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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 199 records · Page 11
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1998

Wind Forcing of the North Sea Pole Tide

The Chandler wobble of the earth's rotation has a period near 14 months and sets up the 0.5 cm amplitude pole tide in the deep oceans, However, the pole tide is anomalously large in the North Sea, where the amplitude increases sharply up to 3 cm along the continental coast. It is shown here that the sea levels are well correlated with winds at the pole tide frequency. The Princeton Ocean Model is used to investigate the response of the North Sea to wind forcing. The barotropic numerical ocean model depicts realistic coastlines and bathymetry at 5 ft x 5 ft resolution, with 97 x 73 grid points. The monthly mean wind fields for the 40-year period (1958-1997) from the National Centers for Atmospheric Prediction (NCEP) reanalysis were used to force the model. The winds were converted to stress with a neutral drag coefficient that varied linearly with windspeed (instead of using the NCEP windstress). A 5-day simulation was made for each month until the resulting flow regime came into equilibrium, and model water levels at various station locations were saved for comparison with tidal-gauge observed sea levels from the Permanent Service for Mean Sea Level (PSMSL). The comparison is made for 10 North Sea stations with high quality tide gauge data. We find: (1) good agreement in annual and semi-annual phases and in the trend of amplitude w.r.t. latitude; (2) more importantly for this study, the model-predicted and observed non-seasonal sea level variations show a very significant temporal correlation as well as spectral coherence. However, a large amplitude difference exists between the two sets -- the overall amplitude variability of the observed is generally a factor of 2-3 larger than the model prediction (this same phenomenon has been reported in ocean circulation studies, although the cause is not yet clear.) Our results indicate that the wind forcing is the main cause of the observed large pole tide in the North Sea.

OConnor, W.↗
NASA NTRS1984

Kelvin-wave-induced anomalous advection and the onset of surface warming in El Nino events

A simple advective model for tropical ocean surface warming can produce anomalous sea surface temperature (SST) fields similar to those of the first several months of the 1982 El Nino. The physics invoked assumes that the existing SST field is advected by anomalous currents to produce the anomalous warming, and that the anomalous currents are those induced subsequent to the passage of downwelling Kelvin wave fronts. Numerical experiments with a fully nonlinear and thermally active ocean model support the physical relevance of the more idealized study. The anomalous horizontal advection model also accounts for the initial SST evolution during the more common type of El Nino event.

Harrison, D. E.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Equatorial Kelvin waves do not vanish

In the last several years many scientists have been using poorly resolved coupled models to study the ENSO. It has been very common to state that an ENSO cycle found in a model cannot have oceanic Kelvin waves as a mechanism because such waves do not exist in an ocean model with coarse grid spaing. In this note it is demonstrated that equatorial Kelvin waves can exist in models with coarse grids.

O'Brien, James J.↗
NASA NTRS2007

Parallelization of the Coupled Earthquake Model

This Web-based tsunami simulation system allows users to remotely run a model on JPL s supercomputers for a given undersea earthquake. At the time of this reporting, predicting tsunamis on the Internet has never happened before. This new code directly couples the earthquake model and the ocean model on parallel computers and improves simulation speed. Seismometers can only detect information from earthquakes; they cannot detect whether or not a tsunami may occur as a result of the earthquake. When earthquake-tsunami models are coupled with the improved computational speed of modern, high-performance computers and constrained by remotely sensed data, they are able to provide early warnings for those coastal regions at risk. The software is capable of testing NASA s satellite observations of tsunamis. It has been successfully tested for several historical tsunamis, has passed all alpha and beta testing, and is well documented for users.

Block, Gary↗
NASA NTRS2017

Sea Ice Outlook for September 2017: June Report - NASA Global Modeling and Assimilation Office

The GMAO seasonal forecast is produced from coupled model integrations that are initialized every five days, with seven additional ensemble members generated by coupled model breeding and initialized on the date closest to the beginning of the month. The main components of the AOGCM are the GEOS-5 atmospheric model, the MOM4 ocean model, and CICE sea ice model. Forecast fields were re-gridded to the passive microwave grid for averaging.

