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All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2019

Smart Hand Offs and Earthdata Search

Often a science user will discover data of interest in a general-purpose discovery tool like Earthdata Search. At that point it might be beneficial for the science user to switch to a more specialized tool. Smart handoffs allow the user to switch from one tool to another with their context (collection, spatial and temporal constraints) intact. This provides an efficient means of traversing tools and services. The idea of smart handoffs could be expanded to commercial search engines such as Google, visualization tools like State of the Ocean and Giovanni and domain-specific search tools like Earthdata Search.

Giovanni↗
NASA NTRS2013

North Atlantic Simulations in Coordinated Ocean-Ice Reference Experiments Phase II (CORE-II). Part I: Mean States

Simulation characteristics from eighteen global ocean-sea-ice coupled models are presented with a focus on the mean Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) and other related fields in the North Atlantic. These experiments use inter-annually varying atmospheric forcing data sets for the 60-year period from 1948 to 2007 and are performed as contributions to the second phase of the Coordinated Oceanice Reference Experiments (CORE-II). The protocol for conducting such CORE-II experiments is summarized. Despite using the same atmospheric forcing, the solutions show significant differences. As most models also differ from available observations, biases in the Labrador Sea region in upper-ocean potential temperature and salinity distributions, mixed layer depths, and sea-ice cover are identified as contributors to differences in AMOC. These differences in the solutions do not suggest an obvious grouping of the models based on their ocean model lineage, their vertical coordinate representations, or surface salinity restoring strengths. Thus, the solution differences among the models are attributed primarily to use of different subgrid scale parameterizations and parameter choices as well as to differences in vertical and horizontal grid resolutions in the ocean models. Use of a wide variety of sea-ice models with diverse snow and sea-ice albedo treatments also contributes to these differences. Based on the diagnostics considered, the majority of the models appear suitable for use in studies involving the North Atlantic, but some models require dedicated development effort. atmospheric forcing atmospheric temperatures

ocean model comparisons↗
NASA NTRS2018

GEOS S2S-2_1 File Specification: GMAO Seasonal and Sub-Seasonal Forecast Output

The NASA GMAO seasonal (9 months) and subseasonal (45 days) forecasts are produced with the Goddard Earth Observing System (GEOS) Atmosphere-Ocean General Circulation Model and Data Assimilation System Version S2S-2_1. The new system replaces version S2S-1.0 described in Borovikov et al (2017), and includes upgrades to many components of the system. The atmospheric model includes an upgrade from a pre-MERRA-2 version running on a latitude-longitude grid at approx. 1 degree resolution to a current version running on a cubed sphere grid at approximately 1/2 degree resolution. The important developments are related to the dynamical core (Putman et al., 2011), the moist physics (''two-moment microphysics'' of Barahona et al., 2014) and the cryosphere (Cullather et al., 2014). As in the previous GMAO S2S system, the land model is that of Koster et al (2000). GMAO S2S-2_1 now includes the Goddard Chemistry Aerosol Radiation and Transport (GOCART, Colarco et al., 2010) single moment interactive aerosol model that includes predictive aerosols including dust, sea salt and several species of carbon and sulfate. The previous version of GMAO S2S specified aerosol amounts from climatology, which were used to inform the atmospheric radiation only. The ocean model includes an upgrade from MOM4 to MOM5 (Griffies 2012), and continues to be run on the tripolar grid at approximately 1/2 degree resolution in the tropics with 40 vertical levels. As in S2S-1.0, the sea ice model is from the Los Alamos Sea Ice model (CICE4, Hunke and Lipscomb 2010). The Ocean Data Assimilation System (ODAS) has been upgraded from the one described in Borovikov et al., 2017 to one that uses a modified version of the Penny, 2014 Local Ensemble Transform Kalman Filter (LETKF), and now assimilates along-track altimetry. The ODAS also does a nudging to MERRA-2 SST and sea ice boundary conditions. The atmospheric data assimilation fields used to constrain the atmosphere in the ODAS have been upgraded from MERRA to a MERRA-2 like system. The system is initialized using a MERRA-2-like atmospheric reanalysis (Gelaro et al. 2017) and the GMAO S2S-2_1 ocean analysis. Additional ensemble members for forecasts are produced with initial states at 5-day intervals, with additional members based on perturbations of the atmospheric and ocean states. Both subseasonal and seasonal forecasts are submitted to the National MultiModel Ensemble (NMME) project, and are part of the US/Canada multimodel seasonal forecasts (http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/NMME/). A large suite of retrospective forecasts (''hindcasts'') have been completed, and contribute to the calculation of the model's baseline climatology and drift, anomalies from which are the basis of the seasonal forecasts.

