Air-Sea Transition Zone Study Group
The US CLIVAR Air-Sea Transition Zone Study Group was formed in March 2022. The purpose of the Study Group was to develop detailed scientific recommendations to advance our capability of observing and understanding the role of air-sea interactions in Earth System Predictability (ESP). This was a one-year study group whose recommendations will inform the development of future air-sea observing systems. The Air-Sea Transition Zone Study Group activities concluded with a published report in 2023 titled, A New Paradigm for Observing and Modeling of Air-Sea Interactions to Advance Earth System Prediction, which is available online.
Study Group Charge
- Identify current capabilities, key gaps, lessons learned from the past, and best practices in data, technology, understanding, and modeling requirements.
- Assess the relative importance of resolving various space and time scales, interactions among different scale processes, and addressing model biases to ESP.
- Build upon recent and potential future advances in sensor/platform technology to inform new satellite and in situ observing systems to resolve processes of ocean-atmosphere interaction, including estimates of turbulent air-sea fluxes of heat and moisture over the global oceans and their transport into the rest of the atmosphere through the marine boundary layer.
- Explore possibilities of using modern statistical and modeling tools and co‐designing air‐sea observing and data assimilation (DA) systems to optimally use available data, fill observational blind spots, and minimize cost while harnessing predictability and providing broader societal benefits.
- Liaise and coordinate with other relevant US and international activities (e.g., SCOR OASIS WG)
- Produce a strategy document providing system recommendations to be shared with the Interagency Council for Advancing Meteorological Services (ICAMS).
| Carol Anne Clayson (co-chair) | Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution |
Simon de Szoeke (co-chair) | Oregon State University |
| Charlotte DeMott (co-chair) | Colorado State University |
Texas A&M | |
| NOAA/AOML | |
| DOE/PNNL | |
| NASA/JPL | |
| NASA/GMAO | |
| Naval Postgraduate School | |
| Propeller Ventures | |
University of Notre Dame | |
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution | |
NASA/Langley | |
NOAA/PSL | |
| Colorado School of Mines | |
Columbia University | |
University of Miami |