SURFACE VELOCITY PRODUCT

P. Hacker (University of Hawaii)

Announced availability: 17 October 1996

Data Access

An ocean surface velocity product is available from the University of Hawaii via anonymous ftp (mana.soest.hawaii.edu in directories pub/coare). The product is also available from the COARE Moored Data Archive at NOAA/PMEL's Tropical Atmosphere-Ocean Array (TAO) Project Office, (http://www.pmel.noaa.gov/tao/proj_over/coare/coare-data.html), along with other COARE mooring data, as well as the Florida State University Center for Ocean-Atmospheric Prediction Studies (COAPS) (http://www.coaps.fsu.edu/coare), the repository for COARE flux data.

The data will also be archived at NOAA's National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC) in Silver Spring, Maryland (http://www.nodc.noaa.gov), the repository for COARE oceanographic data, and at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, Colorado (http://www.scd.ucar.edu/dss/datasets/ds606.5.html), the site of the TOGA COARE deep archive.

Background

This ocean surface velocity product for the Wecoma survey region near the IMET was made specifically for the COARE Flux Group. The purpose of this product is to provide an estimate of the surface current in the ocean, at z = 0 meters, near the IMET buoy during the Intensive Observation Period (IOP). An IMET current meter at z = 19 m provides a continuous record over the entire IOP. The PWP model provides an estimate of the velocity shear between z = 19 m and the surface, z = 0 m. During the times when the R/V Wecoma is surveying the butterfly pattern, a three-day mapping product provides linear estimates of the horizontal velocity shear away from the IMET buoy. Standard deviation and noise time series are also provided, so you can get an estimate of how good the velocity product is at a given time and location.

Data File Information

The dataset has 21 columns:

1) Time [decimal day (Jan 1, 1992 at noon = 0.5), every 3 hours]
2) IU(t) (m/s)  IMET U component at z = 19 m.
3) IV(t) (m/s)  IMET V component at z = 19 m.
4) PWPU(t) (m/s)  PWP velocity difference, PWPU(0m)-PWPU(19m).
5) PWPV(t) (m/s)  PWP velocity difference, PWPV(0m)-PWPV(19m).
6-11 & 16-21)  UH model output at z = 20 m.
6) U(t) (m/s)            3-day mean U over Wecoma survey domain.
7) du/dx(t) ((m/s)/km)   3-day linear fit over Wecoma survey domain.
8) du/dy(t) ((m/s)/km)   3-day linear fit over Wecoma survey domain.
9) V(t) (m/s)            3-day mean V over Wecoma survey domain.
10) dv/dx(t) ((m/s)/km)  3-day linear fit over Wecoma survey domain.
11) dv/dy(t) ((m/s)/km)  3-day linear fit over Wecoma survey domain.
12) std dev of column 2.   3-hour average.   
13) std dev of column 3    3-hour average.
14) [IU(7m)-IU(19m)]-[PWPU(7m)-PWPU(19m)]
15) [IV(7m)-IV(19m)]-[PWPV(7m)-PWPV(19m)]
16-21) UH model error estimate of columns 6-11 based on boot-strap.

For more information, please contact:

Dr. Peter Hacker
School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology
University of Hawaii at Manoa
2525 Correa Road
Honolulu, Hawaii 96822 USA
e-mail: hacker@soest.hawaii.edu
Phone: (808) 956-8760
Fax: (808) 956-3188

OR

Dr. Albert J. Plueddemann
Department of Physical Oceanography
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Woods Hole, MA 02543 USA
email: aplueddemann@whoi.edu
Phone: (508) 457-2000 x2789
Fax: (508) 457-2181

References

Anderson, S.P., R.A. Weller and R.B. Lukas, 1996: Surface buoyancy forcing and the mixed layer of the Western Pacific Warm Pool: Observations and 1-D model results. (Submitted to J. Climate.)

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