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Pan et al. 2002
Pan, J., Yan, X., Zheng, Q. and Liu, W.T. (2002). Observation of western boundary current atmospheric convergence zones using scatterometer winds. Geophysical Research Letters 29: doi: 10.1029/2002GL015015. issn: 0094-8276.

A merged scatterometer wind data set from ERS-1/2, NSCAT, and QuikSCAT missions was used to observe the atmospheric convergence zones (ACZs) caused by the western boundary currents, the Gulf Stream and Kuroshio. The long-term means of the atmospheric convergence show the ACZs' spatial features, which are related to the precipitation patterns in these regions. Seasonal images of the ACZs were produced to show annual cycles of the ACZs, indicating that the intensities of the ACZs over these two regions strengthen in winter and weaken in summer. Furthermore, we calculated the total convergence over the Gulf Stream and Kuroshio ACZs, which is defined as the integral of the convergence over the ACZs. The interannual variability of the total convergence was extracted by using a multi-stage filter, revealing that in response to strong El Ni¿o events in 1991--92 and 1997--98, the total convergence reached maxima.

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Abstract

Keywords
Exploration Geophysics, Remote sensing, Atmospheric Composition and Structure, Air/sea constituent fluxes (3339, 4504)
Journal
Geophysical Research Letters
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Publisher
American Geophysical Union
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