Description

This fellowship opportunity at the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) focuses on advancing remote sensing techniques to measure air-sea surface fluxes of momentum, heat, and mass, which are critical boundary conditions for weather, wave, and climate models. The research centers on improving satellite-based retrievals of the whitecap fraction (W), a measure of sea foam (whitecaps) on the ocean surface that indicates breaking wave conditions and enhances air-sea fluxes.

The project encourages innovative research in three main areas:

1. Improvement of Satellite Whitecap Retrievals

   • Enhance radiative transfer models, including foam emissivity and sea surface roughness.
   • Validate satellite data with in situ observations.
   • Assess uncertainties in retrievals.
   • Extend retrieval capabilities to coastal and polar regions.
   • Integrate microwave data with infrared and visible wavelength observations.

2. Use of Satellite Whitecap Data with Meteorological and Oceanographic Data

   • Study spatial and temporal variability of whitecap fraction.
   • Develop new parameterizations incorporating factors beyond wind speed, such as wave fields, currents, sea surface temperature, salinity, and surfactants.
   • Evaluate whitecaps' contribution to surface albedo under climate warming.
   • Validate energy dissipation rates from wave models and field experiments.

3. Global-Scale Air-Sea Process Investigations Using Whitecap Data

   • Analyze sea spray production and its role in heat fluxes and hurricane intensification.
   • Investigate sea spray effects on atmospheric chemistry, cloud condensation nuclei, cloud cover, and aerosol optical depth, contributing to climate forcing.
   • Study these processes in high-latitude regions to understand ocean responses to Arctic and Antarctic climate changes.

The research promotes the application of new technologies and analytical methods to deepen understanding of air-sea interactions and improve predictive models.