The float was launched in a triad with NPS#49 and NPS#50 along a hardly curved arc off the coast between Point Lobos and Point Sur at a distance 12 and 24 km, respectively. The distance between the launch points was about 27 km (Figure 1).
The float was entrained in the Undercurrent almost immediately after launching and was moving along shore during all the mission (Figure 2).
From February 1, 1997 through March 7, 1997 the float made two consecutive anticyclonic loops (Figure 4) with the following characteristics:
Number of loops 2 Diameter, km 33.9 Duration, days 34 Period, days 17 Swirl velocity, cm/s 7.2 Translation velocity, cm/s 2.2 Direction, degrees 339 Rossby number 0.04
The float was ballasted for 275 dbar but the real depth reached by the float was about 360 dbar for the first 200 days of the mission (Figure 3). Then the float was rising for about 0.2 dbar a day and reached about 220 dbar on day-403 (October 5, 1997). After that th float terminated its subsurface mission.