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The structure of the upper ocean, atmosphere and heat fluxes - Tropical Indian Ocean
Sea surface temperatures in the tropical Indian Ocean have been shown to be inversely related to South African summer rainfall, making advanced predictions of this rainfall practicable. Such predictability has enormous potential economic benefits. However, these predictions have been purely statisti...
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
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Department of Oceanography
2016
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| _version_ | 1867611349706604544 |
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| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author | Majodina, Mark |
| author2 | Jury, Mark R |
| author_browse | Jury, Mark R Majodina, Mark |
| author_facet | Jury, Mark R Majodina, Mark |
| author_sort | Majodina, Mark |
| collection | Thesis |
| description | Sea surface temperatures in the tropical Indian Ocean have been shown to be inversely related to South African summer rainfall, making advanced predictions of this rainfall practicable. Such predictability has enormous potential economic benefits. However, these predictions have been purely statistical; very little is currently known about the marine-atmospheric processes in the Indian Ocean tropics. To address this lack of information, the structure of the upper ocean and lower atmosphere as well as the surface heat fluxes in the tropical Indian Ocean have been investigated. This was done by a special measurement programme on a research cruise in the region. Global gridded meteorological data have been used to complement the shipboard observations. Heat fluxes have been computed from the cruise observations and related to the main atmospheric patterns at the time. These patterns were identified from principal components analysis. Air-sea interaction could thus be estimated over the full tropical Indian Ocean. It is found that the thermocline depth is linked to the cyclonic ocean current shear and to the overlying distribution of wind stress curl. The meridional advection of air into the central Indian Ocean region is shown to modulate the characteristics of the atmospheric boundary layer in the tropical Indian Ocean. The maximum turbulent heat and moisture transports to the atmosphere are found near cyclonic atmospheric disturbances. These are the first reliable observations of the heat and moisture fluxes in that part of the tropical Indian Ocean implicated in South African rainfall. It is clear from this investigation that the synoptic atmospheric systems and the meridional flow of air are critical to enhanced atmospheric convection in the region. |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/18489 |
| institution | University of Cape Town (South Africa) |
| language | eng |
| license_str | Not specified — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| publishDate | 2016 |
| publishDateRange | 2016 |
| publishDateSort | 2016 |
| publisher | Department of Oceanography |
| publisherStr | Department of Oceanography |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| spelling | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/18489 The structure of the upper ocean, atmosphere and heat fluxes - Tropical Indian Ocean Majodina, Mark Jury, Mark R Lutjeharms, Johann R E Rouault, Mathieu Oceanography Sea surface temperatures in the tropical Indian Ocean have been shown to be inversely related to South African summer rainfall, making advanced predictions of this rainfall practicable. Such predictability has enormous potential economic benefits. However, these predictions have been purely statistical; very little is currently known about the marine-atmospheric processes in the Indian Ocean tropics. To address this lack of information, the structure of the upper ocean and lower atmosphere as well as the surface heat fluxes in the tropical Indian Ocean have been investigated. This was done by a special measurement programme on a research cruise in the region. Global gridded meteorological data have been used to complement the shipboard observations. Heat fluxes have been computed from the cruise observations and related to the main atmospheric patterns at the time. These patterns were identified from principal components analysis. Air-sea interaction could thus be estimated over the full tropical Indian Ocean. It is found that the thermocline depth is linked to the cyclonic ocean current shear and to the overlying distribution of wind stress curl. The meridional advection of air into the central Indian Ocean region is shown to modulate the characteristics of the atmospheric boundary layer in the tropical Indian Ocean. The maximum turbulent heat and moisture transports to the atmosphere are found near cyclonic atmospheric disturbances. These are the first reliable observations of the heat and moisture fluxes in that part of the tropical Indian Ocean implicated in South African rainfall. It is clear from this investigation that the synoptic atmospheric systems and the meridional flow of air are critical to enhanced atmospheric convection in the region. 2016-04-01T06:57:48Z 2016-04-01T06:57:48Z 1998 Master Thesis Masters MSc http://hdl.handle.net/11427/18489 eng application/pdf Department of Oceanography Faculty of Science University of Cape Town |
| spellingShingle | Oceanography Majodina, Mark The structure of the upper ocean, atmosphere and heat fluxes - Tropical Indian Ocean |
| thesis_degree_str | Master's |
| title | The structure of the upper ocean, atmosphere and heat fluxes - Tropical Indian Ocean |
| title_full | The structure of the upper ocean, atmosphere and heat fluxes - Tropical Indian Ocean |
| title_fullStr | The structure of the upper ocean, atmosphere and heat fluxes - Tropical Indian Ocean |
| title_full_unstemmed | The structure of the upper ocean, atmosphere and heat fluxes - Tropical Indian Ocean |
| title_short | The structure of the upper ocean, atmosphere and heat fluxes - Tropical Indian Ocean |
| title_sort | structure of the upper ocean atmosphere and heat fluxes tropical indian ocean |
| topic | Oceanography |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/11427/18489 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT majodinamark thestructureoftheupperoceanatmosphereandheatfluxestropicalindianocean AT majodinamark structureoftheupperoceanatmosphereandheatfluxestropicalindianocean |