ENERGY AND HEAT FLUX AT THE OCEAN SURFACE ARE VITAL TO MANY PHYSICAL OCEANOGRAPHY PROCESSES AND MORE ACCURATE FLUX OBSERVATIONS ARE NEEDED FOR FUTURE IMPROVEMENTS OF COUPLED EARTH SYSTEM DYNAMICS. HIGH QUALITY SATELLITE MEASUREMENT OF THESE FLUXES AT GLOBAL SCALE HAS LONG BEEN A CENTRAL GOAL OF NASA S EARTH SCIENCE PROGRAM. THE OCEAN REMOTE SENSING COMMUNITY RECOGNIZES THAT PRESENT-DAY MICROWAVE SENSORS LACK THE PRECISION TO MEASURE NEAR-SURFACE TEMPERATURE AND HUMIDITY OFTEN DUE TO UNRESOLVED VARIABILITY IN THEIR VERTICAL GRADIENTS WITHIN THE MARINE PLANETARY BOUNDARY LAYER. THESE MEASUREMENTS ARE NEEDED TO INFER THE THERMAL STABILITY NEAR THE AIR-SEA INTERFACE AND THE SPATIAL AND TEMPORAL VARIATIONS IN THIS STABILITY HAVE FIRST-ORDER IMPACTS ON BOTH THE SENSIBLE AND LATENT HEAT FLUX. WHAT IS NEEDED TO IMPROVE NASA S CAPABILITIES IN OCEAN FLUX MEASUREMENT FROM SPACE ARE NOVEL REMOTE SENSING APPROACHES THAT COMPLEMENT PRESENT AND FUTURE RADIOMETER DATA AND PROVIDE INDEPENDENT INFORMATION ABOUT THE AIR-SEA INTERFACE THERMAL STABILITY.

University Of Washington, Seattle WA

Investigators