Evidence for island effects and diurnal signals in satellite images of clouds over the tropical western pacific

Instruments to measure atmospheric radiation and ancillary meteorological variables will be set up on Manus Island as the first site of the tropical western pacific (TWP) locale of the Atmospheric Radiation Measurements (ARM) program. Manus is in the {open_quotes}warm pool{close_quotes} region of th...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Barr-Kumarakulasinghe, S.A., Reynolds, R.M., Minnett, P.J.
Language:unknown
Published: 2018
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/263502
https://www.osti.gov/biblio/263502
Description
Summary:Instruments to measure atmospheric radiation and ancillary meteorological variables will be set up on Manus Island as the first site of the tropical western pacific (TWP) locale of the Atmospheric Radiation Measurements (ARM) program. Manus is in the {open_quotes}warm pool{close_quotes} region of the TWP. This region is critical in establishing global atmospheric circulation patterns and is a primary energy source for the Hadley and Walker cells. The myriad islands and enclosed seas in the immediate vicinity of Manus have been referred to as the {open_quotes}maritime continent{close_quotes}, which has the deepest convective activity in the world. Manus is in a region having a global impact on climate and where island effects on clouds are likely to be important. In this preliminary analysis we have sought evidence of island effects in the cloud fields around Manus and have studied the variability of the diurnal cycles of cloud cover over Manus and over other islands and areas of open sea in the region.