This research is a study of air-sea interaction processes in the TOGA COARE region (western Pacific warm pool) using aircraft measurements taken during the Intensive Observing Period. Air-sea fluxes, their variability, parameterizations and coupling to the ocean and atmosphere will be determined using turbulence-equipped aircraft. Several unique flight plans are proposed which use 2 or 3 of the aircraft in highly-coordinated flight patterns to measure the surface variability of the fluxes, the vertical structure of the boundary layer and the atmospheric sensible heat, moisture, and momentum budgets. The coupling to the ocean is emphasized with the patterns centered over the TOGA COARE ships and buoys. The atmospheric budgets will be determined when possible within the scale of the larger array of radars and island sounding stations. The aircraft sensible heat, moisture, and momentum boundary-layer budgets will be compared to the larger scale budgets estimated from the array of ships and radars to determine the statistical basis of the larger scale budgets. This research is important because it is one of the TOGA COARE studies that examines the principal processes responsible for the coupling of the ocean and the atmosphere in an especially climate sensitive region of the world, the western Pacific warm pool system, the field site of TOGA COARE.
