Atmospheric Forcing of Ocean Convection in the Labrador Sea

Abstract

My long-term goal is to improve our ability to model and predict dynamic and thermodynamic ocean processes in high-latitude regions. Specifically, I seek to understand and predict how atmospheric forcing such as surface momentum, heat and salinity fluxes affects the ocean. The ultimate objective of this study is to understand the relation between atmospheric forcing and deep convection in high-latitude seas, in particular, the Labrador Sea. The atmosphere provides the crucial input into the upper ocean, which results in destabilization and convection in the ocean. A necessary component of this objective is to verify and improve the parameterizations which numerical models use to specify surface fluxes over high-latitude marine regions. Another objective is to enhance our understanding of how these surface fluxes are related to upper-level and large scale atmospheric features. Finally, I seek to quantify the various feedbacks that occur between the ocean and atmosphere in the Labrador Sea and other high-latitude oceans.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Sep 30, 1999
Accession Number
ADA630656

Entities

People

  • Peter Guest

Organizations

  • Naval Postgraduate School

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Advanced Electronics
  • Air Platforms
  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Ground and Sea Platforms
  • Materials and Manufacturing Processes

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Atmospheres
  • Boundary Layer
  • Convection
  • Heat Energy
  • Heat Flux
  • High Latitudes
  • Labrador Sea
  • Latent Heat
  • Latitude
  • Layers
  • Measurement
  • Meteorology
  • Momentum
  • Newfoundland (Province)
  • Oceans
  • Surface Temperature
  • Weather Forecasting

Fields of Study

  • Environmental science

Readers

  • Ocean-Atmosphere Mesoscale Modeling, Data Assimilation, and Flux Boundary Layers