Satellite Observations of Deep Water Convection.

• Main Authors: Fischer, Kenneth W., Shuchman, Robert A.
• Other Authors: ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH INST OF MICHIGAN ANN ARBOR
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 1996
• Subjects: Physical and Dynamic Oceanography; *OCEAN CURRENTS; *CONVECTION(HEAT TRANSFER); *HEAT BALANCE; MEASUREMENT; GLOBAL; SYNTHETIC APERTURE RADAR; METEOROLOGICAL SATELLITES; REMOTE DETECTORS; SEARCHING; MEDITERRANEAN SEA; OCEAN MODELS; NORTH ATLANTIC OCEAN; HYDRODYNAMICS; RADAR SIGNATURES; ALL WEATHER; DEEP OCEANS; GREENLAND; DEEP WATER CONVECTION; DMSP(DEFENSE METEOROLOGICAL SATELLITE PROGRAM); Greenland; Labrador Sea; North Atlantic
• Online Access: http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/ADA307088; http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?&verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADA307088

This report describes a body of work that seeks to address the role remote sensing can play in providing insight into deep water convection. A key part of the world's heat balance, deep water convection is the process by which the deep waters of the North Atlantic are renewed. The goal of the research is to improve model parameterizations of deep convection for general circulation models. Efforts have focused on the microwave part of the spectrum due to the all weather capability. In particular, the high resolution all weather imaging capability of synthetic aperture radar (SAR) is explored for the existence of convective signature. Convection in the Labrador, Greenland, and Mediterranean Seas is considered including both the preconditioning and active mixing phases of convection. The work is broken down into five major components progressing from theory to modeling to data examination. The measurement needs of the physical oceanography and hydrodynamic modeling communities for improved understanding of deep ocean convection are identified. Remote sensing tools to meet these needs are then defined. Electromagnetic simulations of remote sensing signatures of deep ocean convection based on existing state of the art hydrodynamic models are performed. Based on these simulations, an archive search is performed to determine if similar signatures appeared in actual satellite SAR data. Finally, an experiment plan to provide remote sensing support for the 1997 Labrador Sea Deep Ocean Convection Experiment is presented. Original contains color plates: All DTIC and NTIS reproductions will be in black and white.