Working Group on Surface Fluxes In situ issues Elizabeth Kent National Oceanography Centre, Southampton

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Working Group on Surface FluxesIn situ
issuesElizabeth Kent National Oceanography
Centre, Southampton
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WGSF in situ issues

• OceanObs'09 Community White Paper
• Fairall, C. Co-Authors (2010). "Observations to
  Quantify Air-Sea Fluxes and Their Role in Climate
  Variability and Predictability" in Proceedings of
  OceanObs09 Sustained Ocean Observations and
  Information for Society (Vol. 2), Venice, Italy,
  21-25 September 2009, Hall, J., Harrison D.E.
  Stammer, D., Eds., ESA Publication WPP-306.
• http//www.oceanobs09.net/blog/?p73
• Plenary Paper
• Surface Energy, CO2 Fluxes And Sea Ice - led by
  Gulev and Josey
• https//abstracts.congrex.com/scripts/jmevent/abst
  racts/FCXNL-09A02b-1869230-1-gulev_etal_OceanObs09
  _revision_final.pdf

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WGSF in situ issues

• OceanSITES should be expanded
• Maintain existing network measuring radiative
  fluxes, mean meteorology and precipitation
• Priorities for expansion subpolar, high
  latitudes (high variability) and regions with
  severe weather conditions
• Improved technology required to measure direct
  fluxes, including gases and particles
• More high quality routine flux measurements
• Requires more co-ordination of activities
• Mainly Research Vessels but also selected
  commercial ships
• Some vessels making similar measurements to
  OceanSITES
• Others with direct fluxes, currents, directional
  wave spectra and other sea state information
• Focused on high variability regions and gaps in
  OceanSITES network

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WGSF in situ issues

• Voluntary Observing Ships should be maintained
  and enhanced as a flux observation network
• Focus on good quality observations, well
  characterised with metadata
• Need for all elements, including visual clouds,
  weather and sea state
• Improved technology
• Increased power and bandwidth for moorings
• More robust and capable platforms
• Improved low power gas flux sensors (inc. CO2,
  O3, SO2 and DMS)
• Accurate, low cost, precipitation sensors
• Improved humidity sensors for long term
  deployments

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WGSF in situ issues

• Flux observing best practice
• WGSF "Flux handbook" ftp//ftp.etl.noaa.gov/user/c
  fairall/wcrp_wgsf/flux_handbook/
• Standards for sensor choice, siting, calibration
  and metadata
• Improvement of flux parameterisations
• Continual process
• Observations needed under all conditions
• Wide variety of related information required
• Better models of ocean near surface temperature
  change with depth

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WGSF in situ issues

• A range of independent, gridded flux datasets is
  needed
• Range of input data sources
• Improved construction techniques required, with
  uncertainties
• Wider range of fluxes and related variables (inc.
  e.g. biogeochemical, particles, whitecap
  fraction)
• Clearly documented, metadata to allow appropriate
  choice of product for application
• Data stewardship
• Benefits of aggregation of high quality flux data
• Ease of access should be improved
• Again, more metadata on dataset characteristics
  and suitable applications.

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WGSF other issues

• Satellite data priorities
• Improved precipitation
• Improved near surface air temperature and
  humidity
• Whitecap characteristics
• Improved sampling for vector winds (inc high wind
  and rain)
• Improved temporal coverage and higher spatial
  resolution for passive and active microwave
  sensors, esp. in coastal regions
• Improved validation and parameterisation for NWP
  and reanalyis model fluxes
• Collaboration of observationalists, dataset
  developers and modellers
• High quality flux datasets needed
• Facilitated by SURFA, set up by WGSF and WGNE
• http//www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/rsad/air-sea/surfa.htm
  l