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 aco ustical changes in the upper ocean during and following periods of strong surface forcing. The ice-free high-latitude oceans are su bjected to a wide range of forcing conditions. Wind forcing, freshwater forcing, and surface heat fluxes are all highly variable, o ver 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 causes rapid changes in the upper-ocean boundary layer . Many of those changes-- including mixed layer deepening, variability in turbulence and mixing, and changes in temperature and sali nity-- impact the patterns of acoustic transmission loss in the upper ocean. In regions with elevated salinity stratification, like the Arctic, the effect of strong forcing on shallow mixed layers is complexin space and time, and occurs on small scales, challengin g both our observational capacity and our forecasting skill. The high-latitude ocean environment poses additional, unique challenge s for observation, prediction, and operations. The strong forcing, the role of salinity in stratification and sound speed, the rela tively small size of mesoscale eddies, and even the sporadic performance of magnetic compasses all complicate the observation of sur face forcing and upper-ocean response. This proposal is directly targeted at meeting these challenges with an innovative observatio nal platform that has been jointly developed by groups at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO) and the Woods Hole Oceanogra phic Institution (WHOI) under ONR funding.This is a proposal to continue development of a novel drogued buoy platform for air-sea in teraction measurements, incorporating a high-quality, low-cost surface meteorological package (WHOI) and a subsurface profiling inst rument package driven by ocean waves (SIO) in order to provide real-time measurements of surface meteorology, air-sea fluxes, and th e physical and bio-optical 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 expeditionary drogued buoys to provide key real-time measurements about s urface and subsurface conditions in a relatively easy-to-deploy and low-cost package, (2) we will refurbish and assemble two larger drogued buoys to provide research quality measurements on the surface forcing and ocean evolution of key physical and bio-optical pr operties during the planned IOPs.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Sep 07, 2021
- Source ID
- N000142112745
Entities
People
- John Farrar
Organizations
- Office of Naval Research
- United States Navy
- Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution