SAR-Related Stress Variability in the Marine Atmospheric Boundary Layer (MABL)
Abstract
By variably stressing the sea surface, secondary circulations within the marine atmospheric boundary layer (MABL) can modulate the sea-surface wave field and so can produce discernible signatures on SAR images of the ocean. Indeed, at the Fall '93 ARI workshop, Robert Beal showed ERS-I images illustrating the ubiquity of these signatures during the second HIGH-RES cruise in June 1993. Among the resulting signatures, the quasi-linear and cellular microscale patterns still require adequate explanation. The ubiquitous MABL two- and three-dimensional convective circulations provide promising candidates for the forcing phenomena producing these signatures. These microscale circulations have horizontal wavelengths on the order of one to ten times the boundary layer depth, or approximately one to ten km, and temporal scales on the order of one to ten hours. Thus, they produce stress variations on the spatial and temporal scales of the quasi-linear and cellular SAR signatures. Similarly the frequent occurrence of two-dimensional mesoscale atmospheric circulations in response to the SST gradient along the northwest wall of the Gulf Stream adds an atmospheric component to Gulf Stream signatures on SAR images on crossstream scales of 1 to 50 km.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 30, 1993
- Accession Number
- ADA275275
Entities
People
- George S. Young
- Hampton N. Shirer
Organizations
- Pennsylvania State University