| Abstract |
Air-sea exchanges of heat and moisture tend to be very strong in frontal regions. In this talk, I will describe air-sea interaction observations I have made in the tropical Pacific, at the Kuroshio Extension Observatory, and which I plan to make north of the Gulf Stream. The underway Saildrone mission in the central equatorial Pacific (ground zero for the underway El Niño) is part of a pilot study for integrating Uncrewed Surface Vehicles into the Tropical Pacific Observing System and is also a pilot study for an international process study in the Tropical Pacific led by NOAA that Japan may have an interest in. These Saildrone data were critical in identifying how Sea Surface Temperature diurnal cycle tends to be damped in frontal regions. I will then briefly describe the joint NOAA-JAMSTEC Kuroshio Extension Observatory (KEO) and its almost 20-year time series. KEO is an element of Japan's Hot-Spot Experiments, which has inspired a new potential future US-led process study in the Gulf Stream. Through a newly funded project, we will be enhancing a NOAA weather buoy north of the Gulf Stream that will act in some ways like the former J-KEO buoy located north of the Kuroshio Extension. Finally, I will discuss the UN Decade of Ocean Sciences for Sustainable Development programme that I co-lead: the Observing Air-Sea Interactions Strategy (OASIS). My hope is that during my stay in Japan as Guest Professor at The University of Tokyo (Oct 2-Dec 8), I will have many conversations on all these topics and more.
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