Lermusiaux Pierre F. J.

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Lermusiaux
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Pierre F. J.
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  • Article
    Towards an end-to-end analysis and prediction system for weather, climate, and marine applications in the Red Sea
    (American Meteorological Society, 2021-01-01) Hoteit, Ibrahim ; Abualnaja, Yasser ; Afzal, Shehzad ; Ait-El-Fquih, Boujemaa ; Akylas, Triantaphyllos ; Antony, Charls ; Dawson, Clint N. ; Asfahani, Khaled ; Brewin, Robert J. W. ; Cavaleri, Luigi ; Cerovecki, Ivana ; Cornuelle, Bruce D. ; Desamsetti, Srinivas ; Attada, Raju ; Dasari, Hari ; Sanchez-Garrido, Jose ; Genevier, Lily ; El Gharamti, Mohamad ; Gittings, John A. ; Gokul, Elamurugu ; Gopalakrishnan, Ganesh ; Guo, Daquan ; Hadri, Bilel ; Hadwiger, Markus ; Hammoud, Mohammed Abed ; Hendershott, Myrl ; Hittawe, Mohamad ; Karumuri, Ashok ; Knio, Omar ; Kohl, Armin ; Kortas, Samuel ; Krokos, George ; Kunchala, Ravi ; Issa, Leila ; Lakkis, Issam ; Langodan, Sabique ; Lermusiaux, Pierre F. J. ; Luong, Thang ; Ma, Jingyi ; Le Maitre, Olivier ; Mazloff, Matthew R. ; El Mohtar, Samah ; Papadopoulos, Vassilis P. ; Platt, Trevor ; Pratt, Lawrence J. ; Raboudi, Naila ; Racault, Marie-Fanny ; Raitsos, Dionysios E. ; Razak, Shanas ; Sanikommu, Sivareddy ; Sathyendranath, Shubha ; Sofianos, Sarantis S. ; Subramanian, Aneesh C. ; Sun, Rui ; Titi, Edriss ; Toye, Habib ; Triantafyllou, George ; Tsiaras, Kostas ; Vasou, Panagiotis ; Viswanadhapalli, Yesubabu ; Wang, Yixin ; Yao, Fengchao ; Zhan, Peng ; Zodiatis, George
    The Red Sea, home to the second-longest coral reef system in the world, is a vital resource for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The Red Sea provides 90% of the Kingdom’s potable water by desalinization, supporting tourism, shipping, aquaculture, and fishing industries, which together contribute about 10%–20% of the country’s GDP. All these activities, and those elsewhere in the Red Sea region, critically depend on oceanic and atmospheric conditions. At a time of mega-development projects along the Red Sea coast, and global warming, authorities are working on optimizing the harnessing of environmental resources, including renewable energy and rainwater harvesting. All these require high-resolution weather and climate information. Toward this end, we have undertaken a multipronged research and development activity in which we are developing an integrated data-driven regional coupled modeling system. The telescopically nested components include 5-km- to 600-m-resolution atmospheric models to address weather and climate challenges, 4-km- to 50-m-resolution ocean models with regional and coastal configurations to simulate and predict the general and mesoscale circulation, 4-km- to 100-m-resolution ecosystem models to simulate the biogeochemistry, and 1-km- to 50-m-resolution wave models. In addition, a complementary probabilistic transport modeling system predicts dispersion of contaminant plumes, oil spill, and marine ecosystem connectivity. Advanced ensemble data assimilation capabilities have also been implemented for accurate forecasting. Resulting achievements include significant advancement in our understanding of the regional circulation and its connection to the global climate, development, and validation of long-term Red Sea regional atmospheric–oceanic–wave reanalyses and forecasting capacities. These products are being extensively used by academia, government, and industry in various weather and marine studies and operations, environmental policies, renewable energy applications, impact assessment, flood forecasting, and more.
  • Preprint
    Validation of genetic algorithm-based optimal sampling for ocean data assimilation
    ( 2016-08) Heaney, Kevin D. ; Lermusiaux, Pierre F. J. ; Duda, Timothy F. ; Haley, Patrick J.
