# Presentation: 947110

## Marine Climatology from Research Vessels

- Shawn R. Smith1, Scott D. Woodruff2, and Steve Worley3

- 1Center for Ocean-Atmospheric Prediction Studies, FSU, Tallahassee, FL USA
- 2NOAA/OAR/Earth System Research Laboratory, Boulder, CO, USA
- 3National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO, USA

- MARCDAT-II, Exeter, UK

- Funding provided by NOAA Office of Climate Observation and the NOAA Environmental Services Data and Information Management program.

## Overview

- For decades, research vessels (RVs) have been collecting a wide array of atmospheric and ocean measurements over the global oceans.
- E.g., Russian RV data (1936-2000) provided as auxiliary data in ICOADS
- Recent technological advances have allowed for transmission of high volumes of marine climate observations from RVs.
- Presently, RV marine reports make up only a small fraction of records in ICOADS
- Bridge reports not transmitted routinely
- Stewardship of science data is fragmented
- Typically held by chief scientists, operating institutions, or national archives
- No clear path exist to provide data to ICOADS

- Courtesy NOAA OCO

## Sources of data from RVs

- All vessels equipped with meteorological sensors to aid navigation
- These sensors typically used for reports by bridge crew
- Scientific instrument systems (e.g., IMET, NOAA SCS, Multimet)

- Courtesy NOAA OCO

- Typically the bridge and scientific instrument systems are independent.
- Insufficient metadata to determine whether marine reports in ICOADS are from bridge or science observing systems

## Advantages of RV climate data

- Operate in all parts of the ocean, including regions of extreme conditions (e.g., polar latitudes, high wind regimes).
- Science systems provide
- High sampling rates
- Research data quality (on par with delayed mooring data)
- Instruments monitored by onboard technicians
- Additional measurements not provided in bridge reports (radiation, direct fluxes, etc.)
- RVs provide ideal platform to develop new sensors (CO2, infrared SST)

- Courtesy NOAA OCO

## RV data reaching ICOADS

- Extracting RV reports from ICOADS for 1997 reveals
- Wide coverage of ocean
- Low observational density

- Courtesy NOAA OCO

- ~80000 individual marine reports from 154 vessels
- Highest densities around Japan and Europe
- 60% of reports provided by only 12 vessels
- 49% of reports from 21 vessels participating in WOCE
- Polarstern alone provides ~10% of obs.

## Problem of locating RVs

- Creating plots of research vessel coverage problematic
- Most common method is to search for vessel call sign
- Locating call signs difficult, typically from Pub 47 or vessel operators
- Change frequently
- Recent addition of “kind of vessel” metadata to ICOADS helps
- Only as complete as Pub 47 it is based upon
- Result omits many well known vessels (e.g., *Meteor*)
- Research vessel tracking system needed
- Surprisingly hard just to find out when and where RVs are making measurements
- Web resources (e.g., www.researchvessels.org) are incomplete and under-funded
- J. Gould and others have proposed that JCOMM-OPS take on responsibility

- Courtesy NOAA OCO

## Providing FSU data to ICOADS

- FSU RV data center is working to make historical and near-real time RV data available to ICOADS.
***Historical data***:
- Current FSU holdings contain science data from WOCE and other select cruises (1988-Present)
- Additional science and bridge data from operating institutions and national archives could be acquired with additional funding
***Near-real time data***:
- obtained through the Shipboard Automated Meteorological and Oceanographic System (SAMOS) initiative
- Science data provided to FSU on daily basis
- Pilot project underway with *Knorr* and *Atlantis*
- Additional information in poster presentation

- Courtesy NOAA OCO

- All FSU data have undergone scientific data quality evaluation

## Providing FSU data to ICOADS

- Most FSU marine reports must be temporally sub-sampled for ICOADS
- Similar methods are currently employed by ICOADS for moored buoys

- Courtesy NOAA OCO

- Bulk of RV records are at one- minute intervals
- Desire to retain diurnal cycle
- FSU producing 10-min. averages leading up to top of hour
- Developing hourly sub-samples in IMMA format for ICOADS
- Include average and measure of uncertainty for each value
- Additional parameters beyond core ICOADS records
- Format may be useful for archiving future RV and mooring reports

## Comparing FSU to ICOADS

- Number of marine reports for 22 WOCE cruises of the RV Meteor (1990 - 1997)

- Courtesy NOAA OCO

- Reports counted over length of cruise known to FSU
- 12229 science data reports from FSU
- 6958 reports available in ICOADS

## Comparing FSU to ICOADS

- Number of marine reports for 26 WOCE cruises of the RV Knorr (1990 - 1997)

- Courtesy NOAA OCO

- 18071 science data reports from FSU
- 324 reports available in ICOADS
- A substantial increase in records can be achieved by adding science observations to ICOADS

## Comparing FSU to ICOADS

- For the WOCE cruises of the *Meteor* and the *Knorr*, how well do reports found in ICOADS compare to sub-sampled data from FSU archive?
- Note: comparisons do not take into account differing sensor depths (some metadata lacking)
- ICOADS for *Knorr* are colder than FSU reports.

- Courtesy NOAA OCO

## Comparing FSU to ICOADS

- Air temperatures show similar cold bias in ICOADS reports for the *Knorr* (or warm bias for the FSU data).
- Lower number of matches may skew results for *Knorr*
*Meteor* comparison very good without adjusting for differing thermometer heights (ICOADS: 11 m, FSU 28 m)

- Courtesy NOAA OCO

## Comparing FSU to ICOADS

- Biases are low for wind speed on both vessels.
*Meteor* shows more scatter at higher wind speeds (both measurements taken at 40 m height)
- Anemometer height for *Knorr* not available for ICOADS reports

- Courtesy NOAA OCO

## Questions to consider

- Should data averaged from high-sampling rate science systems (SAMOS, moorings) be retained as independent in ICOADS (not replace existing GTS/DM reports)?
- Can an effort be launched to request participation by RVs in routine VOS reporting?
- Many operators seem unaware of VOS reporting
- Can RV operators provide metadata regarding:
- Whether and how they provide routine marine weather reports?
- Whether these reports are derived from science instrument system?
- Note: some effort to improve metadata can be taken up by the SAMOS initiative
- What is the volume of RV science and bridge observations held by operating institutions and national archives?

- Courtesy NOAA OCO

## Final Thoughts

- Research vessels are presently an underutilized resource for marine climate observations
- Efforts should be made to mine historical RV observations from operating institution and national archives
- This effort could support ongoing plans for atmospheric and oceanic reanalyses
- An expansion of near-real time transmission of science data from RVs should be encouraged
- Resources and the need to improve ship-to-shore communications are primary limitations
- SAMOS initiative seeks to recruit additional vessels in 2006
- 1st Joint GOSUD/SAMOS Workshop scheduled for May 2006 (interested parties should contact smith@coaps.fsu.edu)

- Courtesy NOAA OCO