Seasonal Forecast↗
NASA NTRS1999

Data Assimilation Into a Coupled Ocean Atmosphere Model: Application to the 1997-1998 El Nino

As part of JPL's ocean data assimilation effort to study ocean circulation and seasonal-interannual climate variability, sea level anomaly observed by TOPEX altimeter, together with sea surface temperature and wind stress data, are assimilated into a simple coupled ocean atmosphere model of the tropical Pacific. Model-data consistency is examined. Impact of the assimilation (as initialization) on El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) forecasts is evaluated. The coupled model consists of a shallow water component with two baroclinic modes, an Ekman shear layer, a simplified mixed-layer temperature equation, and a statistical atmosphere based on dominant correlations between historical surface temperature and wind stress anomaly data. The adjoins method is used to fit the coupled model to the data over various six-month periods from late 1996 to early 1998 by optimally adjusting the initial state, model parameters, and basis functions of the statistical atmosphere. On average, the coupled model can be fitted to the data to approximately within the data and representation errors (5 cm, 0.5 C, and 10 sq m/sq m for sea level, surface temperature, and pseudo wind stress anomalies, respectively). The estimated fields resemble observed spatio-temporal structure reasonably well. Hindcasts/forecasts of the 1997/1998 El Nino initialized from forced estimated ocean states and parameters are much more realistic than those simply initialized from ocean states (see figure below). In particular, the ability of the model to produce significant warming beyond the initial state is dramatically improved. Parameter estimation, which compensates for some model errors, is found to be important to obtaining better fits of the model to data and to improving forecasts.

Lee, Tong↗
NASA NTRS2008

Energetic Consistency and Coupling of the Mean and Covariance Dynamics

The dynamical state of the ocean and atmosphere is taken to be a large dimensional random vector in a range of large-scale computational applications, including data assimilation, ensemble prediction, sensitivity analysis, and predictability studies. In each of these applications, numerical evolution of the covariance matrix of the random state plays a central role, because this matrix is used to quantify uncertainty in the state of the dynamical system. Since atmospheric and ocean dynamics are nonlinear, there is no closed evolution equation for the covariance matrix, nor for the mean state. Therefore approximate evolution equations must be used. This article studies theoretical properties of the evolution equations for the mean state and covariance matrix that arise in the second-moment closure approximation (third- and higher-order moment discard). This approximation was introduced by EPSTEIN [1969] in an early effort to introduce a stochastic element into deterministic weather forecasting, and was studied further by FLEMING [1971a,b], EPSTEIN and PITCHER [1972], and PITCHER [1977], also in the context of atmospheric predictability. It has since fallen into disuse, with a simpler one being used in current large-scale applications. The theoretical results of this article make a case that this approximation should be reconsidered for use in large-scale applications, however, because the second moment closure equations possess a property of energetic consistency that the approximate equations now in common use do not possess. A number of properties of solutions of the second-moment closure equations that result from this energetic consistency will be established.

