Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Michigan, 1996. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Dalhousie University, 1994. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 104-122).

Thesis (M.S.)--Joint Program in Oceanography/ Applied Ocean Science and Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 2006. / "September 2006." Bibliography: p. 74-79.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Wyoming, 2007. / Title from PDF title page (viewed on Mar. 5, 2009). Includes bibliographical references.

No description available.

Synoptic and climatological dynamic studies generally rely on bulk aerodynamic flux formulae to describe air-sea heat and momentum exchange on synoptic and climatological scales. Barometric pressure maps (which involve an intrinsic temporal averaging of the wind) and wind roses provide two sources of spatial and temporal wind information for flux calculations. Several investigators have shown that, due to the non-linear dependence of the bulk aerodynamic formulae on the winds, time-averaged estimates of the fluxes based on vector averaged winds systematically underestimate the actual time-averaged fluxes. Using 10 to 21 years of three-hourly sampled sea surface meteorological observations from 9 weatherstations in the North Atlantic Ocean and 2 weatherstations in the North Pacific Ocean, the three-hourly stresses, latent heat fluxes and sensible heat fluxes were calculated. The sampled data and the calculated fluxes were then averaged over periods varying up to 28 days. The estimates of the averaged fluxes based on the vector averaged winds were then compared to the directly averaged values. A simple analysis revealed that an upper bound for the difference in the two stress calculations was directly proportional to the sum of the x and y component wind variances lost through the averaging process (in agreement with Fofonoff, 1960) and inversely proportional to the square of the vector averaged wind speed. The wind averaged and directly averaged flux estimates were grouped according to the Beaufort wind speed category and the period over which the variates were averaged. .A multivariate regression was then performed to optimize a transformation from the wind averaged to the directly averaged case. For all fluxes, the transformation dramatically improved the wind averaged estimates of the climatological means and variances of the directly averaged fluxes. The residual error between the two estimates was decreased up to a factor of 5 over the uncorrected case and the correlation coefficients showed a moderate increase. The regression coefficients showed similar values for all temperate latitude stations. Based on consistencies observed in the wind speed and averaging period dependencies of the multivariate coefficients, an empirical formula was found which interpolated the wind speed and averaging dependence and duplicated the multivariate regression results. The data from the ten temperate latitude stations were grouped and a single formula found which only moderately increased the errors between the wind-averaged and directly averaged estimates. The geographically averaged formula was not applicable at Station N, located at the northern extremity of the North Pacific Trade Wind- region. Analysis of the 28 day wind-averaged flux spectral estimates showed that they underestimated the 28 day directly averaged flux spectral estimates. Application of the specific ship empirical formula greatly improved agreement between the two spectral densities and reduced the residual series power density at all frequencies. High latent heat flux errors at Station N, could be reduced by application of a seasonal correction. The data were also grouped into monthly wind rose configurations and the wind rose monthly flux estimates were compared to the directly calculated long-term monthly mean fluxes. In all cases, the wind rose fluxes compared favourably with the directly calculated fluxes. / Science, Faculty of / Physics and Astronomy, Department of / Graduate

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Stony Brook University, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 81-82).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2005. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 74-78).

Under light wind conditions, the alternation of daytime heating and nighttime cooling creates a characteristic response in the oceanic boundary layer known as the diurnal cycle. The Mellor/Yamada Level II turbulence closure model is used to analyze this response pattern. The diurnal cycle has three phases. During morning and early afternoon, radiative solar heating produces stable stratification in the upper ocean, which inhibits the vertical transport of heat and momentum. Mean current speed at the surface increases as the effects of wind stress become confined to a shallow layer. This diurnal jet produces a mixed layer in the second phase, where turbulence generated by the vertical velocity shear balances the stabilizing buoyancy flux. At night, wind mixing and convective overturning due to surface cooling rapidly deepen the surface mixed layer during the third phase. / Graduation date: 1986

Atmosphere-ocean and atmosphere-land interactions are important processes which determine the development of monsoon systems. In this study, a new atmosphere-ocean surface interaction scheme, referred to as AOSIS, is developed and verified with observed data. AOSIS, together with ALSIS (Atmosphere-Land Surface Interaction Scheme), is then coupled into CEMSYS4 (Computational Environmental Modelling System) to investigate the influences of atmosphere-ocean and atmosphere-land surface interactions on the Australian Monsoon, especially the monsoon onset, break and withdrawal. Numerical experiments are carried out and the simulations are compared with the NCEP (National Center for Environmental Prediction, America) data. AOSIS is constructed with three basic components, i.e., a two-layer ocean temperature model, a wind-wave model and a surface flux model. We divide the ocean into a mixed layer and a deep layer. However, the depth of the mixed layer is not constant but varies with time, depending on surface wind shear and buoyancy flux. In AOSIS, we adapted the approach of relating the stages of wave development by wave age and proposed a new expression for calculating the ocean surface roughness length, $z_{0m}$, with consideration of waves. We test AOSIS in a stand along mode against the Moana data and the NCEP data. The comparison with the Moana data shows that AOSIS has considerable skill in simulating SST (sea surface temperature) and energy fluxes, with the simulated values in good agreement with observed data. AOSIS is also successful in simulating the warm and cool effects considered in the COARE (Coupled Ocean-Atmosphere Response Experiment) scheme. Comparison with the NCEP data also confirms that AOSIS simulates SST well. AOSIS and ALSIS are then coupled into CEMSYS4. We apply the system to the simulation of SST and surface energy fluxes over the Australian region and compared the results with the NCEP data. It is found that the simulated SST and energy fluxes are in good agreement with the NCEP data. Further, we study the synoptic events of the Australian Monsoon onset, break and withdrawal and examine the impacts of atmosphere-ocean and atmosphere-land surface interactions on such synoptic events.