Surface fluxes in the North Atlantic current during CATCH/FASTEX

Eymard, Laurence; Caniaux, Guy; Dupuis, Hélène; Prieur, Louis; Giordani, Hervé; Troadec, Roland; Bessemoulin, P.; Lachaud, Guy; Bouhours, G.; Bourras, Denis; Guérin, C.; Borgne, P. Le; Brisson, Alain; Marsouin, A.

doi:10.1002/qj.49712556121

Cited by 40 publications

(33 citation statements)

References 40 publications

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“…Note that these midlatitude locations are visited frequently by synoptic systems in which some of these experiments were designed to study. Also during CATCH, there was a large amount of pitching and rolling by the ship due to swell and wind sea, which might contribute to some measurement errors (Eymard et al 1999). On the other hand, at lower latitudes, both PACSF99-and ASTEX-measured maximum wind speeds are less than 10 m s Ϫ1 .…”

Section: Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

Which Bulk Aerodynamic Algorithms are Least Problematic in Computing Ocean Surface Turbulent Fluxes?

Brunke¹,

Fairall²,

Zeng³

et al. 2003

J. Climate

162

164

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Bulk aerodynamic algorithms are needed to compute ocean surface turbulent fluxes in weather forecasting and climate models and in the development of global surface flux datasets. Twelve such algorithms are evaluated and ranked using direct turbulent flux measurements determined from covariance and inertial-dissipation methods from 12 ship cruises over the tropical and midlatitude oceans (from about 5ЊS to 60ЊN). The four least problematic of these 12 algorithms based upon the overall ranking for this data include the Coupled Ocean-Atmosphere Response Experiment (COARE) version 3.0 and The University of Arizona (UA) schemes as well as those used at the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Data Assimilation Office for version 1 of the Goddard Earth Observing System reanalysis (GEOS-1). Furthermore, the four most problematic of these algorithms are also identified along with possible explanations. The overall ranking is not substantially affected by the use of the average of covariance and inertialdissipation flux measurements or by taking into consideration measurement uncertainties. The differences between computed and observed fluxes are further evaluated as a function of near-surface wind speed and sea surface temperature to understand the rankings. Finally, several unresolved issues in terms of measurement and algorithm uncertainties are raised.

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Section: Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

Which Bulk Aerodynamic Algorithms are Least Problematic in Computing Ocean Surface Turbulent Fluxes?

Brunke¹,

Fairall²,

Zeng³

et al. 2003

J. Climate

162

164

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“…Knowledge on how wind stress varies with environmental parameters is of increasing importance, especially for the modelling of air-sea interaction for ocean current and wave prediction. A good number of recent experiments and field campaigns have been carried out to better understand the fundamental processes related to air-sea interaction and the underlying physics of various phenomena influencing directly the atmospheric boundary layer or the ocean mixed layer: Flux, etat de la mer, et télédétection en conditions de fetch variable FETCH ; the southern ocean waves experiment, SOWEX (Banner et al 1999); Couplage avec l'Atmosphère en Conditions Hivernales/The Fronts and Atlantic Storm-Track Experiment, CATCH/FASTEX (Eymard et al 1999); just to mention a few. All these experiments have yielded important contributions to the understanding of air-sea transfer processes, however, there are still open questions.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The intOA Experiment: A Study of Ocean-Atmosphere Interactions Under Moderate to Strong Offshore Winds and Opposing Swell Conditions in the Gulf of Tehuantepec, Mexico

Ocampo‐Torres

García–Nava

Durazo³

et al. 2010

Boundary-Layer Meteorol

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The Gulf of Tehuantepec air-sea interaction experiment (intOA) took place from February to April 2005, under the Programme for the Study of the Gulf of Tehuantepec (PEGoT, Spanish acronym for Programa para el Estudio del Golfo de Tehuantepec). PEGoT is underway aiming for better knowledge of the effect of strong and persistent offshore winds on coastal waters and their natural resources, as well as performing advanced numerical modelling of the wave and surface current fields. One of the goals of the intOA experiment is to improve our knowledge on air-sea interaction processes with particular emphasis on the effect of surface waves on the momentum flux for the characteristic and unique conditions that occur when strong Tehuano winds blow offshore against the Pacific Ocean long period swell. For the field campaign, an air-sea interaction spar (ASIS) buoy was deployed in the Gulf of Tehuantepec to measure surface waves and the momentum flux between the ocean and the atmosphere. High frequency radar systems (phase array type) were in operation from two coastal sites and three acoustic Doppler current profilers were deployed near-shore. Synthetic aperture radar images were also acquired as part of the remote sensing component of the experiment. The present paper provides the main results on the wave and wind fields, addressing the direct calculation of the momentum flux and the drag coefficient, and gives an overview of the intOA experiment. Although the effect of swell has been described in recent studies, this is the first time for the very specific conditions encountered, such as swell persistently opposing offshore winds and locally generated waves, to show a clear evidence of the influence on the wind stress of the significant steepness of swell waves.

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“…Discrepancies between state-of-the-art bulk algorithms have been repeatedly shown to lead to a relatively large spread in the computed TASFs (Blanc 1985(Blanc , 1986(Blanc , 1987Zeng et al 1998;Eymard et al 1999;Brunke et al 2002Brunke et al , 2003. Moreover, given the large uncertainties prevalent in SSVs from different sources (Josey et al 1999;Berry and Kent 2005;Josey et al 2014), it is common practice to neglect the accuracy of various constants and parameter approximations in bulk formulas.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Climatologically Significant Effects of Some Approximations in the Bulk Parameterizations of Turbulent Air–Sea Fluxes

Brodeau

Barnier

Gulev

et al. 2017

Journal of Physical Oceanography

120

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This paper quantifies the impacts of approximations and assumptions in the parameterization of bulk formulas on the exchange of momentum, heat, and freshwater computed between the ocean and atmosphere. An ensemble of sensitivity experiments is examined. Climatologies of wind stress, turbulent heat flux, and evaporation for the period 1982–2014 are computed using SST and surface meteorological state variables from ERA-Interim. Each experiment differs from the defined control experiment in only one aspect of the parameterization of the bulk formulas. The wind stress is most sensitive to the closure used to relate the neutral drag coefficient to the wind speed in the bulk algorithm, which mainly involves the value of the Charnock parameter. The disagreement between the state-of-the-art algorithms examined is typically on the order of 10%. The largest uncertainties in turbulent heat flux and evaporation are also related to the choice of the algorithm (typically 15%) but also emerge in experiments examining approximations related to the surface temperature and saturation humidity. Thus, approximations for the skin temperature and the salt-related reduction of saturation humidity have a substantial impact on the heat flux and evaporation (typically 10%). Approximations such as the use of a fixed air density, sea level pressure, or simplified formula for the saturation humidity lead to errors no larger than 4% when tested individually. The impacts of these approximations combine linearly when implemented together, yielding errors up to 20% over mid- and subpolar latitudes.

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Surface fluxes in the North Atlantic current during CATCH/FASTEX

Cited by 40 publications

References 40 publications

Which Bulk Aerodynamic Algorithms are Least Problematic in Computing Ocean Surface Turbulent Fluxes?

Which Bulk Aerodynamic Algorithms are Least Problematic in Computing Ocean Surface Turbulent Fluxes?

The intOA Experiment: A Study of Ocean-Atmosphere Interactions Under Moderate to Strong Offshore Winds and Opposing Swell Conditions in the Gulf of Tehuantepec, Mexico

Climatologically Significant Effects of Some Approximations in the Bulk Parameterizations of Turbulent Air–Sea Fluxes

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