OS039-01
Towards improved understanding and predictability of Tropical Pacific variability through a redesigned Tropical Pacific Ocean System: the role of new observational platforms

Monday, 14 December 2020: 10:00
Virtual
Sophie E Cravatte, LEGOS, Université de Toulouse, (IRD, CNES, CNRS, UPS), Toulouse, France, Kentaro Ando, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, La Jolla, CA, United States, Meghan F Cronin, NOAA PMEL, Seattle, WA, United States, James B Edson, Univ Connecticut, Groton, CT, United States, J. Thomas Farrar, Woods Hole Oceanographic Inst, Department of Physical Oceanography, Woods Hole, MA, United States, Tony Lee, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, United States, Shayne McGregor, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia, Stephen G Penny, Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, Boulder, CO, United States, Susan Anne Wijffels, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA, United States, Andrew Thorne Wittenberg, NOAA GFDL, Princeton, NJ, United States, Dongxiao Zhang, CICOES/University of Washington and NOAA/PMEL, Seattle, WA, United States and TPOS2020 Backbone Task Team
Abstract:
Sustained observations of the Tropical Pacific Ocean have been a priority for nations around the basin since the 1980s, driven principally by the global effects of the El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO), and by the demonstrated prediction skill based on models and ocean/surface atmospheric observations.

The TPOS2020 project was initiated to guide changes that would make the Tropical Pacific Observing System (TPOS) more capable, integrated, and resilient. While the elements of the system were initially developed independently as newer technologies become available, an integration of platforms is envisioned to optimize the observing system, with each element (Tropical Moored Array, Argo floats, and earth observing satellites) contributing particular strengths.

The TPOS2020 project also considered new technologies (both in situ and remote), and how they may become a significant contribution to the observing system in the future. The project discussed and reviewed the capabilities, usefulness and readiness of some of these new technologies.

The future TPOS must balance multiple requirements, such as maintaining a robust climate record capable of detecting multidecadal changes, providing near-real-time data for state estimation and forecasting, and facilitating the new process-level understanding needed for improving model physics. New targets for improved understanding include the ocean mixed layer and the surface turbulent, radiative, and freshwater fluxes that interact with it; the diurnal cycle; equatorial ocean-atmosphere coupled physics; and the Pacific western and eastern boundary regions and the ocean’s biogeochemical cycling.

This presentation aims to show how new observational platforms, integrated with more mature sensors, will help to meet the requirements, and to advance our understanding and prediction of tropical Pacific variability.

Previous Abstract | Next Abstract >>