Biweekly maps of wind stress for the North Pacific from the ERS-1 scatterometer, 1992-1995

The ERS-1 scatterometer is the first operational satellite scatterometer in more than a decade. This report describes a technique developed at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution to process and analyze the data. Four years of data (January 1992-December 1995) was analyzed in the North Pacific ocean. Gridded 0.5° x 0.5° wind, wind stress and wind stress curl fields were generated for the North Pacific Ocean on times scale of one week to one month. This data set was compared with in-situ measurements from buoys and coastal weather stations and numerical models. The results show good agreement with models and in-situ measurements. Biweekly maps were chosen after examining error/temporal resolution tradeoff curve.Funding was provided by the Office of Naval Research through contracts No. N00014-92-J-1486 and N00014-92-J-1656 and by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration under Contract No. 957652

Altimeter analysis of ocean currents

Altimeter data from satellites are being used in an ongoing effort to obtain data sets with temporal as well as global coverage. This report describes the algorithms formulated and the programs written for the use of altimeter data from the European Space Agency (ESA) European Remote Sensing Satellite, ERS-1, for a repeat track analysis of ocean currents. It also presents some results from the California Current region.Funding was provided by the Office of Naval Research under Contract number N00014-92-J-1486

Monthly atmospheric and oceanographic surface fields for the western North Atlantic : December, 1986-April, 1989

Monthly atmospheric and oceanographic variables for the western North Atlantic Ocean from various sources are presented as contour or vector maps. These fields were assembled for a study of the upper ocean heat budget. Atmospheric fields include the net surface heat fluxes and wind stress derived from the 1000 mb winds from the European Centre for Medium-range Weather Forecasting (ECMWF). Oceanographic fields include the sea surface height from the Geosat radar altimeter and sea surface temperature from the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR). An additional estimate of net surface heat flux is shown; this estimate was derived by assimilating winds, currents and ocean temperatures into a mixed layer model. The maps show a complex interplay of fluctuations in the winds and heat fluxes, and in the structure and temperature gradients of the Gulf Stream system. Some comments are offered on a comparison of the two heat flux estimates.Funding was provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration under Contract No. NA16RC0468-01 and by the National Aeronautic Space Administration under Contract No. NAGW-1666

Evaluation of NSCAT scatterometer winds using equatorial Pacific buoy observations

As part of the calibration/validation effort for NASA's Scatterometer (NSCAT) we compare the satellite data to winds measured at the sea surface with an array of buoys moored in the equatorial Pacific Ocean. The NSCAT data record runs from September, 1996 through the end of June, 1997. The raw NSCAT data, radar backscatter, is converted to wind vectors at 10 meters above the surface assuming a neutrally stratified atmosphere, using the NSCAT-1 and NSCAT-2 model functions. The surface winds were measured directly by the TAO (Tropical Atmosphere Ocean) buoy array which spans the width of the equatorial Pacific within about 8° of the equator. The buoy program and data archive are maintained by the Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory, at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, in collaboration with institutions in Japan, France and Taiwan. We also use data from two buoys maintained by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution located along 125°W. Since the buoy winds are measured at various heights above the surface, they are adjusted for both height and atmospheric surface layer stratification before comparisons are made to the NSCAT data. Co-location requirements include measurements within 100 km and 60 minutes of each other. There was a total of 5580 comparisons for the NSCAT-1 model function and 6364 comparisons for the NSCAT-2 model function. The NSCAT wind speeds, using the NSCAT-1 model function, are lower than the buoy wind speeds by about 0.54 ms-1 and have a 9.8° directional bias. The NSCAT-2 winds speeds were lower than the TAO buoy winds by only 0.08 ms-1, but still have the same 9.8° directional bias. The wind retrieval algorithm selects the vector closest to the buoy approximately 88% of the time. However, in the relatively low wind speed regime of the TAO array, approximately 4% of the wind vectors are more than 120° from the buoy wind.Funding was provided by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration under Contract No. 957652

Long-term moored array measurements of currents and hydrography over Georges Bank : 1994–1999

