Some Processes

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Some Processes

• Eddy transports in ocean and atmos.(e.g.
  topographic effects)
• Sea-ice thickness, albedo
• Ice shelf melting and calving
• Biological property fluxes
• Thermodynamic fluxes (EoS, CO2, DD)
• Coastal polynyas
• Boundary layers and convection (Katabatic winds,
  MLs, plumes)
• Small-scale (gravity waves) mixing

Process studies are needed to parameterize these
effects in climate models
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Examples of process studies
VAMOS, VOCALS- REx NAME - North American
Monsoon Experiment is a joint CLIVAR-GEWEX
process study and the North American
implementation of the WCRP/CLIVAR/VAMOS Program.
Its overall aim is to determine the sources and
limits of predictability of warm season
precipiation over North America, with emphasis on
times scales ranging from seasonal to
interannual. CLIMODE - CLIvar MOde Water Dynamic
Experiment - CLIMODE is a project to study the
dynamics of 'Eighteen Degree Water' convection,
eddy and mixing processes in setting properties
of subtropical mode waters, the associated
air-sea interaction, and the exchange of fluid
between the mixed layer and the upper ocean.
KESS - Kuroshio Extension Sytem Study.
Processes that govern the variability of and the
interaction between the Kuroshio Extension and
its recirculation gyre. AMMA - African Monsoon
Multidisciplinary Analyses is a project designed
to improve the forecasting of the African monsoon
from weather to climatic scales. PUMP - Pacific
Upwelling and Mixing Physics is a process study
designed to improve our understanding of the
complex of mechanisms that connect the
thermocline to the surface in the equatorial
Pacific cold tongue. DIMES - Diapycnal and
Isopycnal Mixing Experiment in the Southern Ocean
is an experiment designed to measure the
diapycnal diffusivity and mesoscale isopycnal
diffusivity at several levels and in several
environments in the ACC. SALLJ - South American
Low Level Jet Experiment is the first of a series
of experiments that will attempt, during a
rigorous data gathering field phase, to monitor,
quantify, and analyze low-level circulations that
modulate regional rainfall.
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Process Studies in the Southern
Ocean/Atmosphere/Ice

• GasEx III (Ho)
• GASEX (McGillis)
• OISO CO2 in Indian Ocean (Metzl)
• ARGUA CO2 in SA Ocean (Ruiz-Pino)
• CANOPO CO2 fluxes (Rupolo)
• GOODHOPE Umbrella for Africa-AA ocean obs
  (Speich)
• WECCON monitoring in Weddell Sea (Fahrbach)
• RIME Ross Island Met (Bromwich)
• SAMFLOC AAIW formation (Talley)
• DIMES ocean mixing (Ledwell)
• SOFINE ocean mixing (Naveira-G)
• MARGINEX AA slope and shelf CTD (Bindoff)
• ASTTEX Rings (Byrne)
• ADELIE Transport? (Heywood)
• FLOSTRAL CTD floats (Morrow)

In grey studies with a sustained effort
How many are really process studies?
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What is missing?

• Air-sea fluxes (Aust, US? ORION)
• Polynyas (Maud exp, ?)
• Hiapir project (e.g. cyclogenesis at the sea-ice
  edge)
• Ice Shelf calving and melting
• Higher resolution process modeling
• Reanalysis-enabled process studies
• What key science question is not being addressed?
• IPY projects CASO, SASSI - do these add up to a
  process study? With a modeling and synthesis
  framework?