Atmosphere–Ocean Coupling from TOGA COARE and Beyond: A Tribute to Peter Webster’s Contribution to Earth System Science

The Tropical Ocean-Global Atmosphere (TOGA) Coupled Ocean Atmosphere Response Experiment (COARE) led by Peter Webster and Roger Lukas was truly transformative in advance our understanding of the Earth system. It was not only innovative in observing the coupled atmosphere-ocean in the tropics, but brought together researchers from the atmosphere and ocean community to tackle one the most challenging problems in the global weather-climate system. It has also inspired a new generation of young scientists to work on the coupled atmosphere-ocean in a wide range of interdisciplinary sciences. I was amount them starting as a post-doc at the University of Washington. My experience in TOGA COARE has shaped my career and taking on better understanding and prediction of the coupled atmosphere-ocean system as one of my goals. I will provide a review of the atmosphere-ocean coupling in the tropics including its impact on the MJO and tropical cyclone modeling and predictions.