CalWater2 planning workshop, 5-7 Nov, 204, La Jolla 1

Sue ChenJames DoylePeter BlackNaval Research LaboratorySponsor: Office of Naval Research

Observing the Air-Sea Interaction and Moisture Sensitivities in Atmospheric Rivers Over the Northeast Pacific Coast

Collaboration: Chris Fairall1, Toshi Shnoda2, Elizabeth Sanabia3 1NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory2Texas A&M University, Corpus Christi, TX3United States Naval Academy, Annapolis, Maryland

CalWater2 planning workshop, 5-7 Nov, 204, La Jolla 2

Airborne Expendable BathyThermograph (AXBT) Plan

Science Objectives:• Deploy Airborne eXpendable Bathy Thermographs (AXBTs) during the CalWater2

field campaign from the NOAA P-3• Using COAMPS moist adjoint model as possible guidance• Together with the planned NOAA dropsondes deployment, the combination of

AXBT-dropsonde observations will provide co-located atmospheric and ocean temperature profiles that can be used to study the air-sea fluxes exchange and its influence to the evolution of the Atmospheric River (AR) events

Equipment: 4 Pallets, total of 196 AXBTs• Weight: ~15-19lb per AXBT• Size: ~4x4x4 cubic feet (per pallet) • Require shipment to and storage at the P-3 operation site

Data: 1-m vertical resolution, use NOAA AXBT real-time automated receiving system possible real-time data feed to NAVO NCODA via ftp

Sampling strategy• Survey the upper-ocean environment before, during, and after an AR event

CalWater2 planning workshop, 5-7 Nov, 204, La Jolla 3

An Early-Start AR Event13 Feb, 2014

MJO associated with the 8-13 Feb AR event

From NOAA Climate Center

From NASA Giovanni

CalWater2 planning workshop, 5-7 Nov, 204, La Jolla 4

MODIS SST: 8 Feb, pre-AR MODIS SST: 12 Feb, AR

Data void region

• SST gradient along the jet axis of AR• SST void region due to heavy rain

CalWater2 planning workshop, 5-7 Nov, 204, La Jolla 5

13 Feb 2014 HYCOM Analysis

Salinity stratification from AR precipitation

Currents SST SSH

TempSalinity [from T. Shinada]

From NRL HYCOM archive

• Many mesoscale oceanic eddies

• Large salinity variability from the AR freshwater input

CalWater2 planning workshop, 5-7 Nov, 204, La Jolla 6

AXBT Sampling Strategy

AR

ARAR

~250 km~250-500 km

~500-1000 km