PMEL Contributions to the OceanSITES Program

• Main Authors: Freitag, H. P., McPhaden, Michael J., Cronin, Meghan F., Sabine, Christopher L., McClurg, Dai C., McLain, Patrick D.
• Other Authors: NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION SEATTLE WA PACIFIC MARINE ENVIRONMENTAL LABS
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 2006
• Subjects: Atmospheric Physics; Physical and Dynamic Oceanography; *BUOYS; *INSTRUMENTATION; *MULTISENSORS; *TIME SERIES ANALYSIS; *SURFACE TEMPERATURE; *OCEAN SURFACE; *AIR WATER INTERACTIONS; ATMOSPHERE MODELS; WIND STRESS; OCEAN MODELS; HEAT FLUX; EVAPORATION; FRESH WATER; OCEANOGRAPHIC DATA; METEOROLOGICAL DATA; HEAT TRANSFER; SYMPOSIA; AIR SEA INTERFACE; AIR SEA CARBON FLUX; SST(SEA SURFACE TEMPERATURE); TAO(TROPICAL OCEAN ATMOSPHERE) SENSOR ARRAY; BIOGEOCHEMICAL CYCLES; Arctic; Antarctic; Pacific; Indian; Triton; Antarc*
• Online Access: http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/ADA498735; http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?&verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADA498735

The OCEAN Sustained Interdisciplinary Timeseries Environment observation System (OceanSITES) is built around a worldwide network of long-term, deepwater reference stations measuring many oceanographic and meteorological variables of relevance to climate and biogeochemical cycles. OceanSITES is a contribution to the Global Ocean Observing System and international research programs. PMEL is a major contributor to OceanSITES in the context of the Tropical Ocean Atmosphere/ Triangle Trans-Ocean Buoy Network (TAO/TRITON) mooring array in the tropical Pacific, the Pilot Research Moored Array in the Tropical Atlantic (PIRATA), preliminary moorings of a planned array in the Indian Ocean, the new Kuroshio Extension Observatory (KEO) in the Kuroshio Extension's recirculation gyre, and proposed high latitude moorings in the sub-Arctic Pacific at Ocean Weather Station PAPA and in the sub-Antarctic Zone south of Australia. The KEO mooring and a small subsample of moorings within the larger tropical arrays have been enhanced to measure heat, fresh water, and momentum fluxes. Sample time series of bulk variables and computed fluxes are presented and are compared to NCEP and ECMWF reanalysis products. Many OceanSITES locations have been selected to address multi-disciplinary problems in biogeochemical cycles as well. At present a total of eight OceanSITES moorings carry a standalone system to monitor air-sea carbon flux, including five TAO sites and the KEO site. An expansion of the carbon systems to other OceanSITES locations including the proposed PMEL high-latitude sites and additional TAO flux sites is planned. See also ADM002006. Presented at the MTS/IEEE OCEANS 2006 Boston Conference and Exhibition, held in Boston, MA, on 15-21 September 2006. Published in proceedings of the same. Prepared in collaboration with Joint Institute for the Study of the Atmosphere and Ocean (JISAO), University of Washington, Seattle, WA. The original document contains color images.