Boundary Layer and Air-Sea Interaction in Tropical Convection Using Synthesized Measurements from the NOAA WP-3D

The NOAA WP-3D research aircraft made extensive measurements over the tropical Indian Ocean before, during, and after the November Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO) event of 2011 as part of the Dynamics of Madden-Julian Oscillation (DYNAMO) project. This presentation will focus on analyses of the measurements made on November 28, 2011 during the active phase of the November MJO event. The measurements were made at the edge of an extensive mesoscale convective system where dropsondes and AXBT/AXCTD were deployed in a spatially coherent pattern in order to reveal the spatial variability associated with the tropical deep convective system and especially its impact on the near surface flux exchanges and on the upper ocean. Results from this case demonstrate the value of a carefully designed measurement strategy making optimal use of all measurement resources. This presentation will also incorporate measurements from the C-band fuselage and from the x-band tail radars on board the aircraft that revealed the location and intensity of the precipitating convective cloud to help orient all measurements in the storm relative coordinate. We will discuss the low-level convergence region of the convection and the associated horizontal variation of the near surface temperature and humidity. The change of such spatial variation in the upper level will also be discussed. Next we will examine the corresponding variability in the upper ocean to address the direct impact of convective precipitation on the upper ocean. Finally, we will discuss the variation of turbulent fluxes at different region of the convection using fluxes obtained with the eddy correlation methods. Spatial variability of the surface fluxes will be discussed at multiple levels. This study provides a complete picture of the convective interaction at the air-sea interface.