Towards a Global Tropical Ocean Moored Buoy Array for Climate

TAO Project OfficeDongxiao ZhangMike McPhaden

NOAA/PMEL and JISAO/UWJISAO 5-Year Review

Seattle

19 April 2005

TAO System Overview

Major achievements and milestones

1533 sea days on 8 ships (including Ka’immimoana and 5 foreign ships).

500th NextGen ATLAS deployed on March 4, 2005.

TAO data return rate constantly over 92%.

collaborative researches (EPIC, ARM, TRMM, CO2 time series …)

Major achievements and milestones

TAO web site “highly recommended to any interested in ENSO science.” EOS, 10 September, 2002.

Over 1.9 million hits each month.

Data display and delivery launched on 15 August 2000.

51,534 data deliveries through our own web site.

596,434 files delivered.

219 scientific papers in refereed journals used TAO data over 5-years.

Major achievements and milestones

• MOU between France, Brazil, and US extended for 2 years (to 2006).

• Southwest and Southeast extensions approved by PIRATA SSG in Dec 2004; Southwest extension is funded.

• Use of PIRATA data by researchers and operational centers (e.g. ECMWF, Meteo-France, UKMO, etc) is increasing.

• CLIVAR/OOPC review of PIRATA planned for Oct 2005 in Toulouse; results will provide basis for continuing array as permanent component of GOOS.

Major achievements and milestones

Already deployed

• Draft strategy developed at first IOP meeting at Pune, India in Feb 2004.

• Sustained multi-national effort envisioned in support of monsoon research and prediction.

• Moorings already deployed by Japan (JAMSTEC), US (PMEL), India (NIO, NIOT).

First Data fromIndian Ocean

ATLAS Moorings

Deployed22 October 2004

Challenges: Funding

“$3.2 million to expand the Tropical Atmosphere Ocean array and the Pilot Research Moored Array in the Tropical Atlantic into the Indian Ocean. This expansion will enhance NOAA's capability to accurately document the state of ocean climactic conditions and improve seasonal forecasting capability.”(http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2005/s2386.htm)

Other activities covered by this funding:

Support the technological development of the next generation of moored buoys. Add salinity sensors to the TAO array to improve seasonal-interannual forecasting. Upgrades for 4 TAO and 3 PIRATA moorings to ocean reference station quality for satellite and model research Providing 4 additional buoys for the PIRATA array in the hurricane-genesis region of the Atlantic Ocean for improved understanding of ocean-atmosphere interactions on hurricane development.

The President’s FY06 Budget for NOAAClimate Observations and Services

Awards

Grace Hopper Government Technology Leadership Award, 2003. “Leadership in the innovative application of information technology that contributes to the advancement of scientific knowledge and its application.”

NOAA Outstanding Paper Awards (4 from TAO over the past 5 years).

http://jisao.washington.edu/pdo

Basin Scale Fluctuation of the Ocean- Atmosphere System

Affects the climate of North America (Latif & Barnett, 1994; Cayan et al, 2001)

Affects Pacific marine ecosystems and the global carbon cycle (Mantua et al, 1997; Hare & Mantua, 2000; Chavez et al, 2003; Peterson & Schwing, 2003) Linked to decadal modulation of ENSO (Trenberth & Hurrell, 1997; Latif et al, 1997)

Mean Circulation in Pycnocline

14 Sv (1 Sverdrup=106 m3 s-1)

7 Sv

(f∂/∂z)(Integrated over 22.5-26.5 kg m-3)

9°N

9°S

XX

McPhaden & Zhang, Nature(2002)

SST anomaly (9°N-9°S, 90°W-180°)

Interior Convergence and Cold Tongue SST Anomaly

SST anomaly (9°N-9°S, 90°W-180°)

Multi-Taper Spectrum of SST (9°N-9°S, 90°W-180°)

500 year PICTRL

CNRM MIROC-ME

Multi-Taper Spectrum of SST (9°N-9°S, 90°W-180°)

ER

SS

T:

1900

- 200

4C

NR

M:

1860

-199

9

MIR

OC

-Hi:

190

0-20

00M

IRO

C-M

e: 1

850-

2000

Multi-Taper Spectrum of SST (9°N-9°S, 90°W-180°)

ER

SS

T:

1900

- 200

4C

NR

M:

500

y ear

MIR

OC

-Hi:

190

0-20

00M

IRO

C-M

e: 5

00 y

ear

Interior Convergence and Temperature Anomaly in the Pycnocline

(= 25 kg m-

3)(2°N-2°S, 80°-120°W)

Interior Ocean Pycnocline Transport Changes

Correlation between STC and SST in MIROC-High Resolution

Interior STC Transports in 9 Coupled Climate Models

Variability of Tropical Pacific SST (EOF1) in 9 Coupled Climate Models

Correlation between Variability of STC and Tropical Pacific SST (EOF1)

O

bser

vati

on

CN

RM

CS

IRO

GIS

S-A

OM

GIS

S-E

R

IAP

MIR

OC

-Hig

h

MIR

OC

-Med

.

MR

I

UK

MO

Annual Mean STCs (Total and Interior)

Obs

erva

tion

CN

RM

CS

IRO

GIS

S-A

OM

GIS

S-E

R

IAP

MIR

OC

-Hig

h

MIR

OC

-Med

.

MR

I

UK

MO

Potential Vorticity (= 25 kg m-3) CTD Casts to 900 m

July 92-June 98

July 98-June 03

11,585

6,729