Air-ocean characteristics during the Impact of Typhoons On The Ocean In The Pacific (ITOP) Program
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Authors
Heck, Amy D.
Subjects
Advisors
Harr, Patrick A.
Date of Issue
2011-09
Date
Publisher
Monterey, CA; Naval Postgraduate School
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Abstract
Interactions between a tropical cyclone (TC) and the underlying ocean environment can have significant impacts on physical mechanisms during the formation and intensification of the storm. During the summer of 2010, the Impact of Typhoons on the Ocean in the Pacific (ITOP) program was conducted to examine interactions between the ocean and TCs using a variety of experimental approaches. Specific observational assets included an array of moored buoys, two WC-130J aircraft, and a U.S. research vessel (RV Revelle). Airborne-deployed sensors included dropwindsondes, airborne expendable bathythermographs (AXBTs), Lagrangian floats, and drifters. In this thesis, AXBT observations were used to examine basic characteristics of the ocean environment during TCs that occurred during ITOP. Observations were compared to the Naval Research Laboratory East Asian Seas Nowcast Forecast System (NRL EASNS). For high ocean heat content (OHC), the model analyzed OHC was too low and for low OHC, the model analyses were too high. The largest analyzed and observed differences were found to occur in regions of TC-induced ocean changes. The significance of this comparison is the contribution to understanding the relationship between OHC and TC structure, with specific focus on the representation in the operational NRL EASNFS.
Type
Thesis
Description
Series/Report No
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Organization
Naval Postgraduate School (U.S.)
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NPS Report Number
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Format
xxi, 95 p. : col. maps ;
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Distribution Statement
Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited.
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This publication is a work of the U.S. Government as defined in Title 17, United States Code, Section 101. Copyright protection is not available for this work in the United States.