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Upper ocean response to forcing during early summer and autumn in the Azores region

Conference ·
OSTI ID:467712
; ; ;  [1];  [2]
  1. Univ. de Lisboa (Portugal)
  2. Univ. of Washington, Seattle, WA (United States). Dept. of Atmospheric Sciences

During the international air-sea interaction experiments which took place in the Azores region in early summer 1992 (SOFIA--Surface de l`Ocean: les Flux et leurs Interactions avec l`Atmosphere, and ASTEX--Atlantic Stratocumulus Transition Experiment) and in autumn 1993 (SEMAPHORE), high resolution measurements of sea temperatures were made in the first 40 m of the water column with thermistor chains suspended from the large drifting buoy MENTOR, in order to investigate the response of the upper ocean to atmospheric and radiative forcing (respectively under seasonal warming and cooling conditions), and to provide in situ validation data for satellite-derived sea surface temperatures. In the summer experiment, several current meters with temperature and conductivity sensors were also suspended from MENTOR. These oceanographic measurements were carried out by the University of Lisbon. Simultaneous observations of profiles of meteorological parameters and of air-sea fluxes were made by the University of Washington and surface wave properties were measured by the Canada Center for Inland Waters; these had as specific objectives testing the relationships between air-sea fluxes and marine atmospheric boundary layer profiles and determining the dependence of surface fluxes on sea state, besides providing the quantitative forcing for the upper ocean thermohydrodynamics.

OSTI ID:
467712
Report Number(s):
CONF-9409461--
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English