Sea Ice↗
NASA NTRS2017

Sea Ice Outlook for September 2017 July Report - NASA Global Modeling and Assimilation Office

The GMAO seasonal forecast is produced from coupled model integrations that are initialized every five days, with seven additional ensemble members generated by coupled model breeding and initialized on the date closest to the beginning of the month. The main components of the AOGCM are the GEOS-5 atmospheric model, the MOM4 ocean model, and CICE sea ice model. Forecast fields were re-gridded to the passive microwave grid for averaging.

Arctic↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Assimilation of Satellite Sea Surface Temperature and Salinity Using the Local Ensemble Transform Kalman Filter Applied to the NASA GEOS Earth System Model

The NASA GEOS-S2S-2 system (Molod et al., 2020) uses the SST relaxation with the Level-4 SST products while the latest GEOS GEOS-S2S-3 system directly assimilates the Level-4 SST in the data assimilation step, yet no study has been conducted to understand the impact of this switch on the GEOS coupled analysis and short-range forecast. In addition, the GEOS-S2S-2/3 systems use the ocean model MOM5. Recently, the ocean model MOM6 is added to the GEOS ESM. This poster presents results of the first coupling of the ensemble data assimilation system to the GEOS MOM6.

Cheng Da↗
NASA NTRS1978

Open ocean tide modelling

Two trends evident in global tidal modelling since the first GEOP conference in 1972 are described. The first centers on the incorporation of terms for ocean loading and gravitational self attraction into Laplace's tidal equations. The second centers on a better understanding of the problem of near resonant modelling and the need for realistic maps of tidal elevation for use by geodesists and geophysicists. Although new models still show significant differences, especially in the South Atlantic, there are significant similarities in many of the world's oceans. This allows suggestions to be made for future locations for bottom pressure gauge measurements. Where available, estimates of M2 tidal dissipation from the new models are significantly lower than estimates from previous models.

Parke, M. E.↗
NASA NTRS1977

An empirical model for ocean radar backscatter and its application in inversion routine to eliminate wind speed and direction effects

Several regression models were tested to explain the wind direction dependence of the 1975 JONSWAP (Joint North Sea Wave Project) scatterometer data. The models consider the radar backscatter as a harmonic function of wind direction. The constant term accounts for the major effect of wind speed and the sinusoidal terms for the effects of direction. The fundamental accounts for the difference in upwind and downwind returns, while the second harmonic explains the upwind-crosswind difference. It is shown that a second harmonic model appears to adequately explain the angular variation. A simple inversion technique, which uses two orthogonal scattering measurements, is also described which eliminates the effect of wind speed and direction. Vertical polarization was shown to be more effective in determining both wind speed and direction than horizontal polarization.

Dome, G. J.↗
NASA NTRS1994

Shortwave feedbacks and El Nino-Southern Oscillation: Forced ocean coupled ocean-atmosphere experiments

Changes in tropical sea surface temperature (SST) can produce changes in cloudiness that modify incoming solar shortwave (SW) radiation, which in turn affects SST. The effects of this negative feedback on Pacific interannual variability are examined in forced ocean model and hybrid coupled ocean-atmosphere model simulations. Two empirical schemes are used to model the large-scale, low-frequency response of surface SW to SST anomalies. The first scheme attempts to account for the nonlocal nature of the atmospheric response to SST based patterns of covariability analyzed through singular value decomposition. In the observations the primary coupled mode of variability is composed of a SW anomaly in the central Pacific that covaries with anomalous SST in the eastern Pacific. This is applied in the model as a nonlocal feedback. The second scheme examines the effects of a purely local feedback with a spatially varying coefficient of magnitude chosen similar to the first scheme. In almost all cases the second scheme behaved similarly to the first, presumably because the correlation scale of SST is large enough for El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) dynamics that there is little sensitivity to the local approximation in the SW feedback. In simulations forced by time series of observed wind stress the SW feedback induced very minor SST damping. Results for a simpified heat budget analysis showed that while the SW feedback increased the local heat flux damping on SST, it also induced a mean shallowing of the mixed layer. The resulting changes in both the local mean vertical temperature gradient and the zonal velocity response to the wind stress acted to oppose the local heat flux damping effects. When the observed SW anomalies were applied to forced simulations, the simulated SST anomalies were modified as expected, and agreement with observed SST improved. In coupled simulations the SW feedbacks had greater impact than in the case of specified stress. The main effects were to decrease the magnitude of the warm and cold SST anomalies in the central Pacific, while leaving the pattern and evolution of ENSO anomalies essentially unchanged elsewhere. The SW feedbacks thus produce a modest improvement of the model ENSO SST pattern compared with observations, although they tended to shorten the period of the model ENSO cycle. Overall the results suggest that large-scale SW feedbacks are of quantitative importance to simulating some aspects of the ENSO cycle but are not critical to the overall occurrence of the phenomenon.