Cohn, Stephen E.↗
NASA NTRS2007

Salinity Remote Sensing and the Study of the Global Water Cycle

The SMOS and AquariusISAC-D satellite missions will begin a new era to map the global sea surface salinity (SSS) field and its variability from space within the next twothree years. They will provide critical data needed to study the interactions between the ocean circulation, global water cycle and climate. Key scientific issues to address are (1) mapping large expanses of the ocean where conventional SSS data do not yet exist, (2) understanding the seasonal and interannual SSS variations and the link to precipitation, evaporation and sea-ice patterns, (3) links between SSS and variations in the oceanic overturning circulation, (4) air-sea coupling processes in the tropics that influence El Nino, and (4) closing the marine freshwater budget. There is a growing body of oceanographic evidence in the form of salinity trends that portend significant changes in the hydrologic cycle. Over the past several decades, highlatitude oceans have become fresher while the subtropical oceans have become saltier. This change is slowly spreading into the subsurface ocean layers and may be affecting the strength of the ocean's therrnohaline overturning circulation. Salinity is directly linked to the ocean dynamics through the density distribution, and provides an important signature of the global water cycle. The distribution and variation of oceanic salinity is therefore attracting increasing scientific attention due to the relationship to the global water cycle and its influence on circulation, mixing, and climate processes. The oceans dominate the water cycle by providing 86% of global surface evaporation (E) and receiving 78% of global precipitation (P). Regional differences in E-P, land runoff, and the melting or freezing of ice affect the salinity of surface water. Direct observations of E-P over the ocean have large uncertainty, with discrepancies between the various state-of-the-art precipitation analyses of a factor of two or more in many regions. Quantifying the climatic influence of the oceanic water cycle requires more accurately resolving the net air-sea water flux. Measuring global SSS trends on seasonal to interannual timescales by satellite is fundamental to this problem because the SSS trends represent detectable time-integrated signals of the variable marine hydrological cycle. Satellite measurements, coupled with an array of in situ observations, will provide global synoptic SSS fields for the first time history. These data will provide a strong constraint on climate models and data assimilation efforts, which must properly represent the freshwater budget in terms of E-P, ocean advection and surface layer mixing in order to accurately simulate the true ocean state. The SSS fields will allow us to quantify the covariability between the SSS and the strong seasonal E-P cycle in the tropics and high latitudes. Field measurement campaigns to exploit satellite and in situ measurements to close the seasonal E-P cycle over an ocean region are being considered. Lastly the satellite systems will monitor and trace the large long-lived SSS anomalies from year to year that have the potential to influence El Nino and the large scale ocean circulation.

Lagerloef, G. S. E.↗
NASA NTRS1978

Tropical sea surface temperature - An interactive one-dimensional atmosphere-ocean model

It is shown that the (cumulus) convective processes in the tropics may be described by a one-dimensional cloud model, while the near-surface ocean may similarly be described by a one-dimensional mixed-layer model. The coupling is achieved through a sea surface flux budget combined with the flux parameterizations implied by Monin-Obukhov similarity theory. The coupled one-dimensional atmosphere-ocean model is applied to the equilibrium situation in which all temperatures reach a steady state. For the ocean, the fluxes must vanish in equilibrium, but the atmosphere maintains a stable lapse rate by balancing cumulonimbus heating against net radiative cooling. All water precipitating from cumulonimbus clouds must have evaporated from the sea. It is shown that this equilibrium system is closed and determinable solely in terms of the solar constant.

Sarachik, E. S.↗
DOE OSTI2024

Quantifying the Role of Ocean Dynamics in SST Variability across GCMs and Observations

Abstract Midlatitude SSTs forced by mesoscale oceanic processes can affect the large-scale atmosphere, pointing to the ocean’s crucial role outside the tropics. Previous studies have shown oceanic mesoscale processes’ effect on global and regional climate variability. This study quantifies the local contribution of ocean dynamics to mixed-layer temperature across the globe by directly estimating the ocean heat flux divergence resolved by state-of-the-art ocean reanalysis, eddy-resolving, and eddy-parameterized versions of two U.S. national climate models and indirectly from air–sea flux satellite-based estimates. Our results show that the eddy-resolving climate simulations resolve mixed-layer temperature variances that are larger and closer to those inferred from observations than both their eddy-parameterized counterparts and ECCO over much of the extratropics. The observations and the eddy-resolving models indicate a more significant role of ocean dynamics in the mixed-layer temperature variability than the surface fluxes over most extratropics compared to their eddy-parameterized versions. A frequency domain analysis shows that the better-resolved ocean mesoscale and thermal gradients enhance the variance over a time scale from 2 months to 30 years. Results show agreement in the ocean’s contribution among satellite-based estimates, ocean reanalysis products, and ocean eddy-resolving simulations. At the same time, differences emerge for ECCO and the eddy-parameterized models, suggesting that surface fluxes account for a larger fraction of the mixed-layer temperature variability in most of the extratropics.

