Indian Ocean Experiment (INDOEX): Meteorological Support

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9612894 Krishnamurti The Indian Ocean Experiment (INDOEX) is an international field experiment with participation from France, Germany, India, the Netherlands, and the United States. The main effort under the U.S. component focuses on assessing the role of sulfates and other continental aerosols in global radiative forcing and is being supported jointly by the Department of Energy and the National Science Foundation. In addition, complementary studies involving investigations of a variety of related chemical and radiative processes will be undertaken by scientists from other federal agencies and other international partners. The composite observing system consists of a wide range of platforms, from ships to aircraft, as well as surface-based and balloon measuring systems, and satellite data. The main part of the three year effort will be a four-month intensive field phase which begins January 1999. The ultimate goal of this program is to obtain a better understanding of the decadal and longer time scale climate forcing. The equatorial Indian Ocean during the northeast winter monsoon season provides a unique natural laboratory for this experiment. The experimental area is probably the only place in the world where an air mass which has been modified by intense sources of continental aerosols, anthropogenic trace species, and their reaction products (e.g., sulfates and ozone) from the northern hemisphere comes into contact with the pristine air of the southern hemisphere, which has been transported via cross equatorial monsoonal flow, at the Intertropical Convergence Zone. The juxtaposition of these two very distinct air masses will allow a thorough examination of both the direct and indirect effects of the aerosols on the radiative properties of the atmosphere. Dr. Krishnamurti and his colleagues will have principal responsibility for producing the meteorological analyses for INDOEX. These analyses will be done for planning purposes as well as for the experiment. Docu menting the local and regional circulations is critical for understanding the aerosol and pollutant transports and distribution and their impact on the radiative profile at any given location. A wide variety of satellite and in situ measurements will be assimilated with a state of the art high resolution global model.