Ocean-Atmosphere Observations in Philippine Sea by Moored Buoy

Abstract

Offequatorial extension of equatorial buoy arrays such as Tropical Atmosphere and Ocean/Triangle Trans-Ocean Buoy Network (TAO/TRITON) buoy array is required to monitor global and regional climates. On December 3, 2016, Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC) deployed a moored buoy (Ph buoy) at 13°N, 137° E in the Philippine Sea and are measuring temperature, salinity, and dissolved oxygen concentration from the sea surface to 300 m and atmospheric parameters. The Philippine Sea is located in the northern edge of the western Pacific warm pool, where atmospheric and oceanic disturbances on timescales from days to decades such as typhoons, cold surges, seasonal march of the East Asian monsoon, Madden-Julian Oscillation, El Nino and Southern Oscillation, and Pacific Decadal Oscillation occur. Global and regional climate changes possibly increase the frequency of occurrences of extreme weather events. Sensors installed on the buoy tower observed tropical depressions in the winter of 2016/2017. In addition, the development and annihilation of the barrier layer, which exists between the bases of the isothermal and mixed layers, were observed by the underwater sensors. The data collected at this mooring site serve to researches on extreme weather events.