Siqueira, L.↗
DOE OSTI2025

Radiative impact of record-breaking wildfires from integrated ground-based data

The radiative effects of wildfires have been traditionally estimated by models using radiative transfer calculations. Assessment of model-predicted radiative effects commonly involves information on observation-based aerosol optical properties. However, lack or incompleteness of this information for dense plumes generated by intense wildfires reduces substantially the applicability of this assessment. Here we introduce a novel method that provides additional observational constraints for such assessments using widely available ground-based measurements of shortwave and spectrally resolved irradiances and aerosol optical depth (AOD) in the visible and near-infrared spectral ranges. We apply our method to quantify the radiative impact of the record-breaking wildfires that occurred in the Western US in September 2020. For our quantification we use integrated ground-based data collected at the Atmospheric Measurements Laboratory in Richland, Washington, USA with a location frequently downwind of wildfires in the Western US. We demonstrate that remarkably dense plumes generated by these wildfires strongly reduced the solar surface irradiance (up to 70% or 450 Wm -2 for total shortwave flux) and almost completely masked the sun from view due to extremely large AOD (above 10 at 500 nm wavelength). We also demonstrate that the plume-induced radiative impact is comparable in magnitude with those produced by a violent volcano eruption occurred in the Western US in 1980 and continental cumuli.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
NASA NTRS1989

Why is there a diurnal cycle of precipitation over the oceans?

Using the Colorado State University general circulation model, simulated diurnal and semidiurnal variability of precipitation has been analyzed. At least four mechanisms have been proposed to account for the observed daily oscillations of precipitations over the ocean: direct radiation convection, radiation-dynamics-convection interactions, remote influence of the continents, and atmospheric tidal forces. Results indicate that neither land-sea contrasts nor cloudiness are necessary to produce daily variations of precipitations over the oceans. Clear-sky radiative effects, cloud-radiative effects, and the remote influence of the continents all turn out to play a role.

Randall, David A.↗
NASA NTRS1999

Satellite Altimetry, Ocean Circulation, and Data Assimilation

Ocean circulation is a critical factor in determining the Earth's climate. Satellite altimetry has been proven a powerful technique for measuring the height of the sea surface for the study of global ocean circulation dynamics. A major objective of my research is to investigate the utility of altimeter data for ocean circulation studies. The 6 years' data record of TOPEX/POSEIDON have been analyzed to study the spatial and temporal characteristics of large-scale ocean variability. A major result obtained in 1998 is the discovery of large-scale oscillations in sea level with a period of 25 days in the Argentine Basin of the South Atlantic Ocean (see diagram). They exhibit a dipole pattern with counterclockwise rotational propagation around the Zapiola Rise (centered at 45S and 317E), a small seamount in the abyssal plain of the basin. The peak-to-trough amplitude is about 10 cm over a distance of 500-1000 km. The amplitude of these oscillations has large seasonal-to-interannual variations. The period and rotational characteristics of these oscillations are remarkably similar to the observations made by two current meters deployed near the ocean bottom in the region. What TOPEX/POSEIDON has detected apparently are manifestations of the movement of the entire water column (barotropic motion). The resultant transport variation is estimated to be about 50 x 10(exp 6) cubic M/S, which is about 50% of the total water transport in the region. Preliminary calculations suggest that these oscillations are topographically trapped waves. A numerical model of the South Atlantic is used to investigate the nature of and causes for these waves. A very important property of sea surface height is that it is directly related to the surface geostrophic velocity, which is related to deep ocean circulation through the density field. Therefore altimetry observations are not only useful for determining the surface circulation but also for revealing information about the deep ocean. Another objective of my research is to investigate the extent of information one can infer about the deep ocean from altimetric observations. The approach is data assimilation by ocean models. The objective is to develop a modeling/data assimilation system that will produce estimates of the 3-dimensional state of the ocean for the entire duration of the TOPEX/POSEIDON Mission.