Author Posting. © The Author(s), 2009. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of Elsevier B.V. for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Progress In Oceanography 82 (2009): 191-223, doi:10.1016/j.pocean.2009.07.004.In conjunction with the GLOBEC (Global Ocean Ecosystems Dynamics) program, measurements of moored currents, temperature and salinity were made during 1994-1999 at locations in 76 m of water along the Southern Flank of Georges Bank and at the Northeastern Peak. The measurements concentrate on the biologically crucial winter and spring periods, and coverage during the fall is usually poorer. Current time series were completely dominated by the semidiurnal M2 tidal component, while other tidal species (including the diurnal K1 component) were also important. There was a substantial wind-driven component of the flow, which was linked, especially during the summer, to regional–scale response patterns. The current response at the Northeast Peak was especially strong in the 3-4 day period band, and this response is shown to be related to an amplifying topographic wave propagating eastward along the northern flank. Monthly mean flows on the southern flank are southwestward throughout the year, but strongest in the summertime. The observed tendency for summertime maximum along-bank flow to occur at depth is rationalized in terms of density gradients associated with a near-surface freshwater tongue wrapping around the Bank. Temperature and salinity time series demonstrate the presence, altogether about 25% of the time, of a number of intruding water masses. These intrusions could last anywhere from a couple days up to about a month. The sources of these intrusions can be broadly classified as the Scotian Shelf (especially during the winter), the Western Gulf of Maine (especially during the summer), and the deeper ocean south of Georges Bank (throughout the year). On longer time scales, the temperature variability is dominated by seasonal temperature changes. During the spring and summer, these changes are balanced by local heating or cooling, but wintertime cooling involves advective lateral transports as well. Salinity variations have weak, if any, seasonal variability, but are dominated by interannual changes that are related to regional- or basin-scale changes. All considered, Georges Bank temperature and salinity characteristics are found to be highly dependent on the surrounding waters, but many questions remain, especially in terms of whether intrusive events leave a sustained impact on Bank waters.This work took place as part of the GLOBEC Northwest Atlantic/Georges Bank field project, and was sponsored through NSF Biological Oceanography grants OCE- 80644500 and OCE- 80644501

Toxic metal concentrations in cigarettes obtained from U.S. smokers in 2009 : results from the International Tobacco Control (ITC) United States survey cohort

This research was funded by grants from the U.S. National Cancer Institute (R01 CA100362 and P01 CA138389), and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (115016). Geoffrey T. Fong was supported by a Senior Investigator Award from the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research (OICR) and a Prevention Scientist Award from the Canadian Cancer Society Research Institute.Smoking-related diseases can be attributed to the inhalation of many different toxins, including heavy metals, which have a host of detrimental health effects. The current study reports the levels of arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), chromium (Cr), nickel (Ni), and lead (Pb) in cigarettes obtained from adult smokers participating in the 2009 wave of the ITC United States Survey (N = 320). The mean As, Cd, Cr, Ni, and Pb levels were 0.17, 0.86, 2.35, 2.21, and 0.44 mu g/g, respectively. There were some differences in metal concentrations of cigarette brands produced by different manufacturers, suggesting differences in the source of tobaccos used by different companies. For Ni, there were significant pairwise differences between Philip Morris U.S. (PMUSA) and R.J. Reynolds (RJR) brands (PMUSA higher; p 0.10). Because of the variety of toxic heavy metals in cigarette tobacco, and their numerous negative health effects, metal content in cigarette tobacco should be reduced.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Southern Ocean GLOBEC moored array and automated weather station data report

Southern Ocean GLOBal ocean ECosystemsAs part of the U.S. Southern Ocean GLOBEC program, moored time series measurements of temperature, conductivity (salinity), pressure, velocity, and acoustic backscatter were made from March 2001 to March 2003 in and near Marguerite Bay, located on the Antarctic Peninsula western shelf. To monitor surface forcing during the moored array observations, two automatic weather stations (AWSs) were deployed on islands in Marguerite Bay and time series of wind, air temperature, pressure, and relative humidity were collected from May 2001 through March 2003. This report describes the individual moorings, their locations and local bathymetry, the instrumentation used and measurement depths, calibration and data processing steps taken to produce final time series, and basic plots of the final time series. The AWS data acquisition and processing are also described and basic plots of the final meteorological time series presented. Directions are given about how to access the raw and processed moored and AWS data via the SO GLOBEC website (http://globec.whoi.edu/jg/dir/globec/soglobec/).Funding was provided by the National Science Foundation under contract number OPP-99-10092

Altimeter processing tools for analyzing mesoscale ocean features

Satellite altimeters provide many opportunities for oceanographers to supplement their research with a valuable new data set. The recent GEOSAT exact repeat mission is the first of several altimeter missions proposed during the next decade. To utilize this new data, a software package was developed at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and the University of Hawaii to facilitate the extraction of useful information from the NODC distributed GEOSAT data tapes. This software package was written with portability and modularity in mind. It should be possible to use this package with little or no modifications on data from future altimeters. The code was written in C and tested on Sun workstations and is oriented toward UNIX operating systems. However, since standard code was used, the programs should port easily to other computer systems. The modularity of the code should enable users to create additional programs. Additional programs designed to handle collocated water vapor corrections are also included for comparison.Funding was provided by the Office of Naval Research through Grant No. N00014-86-K-0751