Abstract
Recent results using wind and sea surface temperature data from satellites and high-resolution coupled models suggest that mesoscale ocean–atmosphere interactions affect the locations and evolution of storms and seasonal precipitation over continental regions such as the western US and Europe. The processes responsible for this coupling are difficult to verify due to the paucity of accurate air–sea turbulent heat and moisture flux data. These fluxes are currently derived by combining satellite measurements that are not coincident and have differing and relatively low spatial resolutions, introducing sampling errors that are largest in regions with high spatial and temporal variability. Observational errors related to sensor design also contribute to increased uncertainty. Leveraging recent advances in sensor technology, we here describe a satellite mission concept, FluxSat, that aims to simultaneously measure all variables necessary for accurate estimation of ocean–atmosphere turbulent heat and moisture fluxes and capture the effect of oceanic mesoscale forcing. Sensor design is expected to reduce observational errors of the latent and sensible heat fluxes by almost 50%. FluxSat will improve the accuracy of the fluxes at spatial scales critical to understanding the coupled ocean–atmosphere boundary layer system, providing measurements needed to improve weather forecasts and climate model simulations.
Highlights
The atmosphere and ocean exchange momentum, heat, moisture, and gases
A significant advance over the capabilities of previous and planned passive microwave radiometers, including the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer-2 (AMSR2), is that the proposed FluxSat 6-GHz and 10-GHz channels include a digital back-end, which has the benefit of robustness to Radio Frequency Interference (RFI) as well as having more usable bandwidth to lower noise levels and increased retrieval performance [51]
FluxSat will allow for better uncertainty quantification of the existing global datasets, which is useful for data assimilation purposes, analyzing the quality of coupled weather and climate models, and improving understanding of climate trends
Summary
The atmosphere and ocean exchange momentum, heat, moisture, and gases. These exchanges play critical roles in the integrated Earth system by affecting the energy, water, and biogeochemical (including carbon) cycles. The momentum exchange (i.e., ocean surface wind stress) is predominantly from the atmosphere to the ocean, resulting in wind-generated ocean currents, upper-ocean mixing, and wind-driven surface waves, but, while this momentum loss acts as a “brake” to the atmosphere, ocean-driven small-scale changes in the wind greatly enhance small-scale coupling between the ocean. (b) The same data, using zonally high-passff(oio1lcrt0eec0aer0ensdkt(hme(.e1g0c.o0u,c0steotarkffonm)n(dgeca.uwgtat.o,i.nfsAfdt)rsonddneaggrtiaavw.teiAvinoedcnceseoagdrnarretmiilvvaieetxiioocncnogercaraoneneladmffiticicoxoineionnlcgtoSiaeSsfnTfedi)xc, picweeonhcottileliedSs SaewTxp)hp,oeewsncitthteihivdleee wacatohmpreroonessliatpthtihvieoeenraectcmoforooerresfficlpeachstiieetohrnneet cioseefxfipceiecntetdiswehxepnecttheedowcehaennftohreceosctehaenaftomrcoessphtheerea(tem.go.s, pwhaerrme (SeS.gT.,dwriavrems aStSmTodsprihveersicamtmixoisnpghearnidc maetfhtonmirextcriooiannscigpngemahtanehne.rende(tabisote)mnfffooftoarrcsacsupiitnnsehergmeswrteoehninenatdlommoscefeofsarsfoonatsm.sgc(talbeaolr)lebofawvfotlac)liy.urn,i(sdaaeebsx)sicslofiehrtnpoyomtmwainsneadstsolhoossahfmctta,o)e.lfweow(rsvaem)aalrlcsoi-aohksbmtoniwoolpifwtslytehnttaeehenlagyxdtlt,dorsebihfffomeoer,wertehmscneoaotnascvtdtomiiemotwoifops,pnltwehhst,eieeterlhye.ggtlid.ohs,ibeGffefooeu,rcrcletefihnanoengtf vTieehwu,anwtietphetchwe ioncdeajentsf.oIrnci(nbg), tbhoethattmheoTsrpohpeircealaPlmacoifistc ganlodbawlleys,teerxncebpotunindasroymceurwreenllt-krengoiwonns ehxatvreemthee csotrnodnigtieosntsl,ine.kg.b,eGtwulefeonf tTheehoucaenatnepaencdwaitnmdojseptsh.eIrne(.b), both the Tropical Pacific and western boundary current regions have the strongest link between the ocean and atmosphere. S. oSmome eofofththeelalargrgeessttddififffeerreenncceessbbeettwweeeennddiiffffeerreenntt fflluuxx pprroodduuccttss oocccur in regions with the largest fflluxes
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