Fu, Lee-Lueng↗
NASA NTRS1994

TOPEX/POSEIDON mission overview

TOPEX/POSEIDON is the first space mission specifically designed and conducted for studying the circulation of the world's oceans. A state-of-the-art radar altimetry system is used to measure the precise height of sea level, from which information on the ocean circulation is obtained. The satellite, launched on August 10, 1992, has been making observations of the global oceans with unprecedented accuracy since late September 1992. To meet the stringent measurement accuracy required for ocean circulation studies, a number of innovative improvements have been made to the mission design, including the first dual-frequency space-borne radar altimeter capable of retrieving the ionospheric delay of the radar signal, a three-frequency microwave radiometer for retrieving the signal delay caused by the water vapor in the troposphere, an optimal model of the Earth's gravity field and multiple satellite tracking systems for precision orbit determination. Additionally, the satellite also carries two experimental instruments to demonstrate new technologies: a single-frequency solid-state altimeter for the technology of low-power, low-weight altimeter and a Global Positioning System receiver for continuous,precise satellite tracking. The performance of the mission's measurement system has been tested by numerous verification studies. The results indicate that the root-sum-square accuracy of a single-pass sea level measurement is 4.7 cm for the TOPEX system and 5.1 cm for the POSEIDON system; both are more than a factor of 2 better than the requirement of 13.7 cm. This global data set is being analyzed to improve understanding of the global ocean circulation as well as the ocean tides, geodesy, and geodynamics, and ocean wind and waves. The mission is designed to last for at least 3 years with a possible extension to 6 years. The multiyear global data set will go a long way toward understanding the ocean circulation and its variability in relation to climate change. A summary of the mission's systems and their performance as well as the mission's science team is presented.

Fu, Lee-Lueng↗
NASA NTRS2003

Merging Ocean Color Data From Multiple Missions

Oceanic phytoplankton may play an important role in the cycling of carbon on the Earth, through the uptake of carbon dioxide in the process of photosynthesis. Although they are ubiquitous in the global oceans, their abundances and dynamics are difficult to estimate, primarily due to the vast spatial extent of the oceans and the short time scales over which their abundances can change. Consequently, the effects of oceanic phytoplankton on biogeochemical cycling, climate change, and fisheries are not well known. In response to the potential importance of phytoplankton in the global carbon cycle and the lack of comprehensive data, NASA and the international community have established high priority satellite missions designed to acquire and produce high quality ocean color data (Table 6.1). Ten of the missions are routine global observational missions: the Ocean Color and Temperature Sensor (OCTS), the Polarization and Directionality of the Earth's Reflectances sensor (POLDER), Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor (SeaWiFS), Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectrometer-AM (MODIS-AM), Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS), Global Imager (GLI), MODIS-PM, Super-GLI (S-GLI), and the Visible/Infrared Imager and Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) on the NPOESS Preparatory Project (NPP) and the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS). In addition, there are several other missions capable of providing ocean color data on smaller scales. Most of these missions contain the spectral band complement considered necessary to derive oceanic chlorophyll concentrations and other related parameters. Many contain additional bands that can provide important ancillary information about the optical and biological state of the oceans.

Gregg, Watson W.↗
DOE OSTI2022

Benthic Kinetic Energy in an Earth System Model and Observations

The benthic layer of the ocean is closely correlated with every upper layer above it. Close analysis of benthic layer stress can yield an accurate depiction of the state of the ocean, as well as the atmosphere above it. Through the use of the Department of Energy’s Energy Exascale Earth System Model (E3SM), we took a look at how these features changed over time in a simulation spanning the historical period from 1958 to 2018 in the Arctic Ocean north of 60° N. Making use of E3SM’s regional refinement capability to place higher resolution in regions of interest, the E3SM-Arctic configuration has ~10 km resolution in the ocean and sea ice components in this region, coarsening up to ~60 km outside of the Arctic (Veneziani et al. 2022). In particular, we narrowly focused on the benthic kinetic energy levels, and how trends changed over time. To validate the fidelity of the E3SM model, we compared model current speed outputs over a 369-day period in the Bering Strait to actual recorded observations during this time period. Our analysis of the benthic kinetic energy mean, standard deviation, and trend throughout this time period can be used to characterize the effects of environmental impacts in the Arctic Ocean.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
NASA NTRS1971

Electronic research and technology requirements for marine resources

The Woods Hole air/space oceanographic program for 1969 is discussed. Studies included: (1) monitoring the sharp temperature boundary of the Gulf Stream by microwave and infrared observation, (2) spectrophotometry of the Gulf Stream and the adjacent continental slope and shelf water over Georges Bank, (3) interpretation of cloud and other meteorological data in terms of the effects of wind and sun on the upper ocean, (4) a sea state test plan, (5) systems research, and (6) ocean data recovery by aircraft and satellite.

