Airborne Remote Sensing of Currents and Surface- and Internal-Wave Processes on the Inner Shelf (Expansion)
Abstract
Having participated in the DRI~s pilot experiment in 2015, this is an expansion proposalto participate in the planning, execution, and analysis of data from the Inner Shelf DRImain experiment in 2017. With continental shelves ranging in width from O(10 ~ 1000)kilometers, airborne techniques of remote sensing the currents, surface and internalwaves, and mixing on the shelf can provide large-area coverage and lend themselves totransition to suborbital unmanned platforms and satellites. We plan to fly the modularaerial sensing system (MASS; Melville et al. 2016) on a light-twin aircraft over the coastand inner shelf in the area of Pt. Sal, California. This experiment, in which there will beboth good in situ measurements over specific areas of the inner shelf and numericalmodeling by other groups, will provide an excellent opportunity to remotely followprocesses of surface and internal wave evolution over the shelf, and study their role inmixing on the inner shelf. With the dissipation of the wave fields comes the generation ofcurrents and the generation of turbulent kinetic energy for mixing the water column. Thiseffort will build on our earlier field work on wave-induced mixing over coral reefs andlagoons. Surface currents will be measured from the air using IR imagery and opticalfeature tracking techniques. The airborne measurements will provide data for initial andboundary conditions and assimilation into numerical models.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Feb 03, 2017
- Source ID
- N000141712171
Entities
People
- Ken Melville
Organizations
- Office of Naval Research
- United States Navy
- University of California, San Diego