Long-term evolution of the coupled boundary layers (STRATUS) mooring recovery and deployment cruise report NOAA Research Vessel R H Brown • cruise RB-01-08 9 October - 25 October 2001

This report documents the work done on cruise RB-01-08 of the NOAA R/V Ron Brown. This was Leg 2 of R/V Ron Brown’s participation in Eastern Pacific Investigation of Climate (EPIC) 2001, a study of air-sea interaction, the atmosphere, and the upper ocean in the eastern tropical Pacific. The science party included groups from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), NOAA Environmental Technology Laboratory (ETL), the University of Washington (UW), the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB), and the University Nacional Autonoma de Mexico (UNAM). The work done by these groups is summarized in this report. In addition, the routine underway data collected while aboard R/V Ron Brown is also summarized here.Funding was provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration under Grant Numbers NA96GPO429 and NA17RJ1223

Profile observations of the Saharan air layer during AEROSE 2004

This paper describes 3‐hourly radiosonde observations of the Saharan air layer (SAL) acquired from the NOAA Ship Ronald H. Brown during the 2004 Aerosol and Ocean Science Expedition (AEROSE). The sampling frequency allows for unique vertical cross‐sectional analyses of SAL phenomena, including dust events detected by shipboard Sun photometers, observed during March 2004. The observational analyses provide, for the first time, a coherent, 2‐dimensional space‐time depiction of the SAL as an expansive warm, dry, stable column located above the marine boundary layer. Midlevel easterly wind maxima are also observed to occur near the leading edge of the dry layers. The AEROSE sounding data will be useful for studies of the SAL, as well as for validation of environmental satellite sensors, especially the Aqua Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS)