HR: 16:35h
AN: OS24A-02    [Abstracts]
TI: The PIRATA South Western Extension
AU: * Nobre, P
EM: pnobre@cptec.inpe.br
AU: Urbano, D F
EM: dfurbano@cptec.inpe.br
AU: Siqueira, L S
EM: leosan@cptec.inpe.br
AB: This note presents the Southwestern extension of the original PIRATA array (hereafter referred to as the PIRATA SWE), along with the analysis of its first year-and-half data time series. The PIRATA SWE is composed of three ATLAS buoys between 19°S, 35°W and 8°S, 30°W, along a ground track of Jason altimetry satellite. The three buoys of the PIRATA SWE were deployed during August 2005 and have been transmitting via both ARGOS and the Brazilian SCD satellites ever since. The data collected in near-real time are available via internet at both NOAA-PMEL and INPE-CPTEC webpages. The first-and-half year of PIRATA SWE data is compared with numerical simulation results using GFDL's Modular Ocean Model (MOM) at CPTEC-INPE. The results show good agreement with PIRATA's vertical profiles of temperature on the upper ocean, but with increasing warm model bias with depth. The observed time series of temperature at the PIRATA SWE sites also reveals intense intraseasonal variability, indicating that the region might be subjected to strong ocean eddy activity. Indeed, complementary ADCP data analysis reveals the presence of strong eddies in the region. The question of model resolution to resolve the observed eddies in the region will also be discussed.
DE: 3339 Ocean/atmosphere interactions (0312, 4504)
DE: 4500 OCEANOGRAPHY: PHYSICAL
SC: Ocean Sciences [OS]
MN: 2007 Joint Assembly