Gentemann, C. L., Clayson, C. A., Brown, S., Lee, T., Parfitt, R., Farrar, J. T., et al. (2020). FluxSat: Measuring the Ocean-Atmosphere Turbulent Exchange of Heat and Moisture from Space. Remote Sensing , 12 (11), 1796.
Abstract: Recent results using wind and sea surface temperature data from satellites and high-resolution coupled models suggest that mesoscale ocean-atmosphere interactions affect the locations and evolution of storms and seasonal precipitation over continental regions such as the western US and Europe. The processes responsible for this coupling are difficult to verify due to the paucity of accurate air-sea turbulent heat and moisture flux data. These fluxes are currently derived by combining satellite measurements that are not coincident and have differing and relatively low spatial resolutions, introducing sampling errors that are largest in regions with high spatial and temporal variability. Observational errors related to sensor design also contribute to increased uncertainty. Leveraging recent advances in sensor technology, we here describe a satellite mission concept, FluxSat, that aims to simultaneously measure all variables necessary for accurate estimation of ocean-atmosphere turbulent heat and moisture fluxes and capture the effect of oceanic mesoscale forcing. Sensor design is expected to reduce observational errors of the latent and sensible heat fluxes by almost 50%. FluxSat will improve the accuracy of the fluxes at spatial scales critical to understanding the coupled ocean-atmosphere boundary layer system, providing measurements needed to improve weather forecasts and climate model simulations.
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Gille, S., Bourassa, M. A., & Clayson, C. A. (2010). Improving Observations of High-Latitude Fluxes Between Atmosphere, Ocean, and Ice: Surface Fluxes: Challenges at High Latitudes; Boulder, Colorado, 17-19 March 2010. Eos Trans. AGU , 91 (35), 307.
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Guimond, S. R., Bourassa, M. A., & Reasor, P. D. (2011). A Latent Heat Retrieval and Its Effects on the Intensity and Structure Change of Hurricane Guillermo (1997). Part I: The Algorithm and Observations. J. Atmos. Sci. , 68 (8), 1549–1567.
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Hanley, D. E., Bourassa, M. A., O'Brien, J. J., Smith, S. R., & Spade, E. R. (2003). A Quantitative Evaluation of ENSO Indices. J. Climate , 16 (8), 1249–1258.
Hilburn, K. A., Bourassa, M. A., & O'Brien, J. J. (2002). Development of scatterometer-derived research-quality surface pressure fields for the Southern Ocean . Orlando, FL: AMS.
Hite, M. M., Bourassa, M. A., & O'Brien, J. J. (2006). Vorticity-Based Detection Of Tropical Cyclones. In 14th Conference on Interactions of the Sea and Atmosphere, American Meteorological Society, Atlanta, Ga, USA (cdrom).
Hite, M., Bourassa, M. A., & O'Brien, J. J. (2006). Objective detection of Atlantic tropical disturbances. In 14th Conference on Interactions of the Sea and Atmosphere, AMS, Monterey, CA, USA (cdrom).