NORSE: Drifting buoy systems to measure air-sea fluxes and the ocean boundary layer response
Abstract
The long-term goal of this project is to observe and improve understanding of the physics of rapid dynamical, thermodynamic, and acoustical changes in the upper ocean during and following periods of strong surface forcing. The ice-free high-latitude oceans are subjected to a wide range of forcing conditions. Wind forcing, freshwater forcing, and surface heat fluxes are all highly variable, over both the seasonal time scale and the weather timescale. For example, wind speeds in the ice-free high-latitude oceans can go fr om almost zero to gale force in a matter of hours. Strong atmospheric forcing is reflected in rapid changes within the ocean bound ary layer. Many of those changes including mixed layer (surface duct) deepening, variability in turbulence and mixing, and the stir ring of temperature, salinity on isopycnalsimpact the patterns of acoustic transmission loss in the upper ocean, especially at midf requencies. In regions with elevated salinity stratification, like the Arctic, the effect of strong forcing on shallow mixed layers is complex in space and time, and occurs on small scales. The high-latitude ocean environment poses additional, unique challenges. T he strong forcing, the role of salinity in stratification and sound speed, the small size of mesoscale eddies, and even the sporadic performance of magnetic compasses all complicate the observation of surface forcing and upper-ocean response. This proposal is dire ctly targeted at meeting these challenges with an innovative observational platform that has been jointly developed by groups at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO) and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) under ONR funding. This is a propos al to continue development of a novel drogued buoy platform for air-sea interaction measurements, incorporating a high-quality, low- cost surface meteorological package (WHOI) and a subsurface profiling instrument package driven by ocean waves (SIO) in order to pro vide real-time measurements of surface meteorology, air-sea fluxes, and the physical and biooptical properties of the upper several hundred meters of the water column. We will adapt our previous design in two new directions for NORSE: (1) we will build two small e xpeditionary drogued buoys to provide key real-time measurements about surface and subsurface conditions in a relatively easy-to-dep loy and low-cost package, (2) we will refurbish and assemble two larger drogued buoys to provide research quality measurements on th e surface forcing and ocean evolution of key physical and bio-optical properties during the planned IOPs. This abstract is publicl y releasable
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Oct 22, 2021
- Source ID
- N000142112741
Entities
People
- Andrew J. Lucas
Organizations
- Office of Naval Research
- United States Navy
- University of California, San Diego