Objectives

Oceans and air-sea interactions

Air-sea interactions

  • Extend the knowledge of the 2D co-spectra of surface stress, surface wind, surface currents, and SST from the scatterometer scale (25km) down to O(1km) scales, covering all relevant conditions at the sea surface and in the MABL.
  • Quantify the contribution of small scale processes (down to O(1 km) scales) to the air-sea fluxes of gas (CO2), momentum, and heat.
  • Quantify the vertical fluxes (momentum and buoyancy) within the MABL at 1km horizontal scale.

Marine-Atmosphere Extremes

  • Measure surface stress equivalent wind vectors at 1 km scale in extreme wind conditions, to estimate inflow convergence toward the low pressure center and vorticity perturbations embedded in the cyclonic flow.
  • Retrieve directional wave spectra and simultaneous near inertial currents at 5-10km resolution, during all phases (ahead, during, and in the wake) of the passage of the extreme weather event.

Small-scale upper ocean dynamics

  • Extend the knowledge of the ocean surface motion power spectrum from currently resolved mesoscales (O(50km)) down to submesoscales (O(1-10km)), capturing the regional variability and the seasonal cycle.
  • Quantify the vorticity and flow divergence in the upper ocean at O(1km) horizontal scale, to estimate the vertical transport of nutrients, heat and, gas across the ocean boundary layer.

Cryosphere

Land Ice

  • Quantify multi-year average elevation change for most glaciers and ice sheet outlets, with a high spatial resolution of at least 100m, and sub-meter accuracy.
  • Providing (i) elevation change, at high spatial resolution of at least 100 m, at sub-seasonal time-scale, and with vertical accuracy of 5m or better, together with (ii) simultaneously-acquired SAR data from which horizontal displacements can be derived.
  • Monitor 3-D surface motion and deformation of glaciers and ice streams.

Permafrost

  • Quantify the extent, magnitude, and rates of rapid thaw subsidence and erosion of permafrost, at multi-annual time scale, at high spatial resolution of at least 100m, and with sub-meter vertical accuracy.

Solid Earth

Tectonic Strain

  • Provide measurements of N-S surface motions associated with earthquakes, volcanoes and landslides around the world at a spatial resolution of 100 x 100 m2.

Volcanoes

  • Provide measurements of topographic change at actively erupting volcanoes with a spatial resolution of 20 x 20 m2.