Wind Stress Drag Coefficient over the Global Ocean

Interannual and climatological variations of wind stress drag coefficient are examined over the global ocean from 1998 to 2004. Here CD is calculated using high temporal resolution (3- and 6-hourly) surface atmospheric variables from two datasets: 1 )the 40-yr European Centre for Medium-Range Weathe...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Kara, Ahmet B., Wallcraft, Alan J., Metzger, E. J., Hurlburt, Harley E., Fairall, Chris
Other Authors: NAVAL RESEARCH LAB STENNIS SPACE CENTER MS OCEANOGRAPHY DIV
Format: Text
Language:English
Published: 2007
Subjects:
Atmospheric Physics
*WIND STRESS
REPRINTS
WEATHER FORECASTING
SEASONAL VARIATIONS
COEFFICIENTS
CLIMATE
AERODYNAMIC DRAG
OCEANS
AIR WATER INTERACTIONS
HIGH LATITUDES
SEA WATER
*DRAG COEFFICIENT
GLOBAL OCEAN
NOGAPS
ECMWF(EUROPEAN CENTRE FOR MEDIUM-RANGE WEATHER FORECASTS)
PE0602435N
Pacific
North Atlantic
Online Access:http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/ADA476538
http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?&verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADA476538
Description
Summary:Interannual and climatological variations of wind stress drag coefficient are examined over the global ocean from 1998 to 2004. Here CD is calculated using high temporal resolution (3- and 6-hourly) surface atmospheric variables from two datasets: 1 )the 40-yr European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) Re-Analysis (ERA-40) and 2) the Navy Operational Global Atmospheric Prediction System. The stability-dependent CD algorithm applied to both datasets gives almost identical values over most of the global ocean, confirming the validity of results. Overall, major findings of this paper are as follows: 1) the CD value can change significantly (e.g, greater than 50%) on 12-hourly time scales around the Kuroshio and Gulf Stream current systems: 2) there is strong seasonal variability in CD, but there is not much interannual change in the spatial variability for a given month; 3) a global mean Cd ~ 1.25 x 10-3 is found in all months, while CD is less than or equal to 1.5 x 10-3 is prevalent over the North Pacific and North Atlantic Oceans and in southern high-latitude regions as well. and CD is less than or equal to 1.0 x 10-3 is typical in the eastern equatorial Pacific cold tongue; and 4) including the effects of air-sea stability on CD generally causes an increase of less than 20% in comparison to the one calculated based on neutral conditions in the tropical regions. Finally, spatially and temporally varying CD fields are therefore needed for a variety of climate and air-sea interaction studies. The original document contains color images. All DTIC reproductions will be in black and white. Pub. in Jnl. of Climate, v20 p5856-5864, 1 Dec 2007.

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