The Autonomous Temperature Line Acquisition System was initiated by PMEL's Engineering Development Division (EDD) in 1984. The standard ATLAS mooring had a design lifetime of one year, and the system proved to be robust and reliable. Over 500 Standard ATLAS moorings were deployed between 1984 and 2001. The final standard ATLAS was recovered in November 2001 and NextGeneration ATLAS moorings are now used exclusively in the TAO array.
Standard ATLAS moorings measured surface winds, air temperature, relative humidity, sea surface temperature, and ten subsurface temperatures from a 500 m long thermistor cable. Daily-mean data were telemetered to shore in near real-time via NOAA's polar-oribiting satellites and Service Argos. A small subset of hourly values (2-3 per day) coinciding with satellite passes were also transmitted in real time. Hourly values of surface data were internally recorded and available after mooring recovery.
More info at "http://www.pmel.noaa.gov/tao/proj_over/mooring.shtml"
[Source: NOAA]
Group: Platform_Details
Entry_ID: ATLAS MOORINGS
Group: Platform_Identification
Platform_Category: In Situ Ocean-based Platforms
Platform_Series_or_Entity: MOORINGS
Short_Name: ATLAS MOORINGS
Long_Name: Autonomous Temperature Line Acquisition System
End_Group
Group: Synonymous_Platform_Names
Short_Name: Atlas Moorings
End_Group
Creation_Date: 2007-12-12
Online_Resource: http://www.pmel.noaa.gov/tao/proj_over/mooring.shtml
Sample_Image: http://www.whoi.edu/cms/images/lstokey/2005/1/v39n2-rothstein3en_4592.jpg
End_Group (en)