U.S.-Australia Cooperative Research on Sea-State Response toVery Strong Wind Forcing: Implications for Remote Sensing and Modelling

该奖项支持马萨诸塞大学阿默斯特分校的罗伯特·e·麦金托什博士访问澳大利亚新南威尔士大学，与班纳教授一起研究强风作用下的海况行为。拟议的调查将在一架特殊装备的澳大利亚飞机上安装由马萨诸塞大学和美国宇航局/戈达德太空飞行中心开发的独特仪器，以收集和分析数据，这些数据将在三个重要领域取得重大进展。它将(1)建立强烈风暴典型的强风强迫条件下海面的气动阻力，提高我们对海况进行可靠预报的能力；(2)量化这些极端条件下海洋定向波谱的属性；(3)确定TOPEX卫星雷达高度计在南大洋遇到的非常高的海面和风时将受到的电磁（EM）偏差。通过建立风速、风应力、风波场和非常高的海面和风的电磁偏倚之间的关系，该项目将对提高海况和海风遥感以及海洋预报算法的可靠性产生重大影响。以及提高卫星高度计（如TOPEX）研究南大洋环流的能力。

This award supports a visit by Dr. Robert E. McIntosh of the University of Massachusetts Amherst to the University of New South Wales, Australia, to work with Professor M.L. Banner to investigate sea state behavior under very strong wind forcing. The proposed investigation would install unique instruments developed at the University of Massachusetts and NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center on a specially equipped Australian aircraft to collect and analyze data that would make significant advances in three important areas. It would (1) establish the aerodynamic drag of the sea surface for very strong wind forcing conditions typical of intense storms, improving our ability to make reliable forecasts of sea state, (2) quantify the attributes of the ocean directional wave spectrum under these extreme conditions, (3) determine the electromagnetic (EM) bias that the TOPEX satellite radar altimeter will be subject to for the very high seas and winds encountered in the Southern Ocean. By establishing the relationship between the wind speed, wind stress, the wind wave field, and the EM bias for very high seas and winds, this project will have a major impact on improving the reliability of the algorithms used in remote sensing of the sea state and marine winds and of ocean forecasting, as well as improving the ability of satellite altimeters such as TOPEX to study the Southern Ocean circulation.