Air-Sea Interface and Upper Ocean Characterization by Emerging Technologies
Abstract
Upper ocean processes influence the transfer of heat, momentum, and tracers between theatmosphere and the ocean, and have important" implications in climate studies and for the largescaleocean circulation. High frequency variability in the oceanic surface boundar"y layer ispoorly characterized, but is relevant, for example, to the propagation of sound, light, orelectromagnetic energy. Modeli"ng and simulation (M&S) tools of the air-sea interface rely onsurface boundary layer parameterizations that are known to be deficie"nt in their representation ofthe physical processes in the upper ocean. In the littorals, the problem becomes increasinglymore com"plex due to orographic effects leading to air-sea-land interactions that remain poorlycharacterized in models despite shifts to hig"her computational resolutions. Our interests for thisproject span the fields of surface waves, coastal and open ocean oceanography," and remotesensing. Our oceanographic objectives are to characterize the spatial gradients of surface wavesand wave breaking at an" open ocean location in regions with varying degrees of horizontal shear.In addition, methods will be developed to optically charac"terize the upper ocean usinginstrumentation that measures the Apparent Optical Properties (AOP) and Inherent OpticalProperties (IO"P) of the water column on a fixed platform (cage) and autonomous platforms(Unmanned Surface Vessel (USV), Unmanned Underwater Vehic"le (UUV)). Data will becollected in both underway and station keeping configurations. The measurement of bothapparent and inherent optical properties will provide a benchmark data set for ONR investigatorsto test radiative transfer models of light propagation
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Jun 09, 2017
- Source ID
- N000141712402
Entities
People
- Eric Terrill
Organizations
- Office of Naval Research
- United States Navy
- University of California, San Diego