Waliser, Duane E.↗
NASA NTRS2013

An Assessment of the Skill of GEOS-5 Seasonal Forecasts

The seasonal forecast skill of the NASA Global Modeling and Assimilation Office coupled global climate model (CGCM) is evaluated based on an ensemble of 9-month lead forecasts for the period 1993 to 2010. The results from the current version (V2) of the CGCM consisting of the GEOS-5 AGM coupled to the MOM4 ocean model are compared with those from an earlier version (V1) in which the AGCM (the NSIPP model) was coupled to the Poseidon Ocean Model. It was found that the correlation skill of the Sea Surface Temperature (SST) forecasts is generally better in V2, especially over the sub-tropical and tropical central and eastern Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian Ocean. Furthermore, the improvement in skill in V2 mainly comes from better forecasts of the developing phase of ENSO from boreal spring to summer. The skill of ENSO forecasts initiated during the boreal winter season, however, shows no improvement in terms of correlation skill, and is in fact slightly worse in terms of root mean square error (RMSE). The degradation of skill is found to be due to an excessive ENSO amplitude. For V1, the ENSO amplitude is too strong in forecasts starting in boreal spring and summer, which causes large RMSE in the forecast. For V2, the ENSO amplitude is slightly stronger than that in observations and V1 for forecasts starting in boreal winter season. An analysis of the terms in the SST tendency equation, shows that this is mainly due to an excessive zonal advective feedback. In addition, V2 forecasts that are initiated during boreal winter season, exhibit a slower phase transition of El Nino, which is consistent with larger amplitude of ENSO after the ENSO peak season. It is found that this is due to weak discharge of equatorial Warm Water Volume (WWV). In both observations and V1, the discharge of equatorial WWV leads the equatorial geostrophic easterly current so as to damp the El Nino starting in January. This process is delayed by about 2 months in V2 due to the slower phase transition of the equatorial zonal current from westerly to easterly.

GMAO↗
NASA NTRS1991

Ocean tide models for satellite geodesy and Earth rotation

A theory is presented which predicts tides in turbulent, self-gravitating, and loading oceans possessing linearized bottom friction, realistic bathymetry, and continents (at coastal boundaries no-flow conditions are imposed). The theory is phrased in terms of spherical harmonics, which allows the tide equations to be reduced to linear matrix equations. This approach also allows an ocean-wide mass conservation constraint to be applied. Solutions were obtained for 32 long and short period luni-solar tidal constituents (and the pole tide), including the tidal velocities in addition to the tide height. Calibrating the intensity of bottom friction produces reasonable phase lags for all constituents; however, tidal amplitudes compare well with those from observation and other theories only for long-period constituents. In the most recent stage of grant research, traditional theory (Liouville equations) for determining the effects of angular momentum exchange on Earth's rotation were extended to encompass high-frequency excitations (such as short-period tides).