    Regional ocean models are capable of forecasting conditions for usefully long intervals of time (days) provided that initial and ongoing conditions can be measured. In resource-limited circumstances, the placement of sensors in optimal locations is essential. Here, a nonlinear optimization approach to determine optimal adaptive sampling that uses the Genetic Algorithm (GA) method is presented. The method determines sampling strategies that minimize a user-defined physics-based cost function. The method is evaluated using identical twin experiments, comparing hindcasts from an ensemble of simulations that assimilate data selected using the GA adaptive sampling and other methods. For skill metrics, we employ the reduction of the ensemble root-mean-square-error (RMSE) between the “true” data-assimilative ocean simulation and the different ensembles of data-assimilative hindcasts. A 5-glider optimal sampling study is set up for a 400 km x 400 km domain in the Middle Atlantic Bight region, along the New Jersey shelf-break. Results are compared for several ocean and atmospheric forcing conditions.
  • Article
    Search and rescue at sea aided by hidden flow structures
    (Nature Communications, 2020-05-26) Serra, Mattia ; Sathe, Pratik ; Rypina, Irina I. ; Kirincich, Anthony R. ; Ross, Shane D. ; Lermusiaux, Pierre F. J. ; Allen, Arthur ; Peacock, Thomas ; Haller, George
    Every year, hundreds of people die at sea because of vessel and airplane accidents. A key challenge in reducing the number of these fatalities is to make Search and Rescue (SAR) algorithms more efficient. Here, we address this challenge by uncovering hidden TRansient Attracting Profiles (TRAPs) in ocean-surface velocity data. Computable from a single velocity-field snapshot, TRAPs act as short-term attractors for all floating objects. In three different ocean field experiments, we show that TRAPs computed from measured as well as modeled velocities attract deployed drifters and manikins emulating people fallen in the water. TRAPs, which remain hidden to prior flow diagnostics, thus provide critical information for hazard responses, such as SAR and oil spill containment, and hence have the potential to save lives and limit environmental disasters.
  • Article
    Circulation and intrusions northeast of Taiwan : chasing and predicting uncertainty in the cold dome
    (The Oceanography Society, 2011-12) Gawarkiewicz, Glen G. ; Jan, Sen ; Lermusiaux, Pierre F. J. ; McClean, Julie L. ; Centurioni, Luca R. ; Taylor, Kevin ; Cornuelle, Bruce D. ; Duda, Timothy F. ; Wang, Joe ; Yang, Yiing-Jang ; Sanford, Thomas B. ; Lien, Ren-Chieh ; Lee, Craig M. ; Lee, Ming-An ; Leslie, Wayne ; Haley, Patrick J. ; Niiler, Pearn P. ; Gopalakrishnan, Ganesh ; Velez-Belchi, Pedro ; Lee, Dong-Kyu ; Kim, Yoo Yin
    An important element of present oceanographic research is the assessment and quantification of uncertainty. These studies are challenging in the coastal ocean due to the wide variety of physical processes occurring on a broad range of spatial and temporal scales. In order to assess new methods for quantifying and predicting uncertainty, a joint Taiwan-US field program was undertaken in August/September 2009 to compare model forecasts of uncertainties in ocean circulation and acoustic propagation, with high-resolution in situ observations. The geographical setting was the continental shelf and slope northeast of Taiwan, where a feature called the "cold dome" frequently forms. Even though it is hypothesized that Kuroshio subsurface intrusions are the water sources for the cold dome, the dome's dynamics are highly uncertain, involving multiple scales and many interacting ocean features. During the experiment, a combination of near-surface and profiling drifters, broad-scale and high-resolution hydrography, mooring arrays, remote sensing, and regional ocean model forecasts of fields and uncertainties were used to assess mean fields and uncertainties in the region. River runoff from Typhoon Morakot, which hit Taiwan August 7–8, 2009, strongly affected shelf stratification. In addition to the river runoff, a cold cyclonic eddy advected into the region north of the Kuroshio, resulting in a cold dome formation event. Uncertainty forecasts were successfully employed to guide the hydrographic sampling plans. Measurements and forecasts also shed light on the evolution of cold dome waters, including the frequency of eddy shedding to the north-northeast, and interactions with the Kuroshio and tides. For the first time in such a complex region, comparisons between uncertainty forecasts and the model skill at measurement locations validated uncertainty forecasts. To complement the real-time model simulations, historical simulations with another model show that large Kuroshio intrusions were associated with low sea surface height anomalies east of Taiwan, suggesting that there may be some degree of predictability for Kuroshio intrusions.
