Air-Sea Interaction
Program in Atmospheres, Oceans and Climate (PAOC),
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
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Air-Sea Interaction & Climate
Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL),
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
(NASA)
& California Institute of Technology
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Air-Sea Interface Data in the IRI Data Library
International Research Institute for Climate Prediction (IRI)
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Bathymetric effect on the winter sea surface temperature and climate of the Yellow and East China Seas
Shang-Ping Xie, Jan Hafner, Youichi Tanimoto,
W. Timothy Liu, Hiroki Tokinaga, Haiming Xu,
Geophysical Research Letters, Vol. 29, No. 24
(Adobe PDF file)
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El Niño Sea-Level Rise Wreaks Havoc in California’s
San Francisco Bay Region
Holly Ryan, Helen Gibbons, James W. Hendley II, Peter Stauffer,
U.S. Geological Survey Fact Sheet 175-99,
Online Version 1.0,
U.S. Geological Survey (USGS),
U.S. Department of the Interior
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Fine-tuning the Steps in the Intricate
Climate Change Dance
News Release,
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI)
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Patterns and mechanisms of air-sea interaction in the South Atlantic Ocean
Andreas Sterl & Wilco Hazeleger,
Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI)
(Adobe PDF file)
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The Real Time Ocean Environment
U.S. Naval Research Laboratory,
Stennis Space Center
(NRL-SSC), U.S. Navy &
National Aeronautics &
Space Administration (NASA)
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A spectral coupled ocean-atmosphere model
R. C. Balgovind, C. S. Frederikseny & J. S. Frederiksen,
The Anziam Journal Vol. 42 (E),
Australian Mathematical Society, Inc. (Aust MS)
(Adobe PDF file)
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Tropical Atlantic air-sea interaction and its influence on the NAO
Yuko Okumura, Shang-Ping Xie, Atusi Numaguti,
Youichi Tanimoto,
Geophysical Research Letters, Vol. 28, No. 8
(Adobe PDF file)
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Some say man’s final frontier lies not in space, but within
our oceans. For all our attempts at understanding and dominance, the
oceans, which make up over 70 percent of the Earth’s entire surface
area, remain largely unexplored. The reason for our inability to
pierce the ocean depths in more than a cursory manner can be explained by
one word — pressure. While we have been able to
overcome the vacuum of space, the crushing pressure exerted within the
depths of the oceans restricts our sojourn to the topmost layers of their
watery expanse. Only very high-tech deep submergence vehicles (DSVs) and
diving suits permit us an all-too-brief encounter with what lies within
the darkest recesses of the abyss. The irony is that, as
Earth’s most highly evolved organism, we find ourselves largely
denied the opportunity to return to the place from which modern science
believes all life on Earth derives.
Oceanography is the study of our ocean environment, just as meteorology
is the study of our atmosphere. The linkage between the two is
inescapable; air-sea interaction is an important area of
research within both sciences. Oceanography encompasses topics ranging
from the effect of sea-surface winds on ocean chemistry to the study of
marine geology and deep-water sediments. Between and inclusive of the
upper and lower ocean regions is a tremendously diverse biosphere and a
land-sea boundary essential for its maintenance and reproduction —
these too fall within the purview of the discipline of oceanography.
Our oceans are a key component of the planetary ecosystem; environmental
protection of these crucial assets requires that we understand them,
their interactions with the land environment on which we live, and our
effects as a species on their well-being. Damage to our oceans, which
is proceeding at an alarming rate, may very well have widespread and
irreversible consequences for all life on Earth. Can we afford to let
this happen? Central to our protection of the marine environment is our
understanding of that environment. Oceanography has become a critical
area of scientific study in the world today and will increase in its
importance as continental resources dwindle and Man focuses upon the
sea as a new source for raw material and living space.
Authored by Kenneth L. Anderson.
Original article published 26 April 2003.
Follow links to the right to learn more about air-sea interaction, the interplay between the
surface of the oceans and the “ocean of air” that lies
above.
At the left margin, Related Links address topics of interest
pertaining to oceanography that may help us all better understand and
appreciate our oceans and the role oceanographers play in unlocking the
secrets of what has long remained one of the most mysterious and
foreboding habitats of planet Earth. View the
Oceanography SiteMap
for a complete list of oceanography and ocean-related topics.
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