Dickman, Steven R.↗
NASA NTRS2002

Estimating the Ocean Flow Field from Combined Sea Surface Temperature and Sea Surface Height Data

This project was part of a previous grant at MIT that was moved over to the Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO) together with the principal investigator. The final report provided here is concerned only with the work performed at SIO since January 2000. The primary focus of this project was the study of the three-dimensional, absolute and time-evolving general circulation of the global ocean from a combined analysis of remotely sensed fields of sea surface temperature (SST) and sea surface height (SSH). The synthesis of those two fields was performed with other relevant physical data, and appropriate dynamical ocean models with emphasis on constraining ocean general circulation models by a combination of both SST and SSH data. The central goal of the project was to improve our understanding and modeling of the relationship between the SST and its variability to internal ocean dynamics, and the overlying atmosphere, and to explore the relative roles of air-sea fluxes and internal ocean dynamics in establishing anomalies in SST on annual and longer time scales. An understanding of those problems will feed into the general discussion on how SST anomalies vary with time and the extend to which they interact with the atmosphere.

Stammer, Detlef↗
NASA NTRS1991

Circulation of the gyres of the world ocean: Observation modeling using TOPEX/Poseidon altimeter data

The overall objectives of the proposed investigation are to study the dynamics of the large-scale recirculating cells of water in the ocean, which are loosely defined as 'gyres' in this study. A gyre is normally composed of a swift western boundary current (e.g., the Gulf Stream and the Kuroshio), a tight recirculating cell attached to the current, and a large-scale sluggish return flow. The water, of course, is not entirely recirculating within a gyre. The exchange of water among gyres is an important process in maintaining the meridional heat transport of the ocean. The gyres constitute a major mode of water movement in the ocean and play significant roles in the global climate system.

Fu, Lee-Lueng↗
NASA NTRS2001

A Multiyear Dataset of SSM/I-Derived Global Ocean Surface Turbulent Fluxes

The surface turbulent fluxes of momentum, latent heat, and sensible heat over global oceans are essential to weather, climate and ocean problems. Evaporation is a key component of the hydrological cycle and the surface heat budget, while the wind stress is the major forcing for driving the oceanic circulation. The global air-sea fluxes of momentum, latent and sensible heat, radiation, and freshwater (precipitation-evaporation) are the forcing for driving oceanic circulation and, hence, are essential for understanding the general circulation of global oceans. The global air-sea fluxes are required for driving ocean models and validating coupled ocean-atmosphere global models. We have produced a 7.5-year (July 1987-December 1994) dataset of daily surface turbulent fluxes over the global oceans from the Special Sensor microwave/Imager (SSM/I) data. Daily turbulent fluxes were derived from daily data of SSM/I surface winds and specific humidity, National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) sea surface temperatures, and European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) air-sea temperature differences, using a stability-dependent bulk scheme. The retrieved instantaneous surface air humidity (with a 25-km resolution) validated well with that of the collocated radiosonde observations over the global oceans. Furthermore, the retrieved daily wind stresses and latent heat fluxes were found to agree well with that of the in situ measurements (IMET buoy, RV Moana Wave, and RV Wecoma) in the western Pacific warm pool during the TOGA COARE intensive observing period (November 1992-February 1993). The global distributions of 1988-94 seasonal-mean turbulent fluxes will be presented. In addition, the global distributions of 1990-93 annual-means turbulent fluxes and input variables will be compared with those of UWM/COADS covering the same period. The latter is based on the COADS (comprehensive ocean-atmosphere data set) and is recognized to be one of the best climatological analyses of fluxes derived from ship observations.

Chou, Shu-Hsien↗
NASA NTRS1988

Microplate and shear zone models for oceanic spreading center reorganizations

The kinematics of rift propagation and the resulting goemetries of various tectonic elements for two plates is reviewed with no overlap zone. The formation and evolution of overlap regions using schematic models is discussed. The models are scaled in space and time to approximate the Easter plate, but are simplified to emphasize key elements. The tectonic evolution of overlap regions which act as rigid microplates and shear zones is discussed, and the use of relative motion and structural data to discriminate between the two types of models is investigated. The effect of propagation rate and rise time on the size, shape, and deformation of the overlap region is demonstrated.

Engeln, Joseph F.↗