Ewing, G. C.↗
NASA NTRS2019

Picture this SELFI: Submillimeter Enceladus Life Fundamentals Instrument

The Submillimeter Enceladus Life Fundamentals Instrument (SELFI) is a passive remote sensing submillimeter heterodyne spectrometer being developed at NASA GSFC under NASA's Maturation of Instruments for Solar System Exploration (MatISSE) program. SELFI will advance submillimeter receiver technology by 1) investigating the chemical and isotopic compositions and corresponding densities of Enceladus' plume material, their vertical thermal structures, and the transport mechanisms within the plumes, and 2) characterizing the source regions from which the plumes emerge. The Enceladus plumes are important in the context of life and habitability of its subsurface ocean environment. SELFI remote sensing measurements will 1) measure the spatial and temporal variabilities in the plume chemical compositions, 2) provide insight in to Enceladus' subsurface ocean environment by monitoring H2O, HDO, d18O, and d17O, 3) constrain the oxidation state of the subsurface ocean using H2O2 and O3, and 4) utilize the SO2 and H2S spectral signatures to constrain the impact arising from both the sea-floor volcanoes and pre-biotic molecules. Moreover, the detection of the remaining molecular species (14 in total) is vital to improving the current state of knowledge of Enceladus' subsurface ocean habitability this also permits us to explore the chemical alteration processes arising from primordial volatiles that have been observed in comets. Lastly, SELFI's continuum observations enable the correlation between observed variations in plume activity with surface temperatures.SELFI is currently being developed under a technology maturation program that will advance the RF-to-digital electronics of a submillimeter-wave heterodyne spectrometer to simultaneously observe fourteen molecular species with resonances between 530 GHz and 600 GHz. SELFI will have fine radiometric resolution, high spectral resolution (resolving power R > 106), multiple continuum channels and a high dynamical range, necessary to map Enceladus across its 30 K to 250 K temperature range. Under the MatISSE program, SELFI will advance from TRL 4 to 6 four key technologies of the RF-to-digital subsystem, which are: 1) the RF low noise amplifier design; 2) the single-sideband (SSB) mixer and local oscillator; 3) the IF assembly down-converter that maps the fourteen species to 2 x 500 MHz bandwidth; and 4) the digital spectrometer electronics.

Racette, Paul↗
NASA NTRS2001

Merging Ocean Color Data from Multiple Missions

Oceanic phytoplankton may play an important role in the cycling of carbon on the Earth, through the uptake of carbon dioxide in the process of photosynthesis. Although they are ubiquitous in the global oceans, their abundances and dynamics are difficult to estimate, primarily due to the vast spatial extent of the oceans and the short time scales over which their abundances can change. Consequently, the effects of oceanic phytoplankton on biogeochemical cycling, climate change, and fisheries are not well known. In response to the potential importance of phytoplankton in the global carbon cycle and the lack of comprehensive data, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the international community have established high priority satellite missions designed to acquire and produce high quality ocean color data. Seven of the missions are routine global observational missions: the Ocean Color and Temperature Sensor (OCTS), the Polarization and Directionality of the Earth's Reflectances sensor (POLDER), Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor (SeaWiFS), Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectrometer-AM (MODIS-AM), Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS), Global Imager (GLI), and MODIS-PM. In addition, there are several other missions capable of providing ocean color data on smaller scales. Most of these missions contain the spectral band complement considered necessary to derive oceanic pigment concentrations (i.e., phytoplankton abundance) and other related parameters. Many contain additional bands that can provide important ancillary information about the optical and biological state of the oceans. Any individual ocean color mission is limited in ocean coverage due to sun glint and clouds. For example, one of the first proposed missions, the SeaWiFS, can provide about 45% coverage of the global ocean in four days and only about 15% in one day.

Gregg, Watson W.↗
NASA NTRS2021

State of the Climate in 2020: Global Oceans

This chapter details 2020 global patterns in select observed oceanic physical, chemical, and biological variables relative to long-term climatologies, their differences between 2020 and 2019, and puts 2020 observations in the context of the historical record. In this overview we address a few of the highlights, first in haiku, then paragraph form: La Niña arrives, shifts winds, rain, heat, salt, carbon: Pacific—beyond. Compiled by NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information, "State of the Climate in 2020" is based on contributions from scientists from around the world. It provides a detailed update on global climate indicators, notable weather events, and other data collected by environmental monitoring stations and instruments located on land, water, ice, and in space. The full report is available from: https://doi.org/10.1175/2021BAMSStateoftheClimate.1.

Gregory C Johnson↗