WE PROPOSE RESEARCH COMBINING QUIKSCAT SCATTEROMETER VECTOR WIND MEASUREMENTS AND COUPLED OCEAN-ATMOSPHERE NUMERICAL MODELING ALONG WITH OTHER SUPPORTING OBSERVATIONAL AND MODEL ANALYSES TO ADDRESS BOTH THE BASIC PHYSICS OF AIR-SEA COUPLING AND THE DEPENDENCE OF COASTAL OCEAN CIRCULATION ON THE STRUCTURE OF THE RESULTING COUPLED COASTAL-ZONE WIND STRESS FIELD. OUR INTERESTS ARE IN USING AND ASSESSING THE VALUE OF SCATTEROMETER VECTOR WIND MEASUREMENTS FOR THE DETERMINATION OF SURFACE WINDS AND STRESS AND THEIR INFLUENCE ON COASTAL OCEAN CIRCULATION IN EASTERN BOUNDARY CURRENT REGIONS AND IN CONTINUED EFFORTS TO DEFINE AND IDENTIFY THE REQUIREMENTS AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR A NEXT-GENERATION SCATTEROMETER. OUR PROPOSED EFFORT EXTENDS AND IS MOTIVATED IN PART BY OUR RECENT WORK IN CURRENT OVWST PROJECTS IN WHICH WE HAVE FOCUSED ON (A) THE EVALUATION BASED ON COMPARISON WITH QUIKSCAT SCATTEROMETER AND MICROWAVE-BASED SEA-SURFACE TEMPERATURE (SST) MEASUREMENTS OF THE DIFFERING SST-WIND COUPLING SENSITIVITIES SUPPORTED IN A COUPLED OCEAN-ATMOSPHERE MODEL OF THE CALIFORNIA CURRENT SYSTEM (CCS) BY SEVERAL WIDELY USED PARAMETERIZATIONS OF ATMOSPHERIC BOUNDARY LAYER TURBULENCE AND THEIR STRONG DEPENDENCE ON GEOGRAPHICAL REGIME; (B) RECENT THEORETICAL ADVANCES THAT HAVE GIVEN NEW INSIGHT INTO THE DYNAMICAL PROCESSES BY WHICH THE COASTAL OCEAN CIRCULATION RESPONDS TO WIND STRESS FORCING OVER THE CONTINENTAL SHELF AND SLOPE; AND (C) THE EVALUATION OF FUTURE PROSPECTS AND SCIENCE REQUIREMENTS FOR SIMULTANEOUS SATELLITE MEASUREMENTS OF SURFACE WIND AND STRESS AND SURFACE OCEAN CURRENTS BY A NEXT-GENERATION DOPPLER SCATTEROMETER. SPECIFICALLY OUR PROPOSED WORK WILL INCLUDE: (1) EXTENSION AND COMPLETION OF THE EVALUATION USING QUIKSCAT AND COMBINED INFRARED AND MICROWAVE SST DATA OF SST-WIND COUPLING IN A FULLY COUPLED CCS OCEAN-ATMOSPHERE NUMERICAL MODEL AND DETERMINATION OF THE INFLUENCE OF THAT COUPLING ON THE REGIONAL CIRCULATION; (2) ANALYSIS SUPPORTED BY LARGE-EDDY SIMULATION (LES) MODELING OF THE PHYSICS OF SST-WIND COUPLING ITS REPRESENTATION BY PARAMETERIZATIONS AND ITS REGIONAL VARIABILITY; (3) ANALYSIS OF THE EFFECTS OF SURFACE OCEAN VELOCITY ON RELATIVE WIND AND SURFACE STRESS USING QUIKSCAT DATA AND A FULLY COUPLED CCS OCEAN-ATMOSPHERE NUMERICAL MODEL; (4) ANALYSIS OF THE RESPONSE OF COASTAL OCEAN CIRCULATION TO COASTAL WIND STRESS AND TO WIND STRESS CURL OVER THE CONTINENTAL SLOPE AND SHELF FOLLOWING THE THEORETICAL APPROACH TAKEN FOR OUR RECENT WORK ON THE POLEWARD UNDERCURRENT RESPONSE TO COASTAL WIND STRESS AND FOCUSING ESPECIALLY ON THE EMISSION OF PLANETARY (ROSSBY) WAVE DISTURBANCES AND COHERENT EDDIES FROM EASTERN BOUNDARIES; AND (5) EXTENSIONS OF THE ANALYSIS OF NEXT-GENERATION SCATTEROMETER REQUIREMENTS AND OPPORTUNITIES FOCUSING ESPECIALLY ON THE NEED FOR DETERMINING WIND STRESS AND WIND STRESS CURL ON SMALL SCALES NEAR COASTLINES AND ON ASSESSING THE IMPORTANCE AND UTILITY OF THE NEW INFORMATION ON SURFACE OCEAN CURRENTS THAT WOULD BE AVAILABLE FROM A DOPPLER SCATTEROMETER. EASTERN BOUNDARY CURRENT SYSTEMS SUCH AS THE CCS ARE REGIONS OF HIGH BIOLOGICAL PRODUCTIVITY AND SOCIO-ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE THAT ARE GENERALLY NOT WELL REPRESENTED IN GLOBAL CLIMATE MODELS AND ARE POTENTIALLY VULNERABLE TO RAPID AND CONSEQUENTIAL ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE. THE PROPOSED RESEARCH RELATES TO THE QUESTION OF WHAT DETERMINES THE SUBSURFACE SOURCES OF THE WIND-DRIVEN UPWELLING WATERS THAT SUSTAIN THESE HIGHLY PRODUCTIVE COASTAL ECOSYSTEMS; THE LOCATIONS AND PROPERTIES OF THESE SOURCE WATERS MAY IN TURN DETERMINE WHETHER OR NOT FOR EXAMPLE CONTINUING INCREASES IN THE FREQUENCY OF DAMAGING HYPOXIC EPISODES WILL OCCUR IN THE CCS IN THE COMING YEARS AND DECADES. THIS QUESTION IS ONE AMONG MANY REGARDING THE COASTAL OCEAN RESPONSE TO WIND STRESS FORCING THAT MUST BE ANSWERED TO ACHIEVE ROBUST AND RELIABLE DETECTION AND PREDICTION OF CLIMATE TRENDS AND CHANGE IN THESE CRITICALLY IMPORTANT OCEAN REGIMES.