A depth-dependent boundary layer lapse rate was empirically deduced from 156 radiosondes released during six month-long research cruises to the southeast Pacific sampling a variety of stratocumulus conditions. The lapse-rate dependence on boundary layer height is weak, decreasing from a best fit of 7.6 to 7.2 K km⁻¹ as the...
Cloud radars at X, Ka and W-bands have been used in the past for ocean studies of clouds, but the lack of suitable stabilization has limited their usefulness in obtaining accurate measurements of the velocity structure of cloud particles and the heights of cloud features. A 94 GHz (W-band) radar...
Widespread stratocumulus clouds were observed on nine transects from seven research cruises to the southeastern tropical Pacific Ocean along 20°S, 75°–85°W in October–November of 2001–08. The nine transects sample a unique combination of synoptic and interannual variability affecting the clouds; their ensemble diagnoses longitude–vertical sections of the atmosphere, diurnal cycles...
DYNAMO and TOGA-COARE observations and reanalysis-based surface flux products are
used to test theories of atmosphere-ocean interaction that explain the Madden-Julian
Oscillation (MJO). Negative intraseasonal outgoing longwave radiation, indicating deep
convective clouds, is in phase with increased surface wind stress, decreased solar heating,
and increased surface turbulent heat flux—mostly evaporation—from...
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Szoeke, S. P., Edson, J. B., Marion, J. R., Fairall, C. W., & Bariteau, L. (2014).
The MJO and Air-Sea
In this thesis, data collected during the Dynamics of the Madden Julian Oscillation (DYNAMO) field campaign, conducted in the Indian Ocean in Fall of 2011, is used to compute heat fluxes at the air-sea interface by evaluating eddy covariances and bulk aerodynamic formulae. Errors in daily average gridded fluxes computed...
Estimates of three components of an uncertainty budget for a coastal ocean model in a wind-forced regime
are made based on numerical simulations. The budget components behave differently in the shelf regime,
inshore of the 200-m isobath, and the slope-interior regime, between the 200-m isobath and a fixed longitude
(1268W)...
The life cycles of three Madden–Julian oscillation (MJO) events were observed over the Indian Ocean as part of the Dynamics of the MJO (DYNAMO) experiment. During November 2011 near 0°, 80°E, the site of the research vessel Roger Revelle, the authors observed intense multiscale interactions within an MJO convective envelope,...
A three-dimensional sea ice model is presented with resolved snow thickness variations and
melt ponds. The model calculates heating from solar radiative transfer and simulates the formation and
movement of brine/melt water through the ice system. Initialization for the model is based on observations
of snow topography made during the...
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snow cover and melt ponds
Eric D. Skyllingstad1, Karen M. Shell1, Lee Collins1, and Chris Polashenski2
The VAMOS Ocean-Cloud-Atmosphere-Land Study Regional Experiment (VOCALS-REx) was an international field program designed to make observations of poorly understood but critical components of the coupled climate system of the southeast Pacific. This region is characterized by strong coastal upwelling, the coolest SSTs in the tropical belt, and is home to...
The Office of Naval Research's Coupled Boundary Layers and Air–Sea Transfer (CBLAST) program is being conducted to investigate the processes that couple the marine boundary layers and govern the exchange of heat, mass, and momentum across the air–sea interface. CBLAST-LOW was designed to investigate these processes at the low-wind extreme...