Tropical Atlantic Cruise to Monitor Ocean Surface and Atmosphere
April 30, 2007
From May 2-31, 2007, researcher Dan Wolfe from the NOAA Earth System
Research Laboratory, Physical Sciences Laboratory (PSL) will participate in
the PIRATA Northeast Extension / AMMA / Sahara Dust cruise aboard the NOAA
ship Ronald H. Brown. The Pilot Research Moored Array in the Tropical
Atlantic (PIRATA) Northeast Extension project will utilize a moored buoy
system and automatic meteorological stations to obtain upper ocean and near
surface atmospheric data. Wolfe's work in particular will center on the
African Monsoon Multidisciplinary Analysis (AMMA) and Sahara Dust projects.
He will run/maintain the on-board weather radar, satellite system, and flux
system. These equipment will collect data on sea surface temperatures and
the atmosphere above the ocean. In addition he will coordinate compilation
of the data collected from PIRATA and AMMA.
Background:
AMMA is a coordinated international project to improve our knowledge and
understanding of the West African Monsoon, its variability and impacts.
Variability in West African weather and climate also impacts the rest of
the world. Since West Africa is also part of the world's major source
region of mineral dust aerosol, this is also an important opportunity for
researchers to study the mobilization, transport and impacts of dust on
weather and climate. Other organizations involved in this mission include
AOML, PMEL, NESDIS, Howard University, University of Miami, and the
University of Puerto Rico-Mayaguez.
Significance:
The data collected from this mission will help understand and improve
general model parameterizations, and can be studied to help improve
prediction of the African Monsoon and the transport of dust from the Sahara
Desert. This research supports NOAA's mission goal of understanding climate
variability and change to enhance society's ability to plan and respond.
| Contact: Daniel Wolfe |