US Climate Variability and Predictability Program

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 is 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 is a one-year study group whose recommendations will inform the development of future air-sea observing systems. 

Study Group Charge

  1. Identify current capabilities, key gaps, lessons learned from the past, and best practices in data, technology, understanding, and modeling requirements.
  2. Assess the relative importance of resolving various space and time scales, interactions among different scale processes, and addressing model biases to ESP.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.
  5. Liaise and coordinate with other relevant US and international activities (e.g., SCOR OASIS WG)
  6. Produce a strategy document providing system recommendations to be shared with the Interagency Council for Advancing Meteorological Services (ICAMS).
Air-Sea Transition Zone Study Group
Carol Anne Clayson (co-chair) Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Simon de Szoeke (co-chair) Oregon State University
Charlotte DeMott (co-chair) Colorado State University
Ping Chang Texas A&M
Greg Foltz NOAA/AOML
Raghavendra Krishnamurthy DOE/PNNL
Tony Lee NASA/JPL
Andrea Molod NASA/GMAO
David Ortiz-Suslow Naval Postgraduate School
Julie Pullen Jupiter Intelligence
David Richter University of Notre Dame
Hyodae Seo Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Patrick Taylor NASA/Langley
Elizabeth Thompson NOAA/PSL
Bia Villas Bôas Colorado School of Mines
Chris Zappa Columbia University
Paquita Zuidema University of Miami