The atmospheric response to the oceanic forcing in the eastern Pacific along the northern equatorial sea surface temperature (SST) front is investigated in terms of sensible and latent heat flux during the 6-month period 28 July 1999 through 27 January 2000. Of particular interest is the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL)...
This thesis examines the mechanisms that couple the monthly-averaged
atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) to open-ocean sea surface temperature (SST)
perturbations on scales of 50-500 km. The observed positive correlation between
surface wind speed anomalies and SST anomalies is successfully simulated using
the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model.
In numerical...
Interactions between surface winds and meanders in mid-latitude sea surface temperature
(SST) fronts with horizontal length scales of 100-1000 km are investigated
from satellite observations and numerical simulations. Observations from the Sea-
Winds scatterometer on the QuikSCAT satellite show that the magnitude, direction,
curl, and divergence of the surface wind...
A modeling study is undertaken to better understand the physics of katabatic flows. This study is divided into three topics; a comparison between a large eddy simulation (LES) and a mesoscale model of katabatic flows, a sensitivity study of katabatic flows to various physical parameters, and an investigation into the...
Numerical model and assimilation experiments were conducted in the tropical Pacific Ocean to obtain a better understanding of the processes that control the cold tongue surface mixed layer temperature balance during August 1999 to July 2004. The numerical model was first applied to test two hypotheses (asymmetric background currents and...
This investigation is an exploration of the use of inherent optical properties towards further elucidation of coastal circulation processes occurring on the continental shelf and slope in the Middle Atlantic Bight, south of Cape Cod Massachusetts, during 14-Aug to 1-Sep 1996 and 25-Apr to 15-May 1997. Assessing the possibility of...
A variety of general circulation model experiments are performed to investigate the influence of seasonality and topography on the strength of baroclinic eddies in the Martian atmosphere. Three different models are used: a full physics model, a simplified physics model, and a zonally symmetric simplified physics model. All three models...
The effects of wind forcing on coastal ocean circulation are studied using a
numerical modeling approach. The first region of interest is on the North Carolina
shelf, where the Coastal Ocean Processes (CoOP) Inner Shelf Study (ISS) took place
during August - November 1994. ISS observations are used to initialize,...