  • Article
    Flow Encountering Abrupt Topography (FLEAT): a multiscale observational and modeling program to understand how topography affects flows in the western North Pacific
    (Oceanography Society, 2019-12-11) Johnston, T. M. Shaun ; Schönau, Martha ; Paluszkiewicz, Theresa ; MacKinnon, Jennifer A. ; Arbic, Brian K. ; Colin, Patrick L. ; Alford, Matthew H. ; Andres, Magdalena ; Centurioni, Luca R. ; Graber, Hans C. ; Helfrich, Karl R. ; Hormann, Verena ; Lermusiaux, Pierre F. J. ; Musgrave, Ruth C. ; Powell, Brian S. ; Qiu, Bo ; Rudnick, Daniel L. ; Simmons, Harper L. ; St. Laurent, Louis C. ; Terrill, Eric ; Trossman, David S. ; Voet, Gunnar ; Wijesekera, Hemantha W. ; Zeide, Kristin L.
    Using a combination of models and observations, the US Office of Naval Research Flow Encountering Abrupt Topography (FLEAT) initiative examines how island chains and submerged ridges affect open ocean current systems, from the hundreds of kilometer scale of large current features to the millimeter scale of turbulence. FLEAT focuses on the western Pacific, mainly on equatorial currents that encounter steep topography near the island nation of Palau. Wake eddies and lee waves as small as 1 km were observed to form as these currents flowed around or over the steep topography. The direction and vertical structure of the incident flow varied over tidal, inertial, seasonal, and interannual timescales, with implications for downstream flow. Models incorporated tides and had grids with resolutions of hundreds of meters to enable predictions of flow transformations as waters encountered and passed around Palau’s islands. In addition to making scientific advances, FLEAT had a positive impact on the local Palauan community by bringing new technology to explore local waters, expanding the country’s scientific infrastructure, maintaining collaborations with Palauan partners, and conducting outreach activities aimed at elementary and high school students, US embassy personnel, and Palauan government officials.
  • Article
    A coupled-mode shallow-water model for tidal analysis : internal tide reflection and refraction by the Gulf Stream
    (American Meteorological Society, 2016-12-14) Kelly, Samuel M. ; Lermusiaux, Pierre F. J. ; Duda, Timothy F. ; Haley, Patrick J.
    A hydrostatic, coupled-mode, shallow-water model (CSW) is described and used to diagnose and simulate tidal dynamics in the greater Mid-Atlantic Bight region. The reduced-physics model incorporates realistic stratification and topography, internal tide forcing from a priori estimates of the surface tide, and advection terms that describe first-order interactions of internal tides with slowly varying mean flow and mean buoyancy fields and their respective shear. The model is validated via comparisons with semianalytic models and nonlinear primitive equation models in several idealized and realistic simulations that include internal tide interactions with topography and mean flows. Then, 24 simulations of internal tide generation and propagation in the greater Mid-Atlantic Bight region are used to diagnose significant internal tide interactions with the Gulf Stream. The simulations indicate that locally generated mode-one internal tides refract and/or reflect at the Gulf Stream. The redirected internal tides often reappear at the shelf break, where their onshore energy fluxes are intermittent (i.e., noncoherent with surface tide) because meanders in the Gulf Stream alter their precise location, phase, and amplitude. These results provide an explanation for anomalous onshore energy fluxes that were previously observed at the New Jersey shelf break and linked to the irregular generation of nonlinear internal waves.
  • Article
    Merging multiple-partial-depth data time series using objective empirical orthogonal function fitting
    (IEEE, 2010-10-18) Lin, Ying-Tsong ; Newhall, Arthur E. ; Duda, Timothy F. ; Lermusiaux, Pierre F. J. ; Haley, Patrick J.
