1. Oceanography Science Questions
Lee-Lueng Fu
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
WATER HM Science Working Group Meeting
Washington DC
October 29-30, 2007

2. Ocean Surface Currents Simulated by the ECCO-2 Model
What is the small-scale variability of ocean surface topography that determines the velocity of ocean currents? How are fronts and eddies formed and evolving? How is oceanic kinetic energy dissipated?
Ocean Surface Currents Simulated by the ECCO-2 Model

3. Sea Surface Height Spectrum from TOPEX/Poseidon
(100 km)
R. Ferrari

4. Sub-mesoscale variability
Radius of deformation
Radius of deformation
~100km
Sub-mesoscale processes are poorly observed but important to the understanding of the dissipation mechanism of ocean circulation.
McWilliams (2006)

5. Coastal currents have scales less than 10 km
(2) What is the synoptic variability of coastal currents? How do the coastal currents interact with the open ocean variability? What are the effects of coastal currents on marine life, ecosystems, waste disposal, and transportation?
 h ~ 5 cm
 v ~ 50 cm/sec
< 10 km
41.9º N
Observations made by ADCP offshore from the US West Coast
T. Strub

6. Prediction of Hurricane Intensity
(3) How does a hurricane interact with the small-scale variability of the upper ocean heat storage? What is the ocean's dynamic response to hurricanes?  How is the new knowledge to be used to improve hurricane forecast?
Prediction of Hurricane Intensity

7. Oceanic Processes Resolved by Various Missions
WATER HM
TOPEX/Poseidon
Jason, or OSTM

8. Besides the intrinsic science of internal tides, they introduce 2-5 cm/sec error in ocean current velocity.
R. Ray/GSFC