Distributed, Real-Time Observations of the Air-Sea Interface
Abstract
Fluxes of momentum, moisture, heat, and gas across the air-sea interface govern processes ranging from local weather and wave condit,ions, to global circulation and climate variability. Despite its foundational role in ocean-atmospheric processes across a vast rang,e of spatiotemporal scales, the dynamics of the air-sea interface remain poorly understood, in large part due to historic undersampl,ing of critical fluxes and the variables required to calculate them. Satellite-derived data products have proven valuable but are un,able to fill the gap entirely: limited swath width, long return periods, and the inability to sample certain key variables (e.g., se,a level pressure) restrict their utility. This paucity of data hampers forecast accuracy and ocean monitoring efforts, impeding our,ability to plan for climate change and extreme weather events. Advances in sensor technology and data-driven analysis methods provid,e a tremendous opportunity to develop nimble, affordable sensing platforms that can be deployed en masse to sample a large subset of, the relevant parameters that influence the ocean boundary layer. Therefore, the principal objective of this study is to develop and, validate the required methods for inferring air-sea momentum fluxes, moisture fluxes, heat fluxes, and air-entrainment rates from m,assively distributed ocean buoy networks. This will specifically be accomplished by (1) augmenting wave buoys with low-cost acoustic, and atmospheric state sensors, (2) developing and testing algorithms for inferring precipitation, air entrainment, and breaking wav,e dissipation from acoustic data, and (3) combining spectral wave data and acoustic signals with sea surface temperature, sea level,pressure, air temperature, relative humidity, and precipitation data to infer air-sea heat, moisture, and momentum fluxes through im,proved surface roughness and transfer coefficient estimation schemes. To facilitate algorithm development, ground-truth fluxes will,be measured during controlled field experiments with collaborating co-PIs at two distinct study sites. We will then deploy twenty au,gmented buoys for a long-dwell, open ocean experiment to assess and validate numerical model parameterizations. The key outcome of t,his research will be a scalable platform for constraining the dynamics of the air-sea interface with unmatched spatiotemporal resolu,tion and at historically low cost, driving improvements to both monitoring efforts and assimilative modeling of ocean-atmospheric pr,ocesses at global scales. The observational methods developed and validated during this project will result in an order-of-magnitude, increase in open-ocean air-sea flux data availability through distributed planetary or high-density regional observational networks,. Real-time data from these networks can provide unprecedented situational awareness, and will result in improvements to Navy operat,ional models through verification and calibration of model physics parameterizations, and increased forecast fidelity through real-t,ime data-assimilation. Furthermore, all data collected during this work will be made available for academic research purposes throug,h our API. Methods and associated parameterizations will be disseminated through peer-reviewed journal publications and presentation,s at scientific conferences. This will enable rapid, low-cost sensor development and deployment by oceanographic researchers worldw,ide, furthering the goal of ubiquitous, real-time ocean monitoring.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Jul 08, 2022
- Source ID
- N000142212405
Entities
People
- Galen Egan
Organizations
- Office of Naval Research
- United States Navy