To refine estimates of Long Island Sound basin-wide annual cycle budgets of heat, mass and salt. |
 |
| At present, there are still uncertainties associated with determining the exchanges of heat, water mass, and salt between the Long Island Sound (LIS) and its surrounding environment over the course of a typical year (i.e. climatological variations). In the case of water mass or salt, the question involves considering the water exchanges at both the east (via the Race) and west (via the East River) ends of the LIS, as well as the freshwater inputs from the surrounding rivers, groundwater runoff and local rainfall. In the case of heat, the question involves determining the heating/cooling contributions that occur between the atmosphere and the ocean (i.e. air-sea exchange; see Objective 2) as well as the heat exchange that occurs via ocean currents at either end of the Lis (mainly via the Race). The diagram above illustrates the present uncertainty associated with our knowledge of the air-sea exchange over the Long Island Sound. Each panel shows an idealized model depiction of the vertical temperature structure of the LIS and its changes over the course of one calendar year. The difference in each panel is that each model simulation used a different, yet reasonably posed, estimate of the air-sea heat exchange over/near LIS. However, because of the lack of observed values of air-sea heat exchange directly over LIS, each of these estimates are based on data mainly south of Long Island, and none of the estimates involve direct measurements of the solar and infrared radiation processes but rather use approximations based on subjective cloud reports. Evident from the diagrams above is the significant uncertainty in these heat exchange estimates and the impact this uncertainty has on our understanding of the evolution of temperature (i.e. heat content) of the LIS. Measurements obtained by this project will provide the means for constructing more accurate estimtates of the exchanges of heat, water mass and salt for the LIS. |
|
