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TAO TIP 3 Meeting summary

Summary of the third session of the TAO Implimentation Panel

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Summary
Opening of the meeting
Summary of current conditions in the Tropical Pacific
National reports
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Recommendations and acknowledgements

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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