Center for Ocean-Atmospheric Prediction Studies

Abstract: Ocean wind vectors from the SeaWinds scatterometer on QuikSCAT and GOES imagery are used to develop an objective technique that can detect and monitor tropical disturbances associated with the early stages of tropical cyclogenesis in the Atlantic basin. The technique is based on identification of surface vorticity and wind speed signatures that exceed certain threshold magnitudes, with vorticity averaged over an appropriate spatial scale. The threshold values applied herein are determined from the precursors of 15 tropical cyclones during the 1999-2004 Atlantic hurricane seasons using research-quality QuikSCAT data. Tropical disturbances are found for these cases within a range of 19 hours to 101 hours before classification as tropical cyclones by the National Hurricane Center (NHC). The 15 cases are further subdivided based upon their origination source (i.e., easterly wave, upper-level cut-off low, stagnant frontal zone, etc). Primary focus centers on the cases associated with tropical waves, since these waves account for approximately 63% of all Atlantic tropical cyclones. The detection technique illustrates the ability to track these tropical disturbances from near the coast of Africa. Analysis of the pre-tropical cyclone (TC) tracks for these cases depict stages, related to wind speed and precipitation, in the evolution of an easterly wave to tropical cyclone.

Abstract: The exchange of heat and momentum through the air-sea surface are critical aspects of ocean forcing and ocean modeling. Over most of the global oceans, there are few in situ observations that can be used to estimate these fluxes. This chapter provides background on the calculation and application of air-sea fluxes, as well as the use of remote sensing to calculate these fluxes. Wind variability makes a large contribution to variability in surface fluxes, and the remote sensing of winds is relatively mature compared to the air sea differences in temperature and humidity, which are the other key variables. Therefore, the remote sensing of wind is presented in greater detail. These details enable the reader to understand how the improper use of satellite winds can result in regional and seasonal biases in fluxes, and how to calculate fluxes in a manner that removes these biases. Examples are given of high-resolution applications of fluxes, which are used to indicate the strengths and weakness of satellite-based calculations of ocean surface fluxes.