To Abstract List
Mixed layer (15m) velocity and temperature data have been collected throughout the Pacific from satellite-tracked drifting buoys as part of the WOCE Surface Velocity Program (SVP) and as part of several process studies. All of the data from SVP deployments and other deployments of WOCE-quality drifters in the Pacific are maintained at the drifting buoy data assembly center at NOAA/AOML in Miami. An overview of these data products is available on line at: http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/phod/dac/dacdata.html.
My personal focus has been on surface velocity and temperature data for the north Pacific, including the subarctic and the California Current System. Higher drifter data concentrations exist in these regions due to the Ocean Storms and WOCE Heavy Weather Experiments in the subarctic Pacific (1987 and 1989, respectively) and due to the Coastal Transition Zone and Eastern Boundary Current Experiments within the California Current System (1987-1994). Analyses have been performed to expose eddy kinetic energy and diffusivity levels from the data. The observations of temperature change following water parcels have also been used to map vertical heat fluxes through the mixed layer and wind versus drifter velocity comparisons have shown the possibility to constrain simple models of the turbulent momentum transfer in the mixed layer that improve upon the common slab- layer assumption.
In terms of the broad goals of WOCE, opportunities exist to compare drifter-based statistics with model predictions. Of particular interest may be the ability of models to reproduce the region-to-region variability in energy levels and diffusivity and the characteristics of the surface wind forcing.
To Pacific Workshop
To WOCE Home Page