Characterization of Rapidly-Evolving Marine Atmospheric Boundary Layers (MABL)
Abstract
Rapidly evolving features in the atmosphere and ocean, such as fronts and eddies, pose challenges to numerical forecast systems. Atmospheric and oceanic boundary layer structures are the result of coupled dynamics between the atmosphere, ocean and surface gravity wave field. As a result, air-sea fluxes are modulated by surface gravity waves and small-scale features on either side of the interface couple driving boundary layer variability. Few observations capturing these transient features exist leading to limitations in our dynamical understanding of these processes in addition to deficient parameterizations in numerical models. This proposal describes a novel way of sampling rapidly evolving structures in atmospheric and oceanic boundary layers using remote-sensing to detect surface roughness variability and queuing fast autonomous vehicles for targeted sampling. The work will focus on the development of an autonomous, rapid marine atmospheric boundary layer (MABL) profiling capability using a UAV taking off and landing from a USV. This collaborative sampling technique overlaps with ONR-sponsored robotics competitions such as Maritime RobotX Challenge 2022 such that the proposed technology can have dual-use functionality for education and scientific research. The proposed instrumentation willsupport a network designed to accelerate technological and behavioral advances by providing a rapid test environment with portable systems that can be relocated to different operating environments. This abstract is publicly releasable.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Feb 06, 2023
- Source ID
- N000142312214
Entities
People
- Sophia Merrifield
Organizations
- Office of Naval Research
- United States Navy
- University of California, San Diego