Coastal Land-Air-Sea Interaction (CLASI) Studies in Montrey Bay, California
Abstract
Shallow coastal waters respond quickly to changes in the local surface wind fields (direction, strength, and shoreline alignment), generating local seas and currents and modifying incoming swell. The local, coastal wind field becomes even more complex when there are prominent orographic features (headlands, valleys, canyon and bluffs, for example). Sparse in-situ wind observations along the coast are generally insufficient to provide a) a good description of the local wind field and it response characteristics to changing weather patterns and b) representative data useful as input to operational weather prediction models such as COAMPS, the NavyÕs premier coupled ocean-atmosphere model. Operational wave, current and sediment transport models depend strongly on accurate surface wind fields to describe the near coastal ocean dynamics for these local scales of variability on grid sizes of 10Õs of meters rather than 100Õs to 1000Õs of meters. Surface wind fields from COAMPS do not match these scales, typically running at a much coarser 1-3 km resolution and utilize open ocean drag and flux formulations for its boundary layer closure. This proposal covers a pilot study of the variability of coastal winds in Monterey Bay, CA. The approach includes the use of two small, coastal vessels equipped with air-sea interaction sensors, acquisition of high resolution satellite radar imagery and the use and analysis of marine X-band radar data if available. The study will be conducted over an 18-month period.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Jun 10, 2016
- Source ID
- N000141612196
Entities
People
- Hans Graber
Organizations
- Office of Naval Research
- United States Navy
- University of Miami