Wednesday, Nov. 1, 2006

R/V MIRAI

"calm sea"

Fine, later cloudy

Observations:

It was as usual. Continuous observations have been done well.
SnowWhite sonde was released around 11:00 am. Sea was calm in the morning, and surface wind was less than 3m/s. Few significantly organized cloud systems were obsereved within 200 km weather radar range. Inversion layer at 500 m, that was found clearly yesterday, was not so obviously observed. However, shallow cumulus were often observed along the lines (photo-1). Diurnal cycle of sea surface temperatute became clear, SST exceeds 29 deg C.

Remarks:

According to the satellite-based cloud images, convectively active region is found at the north of the MIRAI. We might be in the condition of convectively supressed period of the MJO. Therefore, we must focus the diurnal cycle of SST and surface flux, as well as development of shallow convections.
Five days have been passed since the start of the stationary observation at (0, 80.5E). Hereafter, we will introduce a little bit about the observation that was not refered in detail before. Photo-2 shows the sea surface water monitoring system and two marine technicians. They are now calibrating temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen, and chlorophyl. Whenever they use reagent, they must wear the special glasses to protect eyes (photo-3).