NOAA Climate Variability & Predictability (CVP) Tropical Pacific Observing System (TPOS) Pre-field Modeling: Seo, Wijffels (WHOI)

The goal of the TPOS2020 project is to design an efficient and effective backbone observing system to better understand the processes in the tropical Pacific that are instrumental to the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and provide useful observational constraints for predictions. The process studies being planned in the western and eastern equatorial Pacific are intended to shed light on physical processes and guide the design and development of the TPOS.

NASA Modeling, Analysis, and Prediction (MAP): Seo, Clayson (WHOI)

This project will develop a better understanding of the physical processes governing the structure and evolution of the marine atmospheric boundary layer (MABL) in the Northeastern US and the New England shelf regions. Capitalizing on the detailed in situ and remotely sensed observations of coupled boundary layer variables and air-sea fluxes uniquely available in the region, this project will validate and improve the MABL processes in the NASA’s Unified WRF (NU-WRF) modeling system to better represent and forecast extreme coastal storms. By including the full coupling of the regional ocean modeling system (ROMS) and the WaveWatchIII (WW3) to the NU-WRF to exploit the critical wave-ocean coupling effect on the atmosphere, the project will also enable, for the first time, NU-WRF-based coupled hindcast and forecast capabilities of extreme weather events with reduced uncertainty.

DOE Wind Forecast Improvement Project III (WFIP-3): Lead PI: Dr. Anthony Kirincich (WHOI), co-PI Seo

This is a comprehensive observational and modeling study of the coupled atmospheric and oceanic boundary layers that will dramatically improve offshore windresource measurement and modeling science. Focusing on physical processes relevant to all U.S. offshore wind energy areas via observations of the Northeast U.S. outer continental shelf, this effort will increase our understanding of the coupled atmosphere-ocean system in wind energy areas as well as improve our ability to reliably predict boundary layer winds and properties critical for industry-specific resource assessment, load analyses, and design criteria.

ONR The Arabian Sea Transition Layer (ASTRAL) DRI, Exchange Across the Air-Sea Interface: Seo

ASTraL will improve in situ characterization of air-sea exchanges of heat, mass, and momentum, including amplitudes and space-time variability, and provide useful and practical observational constraints for prediction models across scales. Since air-sea fluxes and their interactions with turbulent boundary layers in the ocean and atmosphere are entirely parameterized in prediction models, accurate representation of these coupled interactions is critical for improved predictive capabilities in Earth System modeling. We propose a model-data synthesis project that will validate, refine, and re-engineer (if necessary) the parameterizations for air-sea fluxes mediated by surface waves and their interaction with turbulent boundary layer processes in the Arabian Sea. The focus is on the spring-to-summer transition season, where the Arabian Sea exhibits peculiar sea states dominated by swell and mixed seas, whose effects on air-sea fluxes remain poorly captured even in the most advanced bulk flux algorithms. Subsequent impacts on the formation and collapse of the mini-warm pool and the onset of the summer monsoons in simulation and forecast models must be quantified.