TY - JOUR
T1 - The coupled boundary layers and air-sea transfer experiment in low winds
AU - Edson, James
AU - Crawford, Timothy
AU - Crescenti, Jerry
AU - Farrar, Tom
AU - Frew, Nelson
AU - Gerbi, Greg
AU - Helmis, Costas
AU - Hristov, Tihomir
AU - Khelif, Djamal
AU - Jessup, Andrew
AU - Jonsson, Haf
AU - Li, Ming
AU - Mahrt, Larry
AU - McGillis, Wade
AU - Plueddemann, Albert
AU - Shen, Lian
AU - Skyllingstad, Erik
AU - Stanton, Tim
AU - Sullivan, Peter
AU - Sun, Jielun
AU - Trowbridge, John
AU - Vickers, Dean
AU - Wang, Shouping
AU - Wang, Qing
AU - Weller, Robert
AU - Wilkin, John
AU - Williams, Albert J.
AU - Yue, D. K.P.
AU - Zappa, Chris
PY - 2007/3
Y1 - 2007/3
N2 - The Office of Naval Research's Coupled Boundary Layers and Air-Sea Transfer (CBLAST) program is being conducted to investigate the processes that couple the marine boundary layers and govern the exchange of heat, mass, and momentum across the air-sea interface. CBLAST-LOW was designed to investigate these processes at the low-wind extreme where the processes are often driven or strongly modulated by buoyant forcing. The focus was on conditions ranging from negligible wind stress, where buoyant forcing dominates, up to wind speeds where wave breaking and Langmuir circulations play a significant role in the exchange processes. The field program provided observations from a suite of platforms deployed in the coastal ocean south of Martha's Vineyard. Highlights from the measurement campaigns include direct measurement of the momentum and heat fluxes on both sides of the air-sea interface using a specially constructed Air-Sea Interaction Tower (ASIT), and quantification of regional oceanic variability over scales of O(1-104 mm) using a mesoscale mooring array, aircraft-borne remote sensors, drifters, and ship surveys. To our knowledge, the former represents the first successful attempt to directly and simultaneously measure the heat and momentum exchange on both sides of the air-sea interface. The latter provided a 3D picture of the oceanic boundary layer during the month-long main experiment. These observations have been combined with numerical models and direct numerical and large-eddy simulations to investigate the processes that couple the atmosphere and ocean under these conditions. For example, the oceanic measurements have been used in the Regional Ocean Modeling System (ROMS) to investigate the 3D evolution of regional ocean thermal stratification. The ultimate goal of these investigations is to incorporate improved parameterizations of these processes in coupled models such as the Coupled Ocean-Atmosphere Mesoscale Prediction System (COAMPS) to improve marine forecasts of wind, waves, and currents.
AB - The Office of Naval Research's Coupled Boundary Layers and Air-Sea Transfer (CBLAST) program is being conducted to investigate the processes that couple the marine boundary layers and govern the exchange of heat, mass, and momentum across the air-sea interface. CBLAST-LOW was designed to investigate these processes at the low-wind extreme where the processes are often driven or strongly modulated by buoyant forcing. The focus was on conditions ranging from negligible wind stress, where buoyant forcing dominates, up to wind speeds where wave breaking and Langmuir circulations play a significant role in the exchange processes. The field program provided observations from a suite of platforms deployed in the coastal ocean south of Martha's Vineyard. Highlights from the measurement campaigns include direct measurement of the momentum and heat fluxes on both sides of the air-sea interface using a specially constructed Air-Sea Interaction Tower (ASIT), and quantification of regional oceanic variability over scales of O(1-104 mm) using a mesoscale mooring array, aircraft-borne remote sensors, drifters, and ship surveys. To our knowledge, the former represents the first successful attempt to directly and simultaneously measure the heat and momentum exchange on both sides of the air-sea interface. The latter provided a 3D picture of the oceanic boundary layer during the month-long main experiment. These observations have been combined with numerical models and direct numerical and large-eddy simulations to investigate the processes that couple the atmosphere and ocean under these conditions. For example, the oceanic measurements have been used in the Regional Ocean Modeling System (ROMS) to investigate the 3D evolution of regional ocean thermal stratification. The ultimate goal of these investigations is to incorporate improved parameterizations of these processes in coupled models such as the Coupled Ocean-Atmosphere Mesoscale Prediction System (COAMPS) to improve marine forecasts of wind, waves, and currents.
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U2 - 10.1175/BAMS-88-3-341
DO - 10.1175/BAMS-88-3-341
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:34247623195
SN - 0003-0007
VL - 88
SP - 341
EP - 356
JO - Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society
JF - Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society
IS - 3
ER -