Summary
The fourth meeting
of the TAO Implementation Panel was hosted jointly by the Fundacao Cearense
de Meteorologia e Recursos Hidricos (FUNCEME) and the Instituto Nacional
de Pesquisas Espaciais (INPE) in Fortaleza, Brazil from 12 to 14 September
1995.
The purpose of the
meeting was to review the status of the TAO Array, to discuss logistical
and technical issues related to its maintenance and possible expansion
(especially expansion into the equatorial Atlantic Ocean), and to promote
scientific exchange between individuals and organizations involved in
the analysis of TAO data. The meeting was attended by about 35 participants
from 7 countries (Brazil, France, India, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and the
United States).
This was the first
meeting conducted under the joint sponsorship of the Global Climate Observing
System (GCOS), the Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS) and the World
Climate Research Program on Climate Variability and Predictability (CLIVAR).
Sponsorship passed to these organizations with the termination of the
International TOGA Program at the end of 1994.
The early portion
of the meeting was devoted to logistic and technical issues affecting
the Array. Highlights from this portion of the agenda were:
- The TAO Array
was completed on 17 December 1994, with the deployment of an ATLAS mooring
at 8N,156E by the Taiwanese R/V Ocean Researcher I. At the time
of the meeting, the Array consisted of moorings at 67 sites, 64 of which
were instrumented with ATLAS moorings and 5 of which were instrumented
with current meter moorings. In two instances (0,147E and 0,170W) subsurface
ADCP mooring were collocated with ATLAS moorings.
- The TAO Array
service vessel acquired from the U.S. Navy by NOAA is being refit for
mooring work in Bellingham, Washington. The ship should enter service
in March - April 1996. Formerly known as the Titan, the ship
will be rechristened the NOAA Ship Ka'imimoana.
- Commitment of
ship time remains an issue in the maintenance of the Array in the Western
Pacific. During the past 12 months, Japan and Taiwan provided 49 and
44 days, respectively, on cruises that supported the TAO Array. These
cruises also support national research programs, so that cruise tracks
are not necessarily optimized to service TAO moorings. Therefore, several
moorings have been in place for longer than their design lifetime, leading
to mooring failures, equipment loss, data loss and breaks in the continuity
of the data stream. Data and equipment loss in the western Pacific is
further exacerbated by vandalism due to fishing vessels in the Western
Pacific. Together, fishing vandalism and non-optimal ship time allocations
lead to much lower data return in the western Pacific than in the central
and eastern Pacific.
- Japan is committed
to providing 50 days of ship time in 1996 for servicing moorings of
the TAO array in the western Pacific. France will provide approximately
4 days of ship time in September - October 1996 as part of a JGOFS cruise
along the date line. These contributions, though essential, are inadequate
to maintain the western portion of the array. Taiwan expressed optimism
at the possibility of contributing ship time for TAO maintenance in
1996; Korea expressed similar optimism for TAO ship time in 1997. The
panel expressed hope that this optimism would translate into firm commitments
by Taiwan and Korea in the coming year.
- The TAO Project
Office is in the process of developing an informational brochure aimed
at the tropical Pacific fishing industry. This brochure represents an
attempt to educate fishermen concerning the benefits of the TAO Array.
Plans are to publish the brochure in several languages and distribute
it to all known fishery-related industries operating in the area. Two
magazine articles were also submitted to fisheries publications providing
basic information about the TAO Array. The first of these articles will
appear in the Fisheries Bulletin published by the South Pacific Commission
in New Caledonia.
- JAMSTEC continues
to develop plans for a western Pacific Array that will provide a real-time
data stream similar to TAO. Plans call for conversion of the R/V Mutsu
to service the array beginning in 1998. Five mooring sites are planned
for establishment in Japanese Fiscal Year (JFY) 1997, with 8 more sites
in JFY 98 and 7 more sites in JFY 99.
- A 5-year plan
developed in 1990 for moored velocity measurements in TAO was reviewed.
The panel recommended a shift from real-time acoustic Doppler current
profiler measurements to subsurface, internally recording acoustic Doppler
current profiler measurements at all sites presently instrumented for
velocity. This strategy was endorsed in view of the fact that real-time
data quality and quantity are compromised by fish-bias errors and fishing
vandalism; and that scientific uses of the data at present do not urgently
require the data be transmitted in real-time. National support for moored
velocity measurements and holdings of the TAO velocity data center were
also reviewed.
- The status of
a pilot salinity monitoring project in the western Pacific was reviewed.
Due to problems with fishing vandalism and mooring failures in the first
year of the field program, emphasis will shift away from heavily instrumented
moorings with vertical arrays of salinity sensors. Instead, instruments
will be spread out over a larger geographical region (156řE to the date
line) with emphasis on surface salinity.
- Developmental
efforts at PMEL continue for the inductively-coupled next generation
ATLAS mooring. Two prototype moorings are presently deployed adjacent
to standard ATLAS moorings in the eastern Pacific. Depending on the
success of these pilot deployments, it is expected that the next generation
mooring design will be operational within two years.
- PMEL has established
a rain gauge test and calibration facility in the Olympic National Rain
Forest. At present, several sensors are undergoing evaluation in terms
of instrument performance and sampling strategies. Results of these
evaluations will be used to incorporate rainfall measurements into the
next generation ATLAS mooring design.
- Data from the
array continue to be available to the international community in real
time via the Global Telecommunications System. Additionally, World Wide
Web access has been expanded during the past year to allow distribution
and display of real time data, and to provide updated online information
regarding the TAO project (the URL is http://www.pmel.noaa.gov/toga-tao/home.html).
A new enhanced version of the TAO Workstation Software was also released
during summer 1995.
The middle part of the
meeting was devoted to program status reports. Among these were presentations
on the Global Climate Observing System, Global Ocean Observing System, the
French contribution to the CLIVAR Program, the U.S. Pan American Climate
Studies (PACS) Program and the WOCE/Atlantic Climate Change Experiment.
Also, several presentations were made by members of the host delegation
regarding climate research in Brazil. This research is primarily motivated
by the relationship between interannual variations in sea surface temperature
(both in the Atlantic and Pacific) and Brazilian rainfall. Present capabilities
in Brazil for making ocean observations were also highlighted.
The final portion
of the meeting was dedicated to the presentation of research reports focussing
on climate analyses, modeling, and forecasting. Reports were presented
on coupled modes of climate variability in the tropical Atlantic, El Nino
dynamics, Indian Ocean monsoon variability, equatorial waves, data assimilation,
and seasonal-to-interannual forecasting. Where appropriate, these presentations
emphasized the utility of TAO data in furthering our understanding, and
our ability to predict, short-term climate variability.
The meeting concluded
with the observation that expansion of the TAO Array into the Atlantic
could be strongly justified, given the compelling nature of the climate
problem, and the relative sparsity of in situ data. The panel furthermore
recommended that as a first step, consideration should be given to developing
a multi-national pilot scale moored array to address some of the most
outstanding scientific issues related to ocean-atmosphere interaction
in the region.
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