ESTIMATING THE EFFECTIVE HEAT CAPACITY OF THE OCEAN THE MAIN OBJECTIVE OF THIS WORK IS TO IMPROVE OUR UNDERSTANDING HOW THE AIR-SEA TEMPERATURE DIFFERENCE IS DETERMINED BY EXAMINING THE EFFECTIVE HEAT CAPACITY OF THE OCEAN. THE COLD WAKES GENERATED BY A TROPICAL CYCLONE (TC) ARE IDEAL EVENTS TO EXAMINE THE OCEAN EFFECTIVE HEAT CAPACITY. THERE IS LARGE TEMPERATURE ANOMALY THAT RECOVERS OVER TIME-SCALES OF A FEW WEEKS DURING WHICH THERE ARE MINIMAL EFFECTS OF HORIZONTAL ADVECTION. WE ALSO AIM TO IMPROVE SCIENTIFIC UNDERSTANDING OF A KEY ASPECT GOVERNING AIR-SEA INTERACTION BY ESTIMATING THE FLUXES THAT OCCUR DURING A STORM USING 1 KM SEA SURFACE TEMPERATURES (SSTS) IN COASTAL AREAS WHERE ENTRAINMENT OF DEEPER COOLER WATERS IS MINIMIZED. THESE RESULTS CAN THEN BE EXTENDED TO DETERMINE HOW PREVIOUS AND FUTURE OCEAN CIRCULATION CHANGES MAY IMPACT THE AIR-SEA PROCESSES ASSOCIATED WITH TCS AND OTHER STORMS. THE TWO RESEARCH TOPICS WE HAVE IDENTIFIED (EFFECTIVE HEAT CAPACITY FLUXES DURING STORMS) ARE SEPARATE PROJECTS THAT UTILIZE MANY OF THE SAME RESOURCES AND CAN BE STUDIED IN TANDEM. TO SUMMARIZE THIS PROJECT INCLUDES THE FOLLOWING 3 TASKS: 1) ACQUIRE THE REMOTE SENSING SYSTEMS (RSS) STORM-CENTRIC DATABASE. 2) INVESTIGATE THE POST-STORM RECOVERY OF COLD WAKES TO ESTIMATE THE EFFECTIVE HEAT CAPACITY OF THE UPPER OCEAN AND GAIN AN UNDERSTANDING OF ENVIRONMENTAL CONTROLS ON THE AIR-SEA TEMPERATURE DIFFERENCE. 3) INVESTIGATE AIR-SEA HEAT FLUXES BY EXAMINING THE IMMEDIATE POST-STORM COOLING IN COASTAL REGIONS WHERE COOLING IS THOUGHT TO BE DUE PRIMARILY TO AIR-SEA HEAT FLUXES RATHER THAN ENTRAINMENT OF COOLER DEEPER WATER WHICH DOMINATES THE SST COOLING IN DEEPER WATER. THE 2013 NASA SOLICITATION IDENTIFIES TWO RESEARCH THEMES. OUR PROPOSAL ADDRESSES THE FIRST THEME: ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION OF THE OCEAN CIRCULATION USING SATELLITE AND IN-SITU DATA. NASA WILL SUPPORT MODEST PROPOSALS UNDERTAKING ANALYSIS OF SATELLITE ALTIMETRY SURFACE WIND STRESS AND OTHER RELEVANT DATA IN SUPPORT OF THE U.S. CLIVAR PROGRAM. THIS PROPOSAL UTILIZES A STORM-CENTRIC DATABASE TO STUDY THE EFFECTIVE OCEANIC HEAT CAPACITY USING THE POST-STORM COLD WAKE RECOVERY AND HEAT FLUXES THAT OCCUR DURING A STORM. THIS WORK IS DIRECTLY RELEVANT TO CLIVAR (VARIABILITY AND PREDICTABILITY OF THE OCEAN-ATMOSPHERE SYSTEM) RESEARCH INTO ANALYSIS AND PREDICTION OF CHANGES IN THE EARTHS CLIMATE WITH A FOCUS ON OCEAN-ATMOSPHERE INTERACTIONS. THIS RESEARCH SPECIFICALLY IS FOCUSED ON OCEANIC HEAT FLUXES AND THE AIR-SEA TEMPERATURE DIFFERENCE. COASTAL REGIONS WHERE VERTICAL ENTRAINMENT OF COLD DEEP WATER IS MINIMAL WILL BE USED TO EXAMINE HEAT FLUXES THAT OCCUR DURING A STORM. THE OCEANS EFFECTIVE HEAT CAPACITY WILL BE EXPLORED USING THE RECOVERY OF THE COLD WAKE AFTER A STORM. WE WILL DEVELOP AN UNDERSTANDING OF THE HEAT CAPACITYS DEPENDENCE ON WIND STRESS AND HEAT FLUX. THIS WILL HELP US TO UNDERSTAND THE PHYSICAL PROCESSES THAT DETERMINE THE AIR-SEA TEMPERATURE DIFFERENCE. THE AIR-SEA TEMPERATURE DIFFERENCE IS IMPORTANT IN DETERMINING THE LOWER ATMOSPHERIC STABILITY AND THE HEAT GAS AND MOISTURE TRANSFER RATES MAKING IT AN EXTREMELY IMPORTANT VARIABLE FOR CLIMATE RESEARCH.