Boundary Layer Studies in the Stratus Deck Regions of the Eastern Pacific

By Robert A. Weller, Principal Investigator

In October, under support from NOAA OGP coming through CICOR, Bob Weller began a 3-year long study of the region of the eastern Pacific off the coast of Chile. This area of the ocean is typically covered by stratus clouds, and that cloud cover is believed to play an important role in governing how the ocean and atmosphere exchange heat in the eastern Pacific. Experiments with coupled ocean-atmosphere models indicate that model results, such as surface wind fields over the Pacific, are very sensitive to how the stratus clouds and the regulation of the air-sea heat exchanges by the clouds are parameterized in these models. To develop a better understanding of air-sea coupling under the stratus deck and to examine the performance of models in this region, Weller deployed a well-instrumented surface mooring 800 nm west of northern Chile. The mooring collects accurate observations of air-sea heat, freshwater, and momentum fluxes and time series observations of the evolution of the vertical structure of the upper ocean temperature, salinity, and velocity fields.

The mooring deployment in October marked the beginning of several collaborations. The surface meteorology and air-sea flux data are being shared with numerical weather prediction centers and investigators at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute and the modeling centers will use the buoy data, which are not included in the model fields, to examine the performance of the models. In addition, the cruise was done in collaboration with Chilean oceanographers. Staff from the Chilean Navy Hydrographic and Oceanographic Service, which is interested in deploying their own moorings, participated. Staff and students from the University of Concepcion obtained XBT and CTD sections along 20 deg S on the way out to the mooring site and on the way back into to port at Arica, Chile. They are interested in the vertical structure of the ocean properties, including nutrients and oxygen, across the Peru and Chile basins. Continuation of these collaborations is hoped for during the three annual cruises that remain.

This project was funded by NOAA OGP through CICOR, the Cooperative Institute for Climate and Ocean Research.

The Cooperative Institute for Climate and Ocean Research, (CICOR), is one of NOAA/OAR's 11 formal Joint Institutes. Their cooperative agreement provides a formal partnership between the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

The research activities of CICOR are organized around three themes:

The coastal ocean and near shore processes
The ocean's participation in climate and climate variability and
Marine ecosystems processes analysis

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