Abstract
Cloud motion data were compared to ship observations over the Indian Ocean during the summer monsoon, 1 May to 31 July 1979, with the objective of using the cloud data for estimating surface wind and ultimately the wind stress on the ocean. The cloud-ship comparison indicated that the cloud motions could be used to estimate surface winds within reasonable accuracy bounds, 2.6 m s-1 r.m.s. speeds and 22° to 44° r.m.s. directions (22° r.m.s. for winds < 10 m s-1). A body of statistics is presented which can be used to construct an empirical boundary layer with the eventual goal of producing a stress analysis for the summer MONEX from cloud motion data.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Endlich, R. and Mancuso, R.: 1968, ‘Objective Analysis of Environmental Conditions Associated with Thunderstorms and Tornadoes’. Monthly Weather Rev. 96, 342–350.
Halpern, D.: 1979, ‘Surface Wind Measurements and Low-Level Cloud Motion Vectors near the Intertropical Convergence Zone in the Central Pacific Ocean from November 1977 to March 1978’. Monthly Weather Rev. 107, 1525–1534.
Hasler, A. F., Shenk, W. E., Skillman, W. C.: 1976, ‘Wind Estimates from Cloud Motions: Preliminary Results from Cloud Motions-Phase I of an Aircraft Verification Experiment’, J. Appl. Meteorol. 15, 10–15.
Hasler, A. F., Skillman, W. C., Shenk, W. E., and Steranka, J.: 1979, ‘In Situ Aircraft Verification of the Quality of Satellite Cloud Winds over Oceanic Regions’. J. Appl. Meteorol. 18, 1481–1489.
Hasthenrath, S., and Lamb, P. J.: 1979, ‘Climatic Atlas of the Indian Ocean, Part I: Surface Climate and Atmosphere Circulation’. Univ. of Wisc. Press, Madison, Wisc. 97 pp.
Mahrt, L. J.: 1972, ‘A Numerical Simulation Study of the Influences of Advective Accelerations in an Idealized Low-Latitude Planetary Boundary Layer’. J. Atmospheric Sci. 29, 1477–1484.
Panofsky, H. A., and Brier, G. W.: 1968, ‘Some Applications of Statistics to Meteorology’. Penn. State Univ. Press, University Park, Pa. 224 pp.
Pierson, W. J., Peteherych, S., and Wilkerson, J. C.: 1980, ‘The Winds of the Comparison Data set for the Seasat Gulf of Alaska Experiment’. IEEE J. of Oceanic Eng. OE-5, 169–176.
Ramage, C. S., Adams, C. W., Hori, A. M., Kilonsky, B. J., and Sadler, J. C.: 1980, ‘Meteorological Atlas of the 1972–73 El Nino.’, Dept. of Meteorology, Univ. of Hawaii, Honolulu, Hawaii, 101 pp.
Wylie, D. P., Hinton, B. B., and Millett, K. M.: 1980, ‘A Comparison of Three Satellite Based Methods for Estimating Surface Winds over Oceans’. J. Appl. Meteorol., in press (April issue).
Young, J. A., Virji, H., Wylie, D. P., and Lo, C.: 1980b, ‘Summer Monsoon Windsets from Geostationary Satellite Data’. Space Science and Engineering Center, Univ. of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisc. 53706, 127 pp.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Wylie, D.P., Hinton, B.B. The feasibility of estimating large-scale surface wind fields for the summer MONEX using cloud motion and ship data. Boundary-Layer Meteorol 21, 357–367 (1981). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00119279
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00119279