Session 5, Atmospheric Modeling
Fourth Conference on Coastal Atmospheric and Oceanic Prediction
5.5
Uncertainties in the parameterizations of air-sea energy fluxes and their impact on air-sea coupled modeling
Jian-Wen Bao1, Sara A. Michelson2, and James M. Wilczak1. (1) NOAA/ETL, Boulder, CO 80305-3328, (2) NOAA/ETL and CIRES/Univ. of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80305-3328
The principal processes that dynamically couple the atmosphere and ocean are those involving exchanges of momentum, enthalpy, and mass between the two media at their interface. The energy fluxes at the air-sea interface depend on a variety of conditions and relationship between the fluxes and the variables influencing them are cast as parameterizations which are based on transfer laws deduced from observations. These parameterizations are more or less approximations in which there are still many uncertainties. In this presentation, numerical results will be shown to reveal the impact of some of the uncertainties in the paramterizations of air-sea energy fluxes on air-sea coupled modeling at both high and low wind conditions. These results are obtained by carrying out sensitivity experiments using the regional coupled atmosphere-wave-ocean modeling system developed at NOAA/ETL.
10:45 AM, Friday, 9 November 2001
Fourth Conference on Coastal Atmospheric and Oceanic Prediction and Processes Meeting
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