The Global Characteristics of the Wavenumber Spectrum of Ocean Surface Wind
Name
Xu-2011-The Global Character.pdf
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1.46 MB
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Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
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Author(s)
Xu, Yongsheng
Fu, Lee-Lueng
Tulloch, Ross
Date Issued
August 2011
Journal
Journal of Physical Oceanography
Publisher
American Meteorological Society
Citation
Xu, Yongsheng, Lee-Lueng Fu, and Ross Tulloch. “The Global Characteristics of the Wavenumber Spectrum of Ocean Surface Wind.” Journal of Physical Oceanography 41.8 (2011): 1576–1582. Web. © 2011 American Meteorological Society.
Version
Final published version
Abstract
The wavenumber spectra of wind kinetic energy over the ocean from Quick Scatterometer (QuikSCAT) observations have revealed complex spatial variability in the wavelength range of 1000–3000 km, with spectral slopes varying from −1.6 to −2.9. Here the authors performed a spectral analysis of QuikSCAT winds over the global ocean and found that (i) the spectral slopes become steeper toward the Poles in the Pacific and in the South Atlantic, and the slopes exhibit minimal longitudinal dependence in the South Pacific; (ii) the steepest slopes are in the tropical Indian Ocean and the shallowest slopes are in the tropical Pacific and Atlantic; and (iii) the spectra are steeper in winter than summer in most regions of the midlatitude Northern Hemisphere. The new findings reported in the paper provide a test bed for theoretical studies and atmospheric general circulation models.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences
Terms of Use
Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use.
Persistent DSpace Link
DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1175/jpo-d-11-059.1
