| COARE projects | ||
| - | Enhanced Monitoring | |
| - | Small-Scale Measurements | |
| - | Project Summary | |
| - | Large Diurnal Warming (abstract) | |
| - | Spatial Variability (abstract) | |
| - | Sharp Frontal Interfaces (abstract) | |
| - | Data Report | |
| - | IOP | |
| - | Air-Sea Fluxes | |
| COARE data | ||
| - | SEACAT | |
| - | CTD | |
| TOGA/COARE related home pages | ||
| University of Hawai`i related home pages | ||
| Feedback | ||
Small-Scale Measurements at the Ocean-Air Interface during TOGA COARE
Project Summary
During the Intensive Observation Period (IOP; November 1992-February 1993) of the TOGA Coupled Ocean-Atmosphere Response Experiment (COARE), small-scale measurements at the ocean-air interface within the COARE domain were made. The measurements in the upper ocean includes high-resolution temperature, salinity and fluctuation velocity profiling (both vertical and horizontal); bulk temperature, salinity and velocity difference measurements in the upper ocean, as well as continuous high-resolution temperature profiling at the ocean-air interface. The measurements were made with free-rising profilers, an underwater bow-mounted unit and a dropsonde. The data are being analyzed to understand the contribution of small-scale processes at the ocean-air interface at low wind speed to sea surface temperature, salinity, and current velocity. The high-resolution horizontal sections of temperature, salinity, and fluctuation velocity describes spatial response of rain-formed lenses and warm pools in the COARE domain to sudden wind episodes during the westerly burst or squall, being accompanied by small-scale fronts induced by wind forcing. The analysis provides a more complete picture of the ocean-atmosphere coupling at the COARE domain and establishes its association with small-scale processes at the ocean-air interface.
Last modified: December 22, 1997