W-ICARB Ship-borne Field Experiment over the Bay of Bengal Database

Area of Field Experiment: Bay of Bengal

Period of Field Experiment: 26-December-2008 to 29-January-2009.

Platform: Oceanic Research Vessel Sagar Kanya

SURFACE-LAYER METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS:

As part of the winter phase of the Integrated Campaign for Aerosols, gases and Radiation Budget (W-ICARB), different meteorological parameters were collected through an Automatic Weather Station mounted onboard Oceanic Research Vessel Sagar Kanya for a period of 35 days spanning from 26th December 2008 to 29th January 2009 over the Bay of Bengal (BoB). Surface-layer meteorological database include sea surface temperature, air temperature, relative humidity, surface pressure and mean wind speeds. This data is available at 3-hourly intervals. Air-sea interaction parameters (sensible heat flux, latent heat flux, momentum flux and other parameters) were derived using bulk aerodynamic algorithm and such parameters are available at 3-hourly intervals.

UPPER-AIR METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS:

As part of the MABL component of the W-ICARB field experiment, upper air meteorological measurements were recorded through indigenously developed GPS Radiosonde (Pisharoty Sonde). During the field experiment, three Pisharoty sondes were launched daily, typically at 00:30 local time (LT), 06:30 LT and 13:30 LT representing the night, morning and afternoon conditions respectively. Overall, a total of 108 sondes were launched during the entire cruise timeframe. The raw data collected from balloon-borne Pisharoty Sondes consist of basic meteorological parameters and geographical position of balloon as a function of time, approximately at the rate of 1 Hz.

All queries related to the above data may be put up to Dr. D. Bala Subrahamanyam [ db_subrahamanyam(at)vssc(dot)gov(dot)in