Extended Abstract (120K)8.4
Coastal wind anomalies and their impact on surface fluxes and processes over the Eastern Pacific during summer
Ragothaman Sundararajan, DRI, Reno, NV; and D. Koraĉin and M. Tjernström
The summertime winds along the California coast are typically northwesterly, giving rise to processes such as coastal upwelling at suitable locations. Deviations from this wind regime are not so uncommon nevertheless, as shown by buoy records of many years, e.g. during June and July 1996. We investigate these anomalies that range from local deviations to those that are more widespread along the coast and lasting several hours or even few days. Also examined is the impact of these anomalies on the surface fluxes that are crucial for ocean models and processes such as upwelling. These fluxes are obtained using different methods, such as turbulence closure schemes, and bulk parameterization. Buoy measured winds and temperatures are used for these calculations. Preliminary results indicate that perturbations in the coastal wind field lead to significant changes in the surface momentum fluxes, these changes at times being as high as 0.5 m2s-2. The results also indicate a correlation between changes in the surface fluxes and measured water temperatures. These impacts can have significant implications to coastal weather.
Session 8, Micro–Scale and Mesoscale air-sea interaction
Wednesday, 12 February 2003, 1:30 PM-4:15 PM
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