About CLASI
The CLASI project came out of an investigation of air-sea interaction in and around river mouths, conducted as part of the ONR DRI Riverine and Estuarine Transport (RIVET) experiments. From that initial work, the interdisciplinary CLASI team came together to address a major (and well-known) deficiency in operational weather and climate forecasting: predicting atmospheric conditions, specifically surface winds and stress, in coastal regions.
In 2016, the CLASI team came together to participate an pilot study within Monterey Bay. This small-scale effort helped refine the project objectives and approach. After this pilot experience, the CLASI team expanded and devised a plan to executive an ambitious series of field studies and coordinated numerical experiments, both using high resolution and operational forecasting model platforms. Phase 1 is a series of focused experiments within Monterey Bay, CA during the summer and fall of 2021; Phase 2 will take various sensing platforms and assets across the country to northwestern Florida during the winter 2023.
CLASI's main scientific objectives are:
(1) Using ocean- and land-based fixed platforms–complimented with a suite of mobile assets, research aircraft sampling, and rawindsonde, collect a comprehensive near-surface dataset to characterize the atmospheric surface layer evolution across the land-sea boundary for various coastal environments and forcing conditions;
(2) Make coordinated measurements of the electromagnetic propagation environment within the coastal marine atmosphere to understand nearshore evaporation ducting;
(3) Utilize these data for assimilation into high resolution numerical experiments and to develop a new
coast-aware surface layer scheme for implementing into a operational forecast system;
(4) Archive a public dataset for future scientific and applied investigations.
In 2016, the CLASI team came together to participate an pilot study within Monterey Bay. This small-scale effort helped refine the project objectives and approach. After this pilot experience, the CLASI team expanded and devised a plan to executive an ambitious series of field studies and coordinated numerical experiments, both using high resolution and operational forecasting model platforms. Phase 1 is a series of focused experiments within Monterey Bay, CA during the summer and fall of 2021; Phase 2 will take various sensing platforms and assets across the country to northwestern Florida during the winter 2023.
CLASI's main scientific objectives are:
(1) Using ocean- and land-based fixed platforms–complimented with a suite of mobile assets, research aircraft sampling, and rawindsonde, collect a comprehensive near-surface dataset to characterize the atmospheric surface layer evolution across the land-sea boundary for various coastal environments and forcing conditions;
(2) Make coordinated measurements of the electromagnetic propagation environment within the coastal marine atmosphere to understand nearshore evaporation ducting;
(3) Utilize these data for assimilation into high resolution numerical experiments and to develop a new
coast-aware surface layer scheme for implementing into a operational forecast system;
(4) Archive a public dataset for future scientific and applied investigations.
