Ocean Surface Winds Research Summary:Meteorological Applications

Mark DeMaria, NOAA/NESDIS, Fort Collins, CO

Ocean Surface Winds WorkshopNCEP/Tropical Prediction Center

June 5-7, 2006

Sources for Research Summary

• Current research at CIRA

• 2006 AMS Satellite Conference

• 2006 AMS Tropical Conference

• 2006 AGU Ocean Sciences Meeting

• Journals

• 2005-2009 NASA Ocean Vector Winds Science Team funded projects summary

Meteorological Research Categories

• Tropical Cyclone formation• Tropical Cyclone wind structure analysis• Mesoscale wind structure• PBL and air-sea interactions• Extra-tropical cyclone, frontal wind structure• Synoptic to inter-seasonal oscillations

– ITCZ breakdown– Monsoon– MJO

• Topics not considered:– Algorithm development, ocean and climate

studies, data assimilation and NWP

Tropical Cyclone Genesis

• Katsaros 2001, GRL– Demonstrated utility of QuikSCAT for early

identification of Tropical Depressions

• Sharp 2002, BAMS– Vorticity method for identifying TC formation

• Hite and Bourassa 2006, AMS Trop. Conf.– Extension of Sharp method, rain/wind signal

regimes

Surface Vorticity Signatures Prior to Official Designation as a TC(From D. Sharp, et al 2002)

TC Wind Structure Analysis

• Hennon 2006, AMS Sat Conf– Utility of QuikSCAT for outer wind field

• Bessho 2006, JAMC– Use of QuikSCAT for low level wind surface adjustments

• Knaff 2006, AMS Sat Conf– Multi-platform surface wind analysis

• Jelenak 2006, AGU Ocean Sciences Meeting– Windsat/QuikSCAT comparisons

• Maclay 2006, AMS Trop Conf– Outer wind structure and TC intensity change

Hennon 2006

Evaluation of QuikSCATFor Hurricane Fabian

HRD H*Wind as ground truth

Bessho 2006

Compare QuikSCAT and850 mb AMSU retrievalsfor low level to sfcwind adjustments

Knaff 2006: Multi-Satellite TC Surface Wind Analysis

Maclay 2006: Relationship between storm size and intensity change

KE’> 0Favors weakeningOuter winds higher

KE’< 0Favors intensification

Outer winds lower

Mesoscale Weather Applications

• Chelton 2000 MWR

• Documentation of surface jets in Central America using NSCAT

Mesoscale Weather Applications

McNoldy 2006AMS Tropical Conference

Diurnal variations of sfcWind and SST during the North American MonsoonExperiment (NAME)

PBL, Synoptic Interactions

• R. Foster 1999, JGR

• Use NSCAT winds to evaluate baroclinic effects on PBL winds and fluxes

• Significant relationship that can be used in opposite direction

T. Lee 2006AMS Sat Conf

Combined use of WindSat winds, TPW and CLW for frontal identification

Mid-Latitude Weather Applications

ITCZ Studies• Wang and Magnusdottir 2006, MWR• PV structure important for ITCZ evolution• Ocean surface winds help document observed

vorticity structure

MJO Analysis with QuikSCAT• Arquez 2005, JOAT

• QuikSCAT time series analysis

• Amplitude is larger than expected from NCEP re-analysis fields

Amplitude Difference Between NCEP and QuikSCAT MJO Signal

Future DirectionsSummary of Funded Projects from NASA Ocean Science

Winds Team (2005-2009)

• Global NWP• Mesoscale and synoptic scale interaction

– Coastal/orographic influences • Inter-seasonal variability, monsoons• Climate variability• Validation and algorithm studies

– Advanced instrument studies with aircraft– Improve coastal methods– Hurricane algorithms

• Surface pressure retrievals• South America water cycles

Summary

• Ocean surface winds used in wide variety of meteorological research – mesoscale to global scale– Diurnal to climate time scales

• Rain attenuation mentioned as a serious problem in many applications

• Spatial resolution is limitation for some mesoscale studies– Tropical cyclones, coastal effects