    In this paper, a method for merging partial overlapping time series of ocean profiles into a single time series of profiles using empirical orthogonal function (EOF) decomposition with the objective analysis is presented. The method is used to handle internal waves passing two or more mooring locations from multiple directions, a situation where patterns of variability cannot be accounted for with a simple time lag. Data from one mooring are decomposed into linear combination of EOFs. Objective analysis using data from another mooring and these patterns is then used to build the necessary profile for merging the data, which is a linear combination of the EOFs. This method is applied to temperature data collected at a two vertical moorings in the 2006 New Jersey Shelf Shallow Water Experiment (SW06). Resulting profiles specify conditions for 35 days from sea surface to seafloor at a primary site and allow for reliable acoustic propagation modeling, mode decomposition, and beamforming.
  • Technical Report
    Acoustics and oceanographic observations collected during the QPE Experiment by Research Vessels OR1, OR2 and OR3 in the East China Sea in the Summer of 2009
    (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 2010-08) Newhall, Arthur E. ; Lynch, James F. ; Gawarkiewicz, Glen G. ; Duda, Timothy F. ; McPhee, Neil M. ; Bahr, Frank B. ; Marquette, Craig D. ; Lin, Ying-Tsong ; Jan, Sen ; Wang, Joe ; Chen, Chi-Fang ; Chiu, Linus Y. S. ; Yang, Yiing-Jang ; Wei, Ruey-Chang ; Emerson, Chris ; Morton, David ; Abbot, Ted ; Abbot, Philip A. ; Calder, Brian ; Mayer, Larry A. ; Lermusiaux, Pierre F. J.
    This document describes data, sensors, and other useful information pertaining to the ONR sponsored QPE field program to quantify, predict and exploit uncertainty in observations and prediction of sound propagation. This experiment was a joint operation between Taiwanese and U.S. researchers to measure and assess uncertainty of predictions of acoustic transmission loss and ambient noise, and to observe the physical oceanography and geology that are necessary to improve their predictability. This work was performed over the continental shelf and slope northeast of Taiwan at two sites: one that was a relatively flat, homogeneous shelf region and a more complex geological site just shoreward of the shelfbreak that was influenced by the proximity of the Kuroshio Current. Environmental moorings and ADCP moorings were deployed and a shipboard SeaSoar vehicle was used to measure environmental spatial structure. In addition, multiple bottom moored receivers and a horizontal hydrophone array were deployed to sample transmission loss from a mobile source and ambient noise. The acoustic sensors, environmental sensors, shipboard resources, and experiment design, and their data, are presented and described in this technical report.
  • Article
    Multiscale multiphysics data-informed modeling for three-dimensional ocean acoustic simulation and prediction
    (Acoustical Society of America, 2019-09-30) Duda, Timothy F. ; Lin, Ying-Tsong ; Newhall, Arthur E. ; Helfrich, Karl R. ; Lynch, James F. ; Zhang, Weifeng G. ; Lermusiaux, Pierre F. J. ; Wilkin, John L.
    Three-dimensional (3D) underwater sound field computations have been used for a few decades to understand sound propagation effects above sloped seabeds and in areas with strong 3D temperature and salinity variations. For an approximate simulation of effects in nature, the necessary 3D sound-speed field can be made from snapshots of temperature and salinity from an operational data-driven regional ocean model. However, these models invariably have resolution constraints and physics approximations that exclude features that can have strong effects on acoustics, example features being strong submesoscale fronts and nonhydrostatic nonlinear internal waves (NNIWs). Here, work to predict NNIW fields to improve 3D acoustic forecasts using an NNIW model nested in a tide-inclusive data-assimilating regional model is reported. The work was initiated under the Integrated Ocean Dynamics and Acoustics project. The project investigated ocean dynamical processes that affect important details of sound-propagation, with a focus on those with strong intermittency (high kurtosis) that are challenging to predict deterministically. Strong internal tides and NNIW are two such phenomena, with the former being precursors to NNIW, often feeding energy to them. Successful aspects of the modeling are reported along with weaknesses and unresolved issues identified in the course of the work.
