PMEL Programs and Plans
Accomplishments in FY 97 and Plans for FY 98
Figures (a) TAO array, consisting of approximately 70 deep
ocean moorings, provides high quality, in-situ, real-time data for
short-term climate studies relating to El Nino, and
(b) NOAA's newly commisioned research vessel Ka'imimoana is dedicated
to servicing the TAO buoys.
"The crowning achievement of TOGA was the development of the Tropical Atmosphere/Ocean (TAO) array of 70 moored buoys."
EOS Transactions, American Geophysical Union, 78, 1, January 7, 1997.
Tropical Atmosphere-Oceans Program
Accomplishments in FY 97
The Tropical Atmosphere-Ocean (TAO) Array consists of approximately 70
deep-ocean moorings spanning the equatorial Pacific Ocean between 8N and 8S
from 95W to 137E. The purpose of the array is to provide high quality, in-situ,
real-time data in the equatorial Pacific Ocean for short-term climate studies,
most notably those relating to the El Nino/Southern Oscillation (ENSO)
phenomenon. TAO measurements consist primarily of surface
winds, sea surface temperature, upper ocean temperature and currents, air
temperature, and relative humidity. Data are telemetered in real time via
Service Argos. A subset of these data is placed on the Global
Telecommunications System (GTS) for distribution to operational centers
where they are assimilated into weather and climate forecast models.
The NOAA Ship Ka'imimoana, commissioned in 1996, is dedicated to servicing
TAO moorings between 95W and 165E. Non-US shiptime (primarily from Japan
and Taiwan) is required to service the array to the west of 165E.
TAO data support research efforts at institutions around the world on the
causes and consequences of climate variability originating in the tropical
Pacific. Work at PMEL during the past year has focused on describing the
evolution of the 1997-98 ENSO warm event, the strongest on record. This event
was forecast by some modeling groups up to one year in advance. However, none
of the models forecast its very rapid onset early calendar year, or its great
intensity. The model that arguably made the best forecasts was the NCEP
coupled model, which made most use of available ocean data, including TAO data,
for initialization. The mechanisms responsible for this unusually strong event,
and failure of some forecast models to predict it at all, are major research
questions.
Additional work at PMEL in FY 97 focussed on analyzing upper ocean heat, salt
and momentum balances; on investigations of the mean seasonal cycle; on large
scale ocean dynamical processes involving equatorial waves and currents; on
assessments of TAO array design and sampling strategies for climate analyses
and predictions; on the validation and interpretation of the NASA scatterometer
(NSCAT) data; and on validation of recent ocean and atmospheric model reanalyses
using TAO data. A historical overview of the development of the Tropical Ocean
Global Atmosphere (TOGA) observing system was completed, and is scheduled to
appear in early 1998 in the Journal of Geophysical Research.
New measurement programs were inititiated in 1997, including the Pilot
Research Moored Array in the Tropical Atlantic (PIRATA) in collaboration with
Brazil and France, and the South China Sea Monsoon Experiment (SCSMEX) in
collaboration with Taiwan. The TAO project also began a short wave radiation
measurement program in the western Pacific in collaboration with the US Department
of Energy/Atmospheric Radiation Measurements (DOE/ARM), and an in situ rainfall
and surface salinity measurement program with the NASA Tropical Rainfall Measuring
Mission (TRMM). Moored bio-opitical, nutrient and chemical
sensors were deployed at a few sites within the array in collaboration with the NOAA Ocean Atmosphere Carbon Exchange Studies (OACES) Program and the NASA SeaWifs (ocean color) satellite program. In anticipation of deployments of the new Japanese
Triangle Trans Ocean Buoy Network (TRITON) in the western Pacific in early 1998, PMEL began to transfer some of its data processing and display software to JAMSTEC in order that the ATLAS and TRITON buoy data streams can be seamlessly intregrated into a single data set from the start. Also in FY 97, refinements of the new Next Generation ATLAS moorings continued, and at several sites in the array were instrumented with this newer technology. All these efforts contribute to studies of ocean-atmosphere interaction and climate variability of central interest to PMEL.
Signing of President Clinton's FY 98 budget request into law has provided
operational funding for the TAO array and other elements of the former
TOGA observing system for the first time. This new source of funding should
stabilize the long term maintenance of the array in support of NOAA's climate
mission.
Tropical Atmosphere-Oceans Program
Plans for FY 98
- Maintain the TAO Array in support of NOAA's Seasonal to Interannual
Climate Prediction Program (SICPP), GOOS, GCOS, and CLIVAR/GOALS.
- Develop a strategic 5-year plan for TAO that takes into account the new
operational base of funding.
- Continue the transition to Next Generation ATLAS moorings in the array.
- Build up radiation and rainfall measurement networks. Continue moored bio-optical, nutrient, and chemical measurements.
- Expand the arrays in the tropical Atlantic and the South China Sea; Expand the array in the eastern tropical Pacific in support of NOAA's Pan American Climate Studies (PACS).
- Initiate studies to understand the genesis and evolution of the 1997-98
El Nino.
- Document phenomena and explore processes related to seasonal to
interannual climate variations in the tropical Pacific, with emphasis on the
equatorial cold tongue and the western Pacific warm pool.
- Continue modeling and TAO-based empirical studies to evaluate satellite
wind and sea level products as part of the TOPEX/POSEIDON extended mission and
the NSCAT mission.
- Continue evaluations of ocean and atmosphere reanalyses products, and of
the impacts of TAO data on climate analysis and predictions.
- Complete the rescue high resolution (15-minute) historical TAO current
meter data and make these data available on the World Wide Web.
- Maintain and enhance on-line access to TAO data sets.
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