
"Cap Finisterre" (DACF, Fig. 6) on her way due north. The transects have a resolution of 60 nm 
because XBTs are dropped at each degree latitude. 
Both the data acquisition and data management systems are the same as those used for line 
AX-3, except for the use of Sippican’s Deep Blue XBT (800 m depth range) as standard probe 
type due to the shallower mixed layer of the tropics and subtropics. Since October 1999, the 
operation of this line has been seriously affected by the same probe wire related quality 
problems as described above (see section 2.1). Because of the tremendous increase in the 
failure rate from less than 5 % to over 50 %, the programme was interrupted several times in 
2000 and 2001 until the probes were finally replaced (warranty) (see data decrease in Fig. 3). 
Since then the failure rate has dropped to the previous low level (Fig. 7). 
Fig. 6: CMS “Cap Finisterre” operated by 
Hamburg-Süd, Hamburg, Germany 
Fig. 7: Example of a regular Deep Blue XBT temperature section from Brazil to Europe 
(AX-11) carried out by CMS „Cap Finisterre“ in June 2001. The line intersects 
the eastern margin of the subtropical gyre.