Summary
of the third session of the TAO Implimentation Panel
The third meeting
of the TOGA-TAO Implementation Panel was convened at Seoul National University
(SNU) in Seoul, Korea from October 18 - 20, 1994. The meeting was hosted
jointly by SNU, the Korean Ocean Research and Development Institute (KORDI),
and the Korean Meteorological Research Institute (MRI).
The purpose of the
meeting was to review the status of the TAO Array, to address logistic
and technical issues related to its maintenance and possible expansion,
and to promote scientific exchange between individuals and organizations
involved in the analysis of TAO data. The meeting was attended by about
40 participants from 8 countries (Korea, United States, Japan, Taiwan,
France, United Kingdom, Australia, and India).
The first part of
the meeting was devoted to issues involving technical and logistic coordination.
Some highlights of this portion of the meeting are given below:
- Deployment of
the TAO Array will be completed in December 1994. Since the second meeting
of the TTIP, 5 TAO moorings deployed for the COARE Intensive Observing
Period have been recovered and 7 new TAO mooring sites have been established.
The complete array will consist of 69 TAO moorings at 67 sites.
- Shortage of ship
time to maintain the TAO Array in the western Pacific continues to be
a major concern. Of the approximately 100 days annually required for
this task, Japan has pledged 50 days per year for the 10-year period
1993 - 2002, but the lack of additional commitments places the integrity
of the Array in jeopardy. In 1994, in addition to the Japanese commitment,
Taiwan and UNOLS/University of Hawaii provided approximately 30 days
each to support the western Pacific Array. In 1995, however, there are
no commitments for ship time beyond the 50 days JAMSTEC will provide.
Efforts are underway in Taiwan to secure ship time in 1995, but no decision
has yet been made. In the eastern Pacific, NOAA made 240 sea days available
in Fiscal Year 1994 and will provide 211 days in U.S. Fiscal Year 1995.
- ATLAS data throughput
from Service Argos to the GTS has stabilized in the past year at close
to the 100% level.
- The TAO Workstation
Software, developed by PMEL as an aid in working with TAO data, has
been upgraded to allow users more flexibility in tailoring the displayed
fields, including the ability to view historical TAO data at user selected
time scales ranging from hourly data files to monthly averages. In addition,
a capability has been developed to view TAO data on Mosaic. Hourly values
of surface data and daily averaged surface meteorological and subsurface
temperature data from the TAO Array continue to be available via Internet
anonymous ftp.
- Japan continues
to develop plans for a major long-term Indo-Pacific monitoring program
which will be complementary to TAO. A ship to maintain the proposed
array will undergo conversion starting in 1995. The mooring array will
be phased in, beginning with 5 moorings during the Japanese 1997 fiscal
year (April 1997 - March 1998), pending funding approval.
- NOAA is converting
a former U.S. Navy vessel for servicing the eastern Pacific portion
of the TAO array. The ship, to be homeported in Hawaii, is expected
to enter service in early 1996.
- Long-term monitoring
of upper ocean salinity in the western Pacific warm pool was initiated
in 1994 with the deployment of 45 conductivity/temperature recorders
along the 156E and 165E meridians. This effort is supported by the ORSTOM
Laboratory in Noumea, the University of Hawaii, and PMEL.
Several reports were
given on programs encompassing ocean and climate observations related to
TAO. Reports were heard from representatives of the Global Climate Observing
System (GCOS), the Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS), the Climate Variability
(CLIVAR) program, the Global Ocean-Atmosphere-Land System (GOALS) program,
NOAA's Seasonal to Interannual Climate Prediction Program (SICPP), and the
joint Japan/U.S. Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM).
The final part of
the meeting was dedicated to the presentation of scientific reports focusing
on climate monitoring, modeling, and forecasting issues. Topics covered
ENSO impacts on Korean climate, TOGA COARE data and modeling studies,
TOPEX/Poseidon altimeter validation using TAO data, surface wind data
assimilation into numerical weather prediction models, impact of ocean
data assimilation for initializing ENSO forecasts using coupled ocean-atmosphere
models, and the determination of time/space scales of upper ocean velocity
and temperature variability in the equatorial Pacific based on TAO data
analyses. These presentations represent only a sampling of TAO-related
research. A complete list of TAO publications through the present is contained
in Appendix 5. In calendar year 1994 for example, over 30 manuscripts
were either submitted, accepted, or had appeared in the refereed literature.
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