  • Article
    Northern Arabian Sea Circulation-Autonomous Research (NASCar) : a research initiative based on autonomous sensors
    (Oceanography Society, 2017-06) Centurioni, Luca R. ; Hormann, Verena ; Talley, Lynne D. ; Arzeno, Isabella B. ; Beal, Lisa M. ; Caruso, Michael J. ; Conry, Patrick ; Echols, Rosalind ; Fernando, Harindra J. S. ; Giddings, Sarah N. ; Gordon, Arnold L. ; Graber, Hans C. ; Harcourt, Ramsey R. ; Jayne, Steven R. ; Jensen, Tommy G. ; Lee, Craig M. ; Lermusiaux, Pierre F. J. ; L’Hegaret, Pierre ; Lucas, Andrew J. ; Mahadevan, Amala ; McClean, Julie L. ; Pawlak, Geno ; Rainville, Luc ; Riser, Stephen C. ; Seo, Hyodae ; Shcherbina, Andrey Y. ; Skyllingstad, Eric D. ; Sprintall, Janet ; Subrahmanyam, Bulusu ; Terrill, Eric ; Todd, Robert E. ; Trott, Corinne ; Ulloa, Hugo N. ; Wang, He
    The Arabian Sea circulation is forced by strong monsoonal winds and is characterized by vigorous seasonally reversing currents, extreme differences in sea surface salinity, localized substantial upwelling, and widespread submesoscale thermohaline structures. Its complicated sea surface temperature patterns are important for the onset and evolution of the Asian monsoon. This article describes a program that aims to elucidate the role of upper-ocean processes and atmospheric feedbacks in setting the sea surface temperature properties of the region. The wide range of spatial and temporal scales and the difficulty of accessing much of the region with ships due to piracy motivated a novel approach based on state-of-the-art autonomous ocean sensors and platforms. The extensive data set that is being collected, combined with numerical models and remote sensing data, confirms the role of planetary waves in the reversal of the Somali Current system. These data also document the fast response of the upper equatorial ocean to monsoon winds through changes in temperature and salinity and the connectivity of the surface currents across the northern Indian Ocean. New observations of thermohaline interleaving structures and mixing in setting the surface temperature properties of the northern Arabian Sea are also discussed.
  • Technical Report
    CALYPSO 2019 Cruise Report: field campaign in the Mediterranean
    (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 2020-01) Mahadevan, Amala ; D'Asaro, Eric A. ; Allen, John T. ; Almaraz García, Pablo ; Alou-Font, Eva ; Aravind, Harilal Meenambika ; Balaguer, Pau ; Caballero, Isabel ; Calafat, Noemi ; Carbornero, Andrea ; Casas, Benjamin ; Castilla, Carlos ; Centurioni, Luca R. ; Conley, Margaret ; Cristofano, Gino ; Cutolo, Eugenio ; Dever, Mathieu ; Enrique Navarro, Angélica ; Falcieri, Francesco M. ; Freilich, Mara A. ; Goodwin, Evan ; Graham, Raymond ; Guigand, Cedric ; Hodges, Benjamin A. ; Huntley, Helga ; Johnston, T. M. Shaun ; Lankhorst, Matthias ; Lermusiaux, Pierre F. J. ; Lizaran, Irene ; Mirabito, Chris ; Miralles, A. ; Mourre, Baptiste ; Navarro, Gabriel ; Ohmart, Michael ; Ouala, Said ; Ozgokmen, Tamay M. ; Pascual, Ananda ; Pou, Joan Mateu Horrach ; Poulain, Pierre Marie ; Ren, Alice ; Tarry, Daniel R. ; Rudnick, Daniel L. ; Rubio, M. ; Ruiz, Simon ; Rypina, Irina I. ; Tintoré, Joaquín ; Send, Uwe ; Shcherbina, Andrey Y. ; Torner, Marc ; Salvador-Vieira, Guilherme ; Wirth, Nikolaus ; Zarokanellos, Nikolaos
    This cruise aimed to identify transport pathways from the surface into the interior ocean during the late winter in the Alborán sea between the Strait of Gibraltar (5°40’W) and the prime meridian. Theory and previous observations indicated that these pathways likely originated at strong fronts, such as the one that separates salty Mediterranean water and the fresher water in owing from the Atlantic. Our goal was to map such pathways and quantify their transport. Since the outcropping isopycnals at the front extend to the deepest depths during the late winter, we planned the cruise at the end of the Spring, prior to the onset of thermal stratification of the surface mixed layer.