First ISCCP Regional Experiment (FIRE) Atlantic Stratocumulus Transition Experiment (ASTEX) SOFIA Spear Buoy Data contains ocean-atmosphere interaction measurements from a wave buoy. The data was collected by French research groups including CRPE and IFREMER during the ASTEX field campaign in June 1992. It focuses on energy transfers like heat, humidity, and momentum fluxes between the sea surface and the atmospheric boundary layer.
Use Cases
- Validate satellite-derived heat and momentum flux estimates using in-situ buoy measurements from the eastern North Atlantic Ocean.
- Study the impact of mesoscale oceanic structures on spatial inhomogeneity of humidity and heat fluxes within the atmospheric boundary layer.
- Analyze wave spectrum data from the IFREMER buoy to understand sea state influences on surface-atmosphere energy transfer.
- Improve GCM cloud parameterizations by correlating buoy-observed flux data with concurrent satellite and airborne cloud observations from the ASTEX mission.
Strengths
- Data collected during a coordinated, intensive field observation period combining satellite, airborne, and surface measurements.
- Focuses on a specific, scientifically critical phenomenon: the stratocumulus to cumulus transition in the eastern North Atlantic.
Limitations
- Dataset is temporally limited to a single month of observations from June 1992.
- Specific row count, column details, and measurement resolution are unknown from the provided description.
- Wave spectrum measurements are noted as non-directional, limiting analysis of wave directionality.
Provenance
- Source
- NASA Earth Data (LARC_ASDC), originating from French research groups (CRPE, LA, CMM, IFREMER, Service d'Aeronomie, LMD) under the SOFIA program.
- Collection Method
- Collected by a drogued wave buoy deployed during the ASTEX field campaign, as part of a nested measurement strategy for flux estimation.
- Time Range
- Primary collection during the ASTEX Intensive Field Observation period, June 1-28, 1992.
- Freshness
- Data is from a 1992 field campaign with no indicated updates; it is a historical snapshot.
- Geography
- Eastern North Atlantic Ocean, specifically the ASTEX study region.