Type of Document	Thesis
Author	Chien, Chin-Ying Christine
URN	etd-08242009-104516
Title	Comparison of Wind Speed and Wind Stress in the Southern Ocean
Degree	Master of Science
Department	Oceanography, Department of
Advisory Committee	Advisor Name Title Kevin Speer Committee Chair Carol Anne Clayson Committee Member Jeffrey Chanton Committee Member Mark Bourassa Committee Member
Keywords	ECMWF QuikSCAT NCEP Reanalysis Satellite Data Wind Southern Ocean
Date of Defense	2009-07-07
Availability	unrestricted
Abstract The wind speed and wind stress over the Southern Ocean (SO) is compared from the QSCAT, COAPS, ERA-Int, JRA25 and NCEP2. From the results of comparison, NCEP2 seems to poorly represent wind speed in the SO. In the summer months, the difference of wind speed and wind stress between products is small while the bias during winter is larger. Also, the difference increases in the high latitudes, close to the sea-ice zone. South of 55°S, COAPS has weaker correlation of wind stress with reanalysis data. The major reasons of differences between products are associated with the impact of seaice and the differences of resolution, assimilation and parameters chosen from models. From the validation by ship data, ERA-Int fits the QSCAT and ship wind speed best in the SO. The large RMS difference of Ekman pumping between products is connected to wind variance, eddy kinetic energy (EKE), especially in the South Atlantic Ocean and South Indian Ocean during fall and winter. This implies that the difference between products may result in different responses of simulated storm activities.
Files	Filename       Size       Approximate Download Time (Hours:Minutes:Seconds)     28.8 Modem   56K Modem   ISDN (64 Kb)   ISDN (128 Kb)   Higher-speed Access    Chien_C_Thesis_2009.pdf 1.74 Mb 00:08:04 00:04:09 00:03:37 00:01:48 00:00:09