Hobart

Seminar Abstract

Friday 18 July 2008, 11.30am (Tas time)
CSIRO Auditorium, Hobart

Frank Bradley
CSIRO Land and Water, Canberra

Improving the accuracy of air-sea flux observations from ships and moorings

The TOGA Coupled Ocean-Atmosphere Response Experiment (COARE, Nov. 1992-Feb. 1993) in the western Pacific included an “interface component” to study the structure of the near-surface boundary layers, and the processes of momentum, heat and moisture exchange across the interface (the fluxes). It was known that determinations of the net heat exchange between ocean and atmosphere had an uncertainty of 80-100 Wm^-2, and that models demonstrated extreme sensitivity to small changes in the fluxes, especially on the SST. Accuracy in measurement of the fluxes was therefore paramount, and the WOCE target of 10 Wm^-2 was adopted for determination of the net heat exchange over weekly to seasonal timescales. But in practical terms no special measures were taken by the ocean-going experimenters at the time to achieve this goal. I will describe the consequences of this, and the subsequent progress which has been made to improve flux measurement to satisfy the present needs of climate studies.

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Location:
CSIRO = Marine Laboratories Auditorium, Castray Esplanade, Hobart

For further information, or to schedule a seminar, contact:
To schedule a seminar, contact:
Bernadette Sloyan, (Oceanographic seminars) CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research (03) 6232 5152
Thomas Kunz, (Biological seminars) CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research
(03) 6232 5076
Natalie Dowling, (Fisheries Modelling) CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research
(03) 6232 5148
Jillian Enraght-Moony, (seminar administrator) CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research (03) 6232 5320
Communications Manager, Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems CRC (03) 6226 2265
Margaret Hazelwood, Institute of Antarctic and Southern Ocean Studies (IASOS) University of Tasmania (03) 6226 2971

Last updated 21/07/09