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The OSSA project will be based on interactions with users through:

  •  surveys of the requirements and an assessment of the availability
  • quality of EO and in situ data and models

 Together these are used to develop the technical specification which defne and describe the further project activities. A suitable data base will be collected for use in the OSSA project for development and validation of:

  • the Sea-Spray Source Function (SSSF)
  • it's application to estimate radiative effects

 The intention is to make this data base publicly available. Relations will be sought of properties of

  • sea spray aerosol concentrations
  • chemical and microphysical properties with ambient parameters

to explore possible dependencies and correlations which can be used in the formulation of a parameterization which in turn can be implemented in a chemical transport model (CTM) or global or regional climate model to evaluate radiative effects of SSA aerosol. OSSA will use the GCM ECHAM5-HAM to evaluate the new SSSF and demonstrate it's use for the calculation of direct and indirect radiative effects of SSA.

The programme of work consists of three parts.

1- LITERATURE STUDY and a user consultation to prepare the requirements for the technical specification. The data needed in the project need to be specified and to be collected

2- DEVELOPMENT OF SATELLITE-BASED SEA SPRAY source function and application to estimation of direct and indirect radiative effects on climate to build the Sea-Spray Source Function (SSSF) (based EO data, in situ data and auxiliary data, metadata). Part of the data set will be used to drive relations between SSA fluxes and ambient parameters, preferably those that can be obtained from satellite observations. In some cases (e.g. chlorophyll) satellites may be the only way to get information on a global scale. The resulting SSSF will be evaluated with another part of the data base set aside for this purpose and not used for building the parameterization. Once validated, the parameterization will be implemented in a GCM (Global Climate Model) and SSA (Sea-Spray Aerosol) burden calculated with the GCM will be validated to assess the working of the source function. After satisfactory validation direct and indirect effects of SSA will be calculated and analyzed.

3- DISCUSSION OF THE RESULTS i.e. the direct outcomes of the project as regards the development of an SSSF and the effects of SSA evaluated by the it's use in a GCM as well as the use of satellites for such studies. A main vehicle for these discussions is the SSA workshop organized by OSSA toward the end of the project and a major outcome is the scientific roadmap indicating the open issues for future research and possible operational use.

An overarching task is to increase awareness of the use of satellites for scientific studies and to communicate the results of OSSA to the scientific community and the general public.

The OSSA project will be based on interactions with users through:
surveys of the requirements and an assessment of the availability
quality of EO and in situ data and models

Together these are used to develop the technical specification which defne and describe the further project activities. A suitable data base will be collected for use in the OSSA project for development and validation of:
the Sea-Spray Source Function (SSSF)
it’s application to estimate radiative effects

The intention is to make this data base publicly available. Relations will be sought of properties of
sea spray aerosol concentrations
chemical and microphysical properties with ambient parameters

to explore possible dependencies and correlations which can be used in the formulation of a parameterization which in turn can be implemented in a chemical transport model (CTM) or global or regional climate model to evaluate radiative effects of SSA aerosol. OSSA will use the GCM ECHAM5-HAM to evaluate the new SSSF and demonstrate it’s use for the calculation of direct and indirect radiative effects of SSA.

The programme of work consists of three parts.
1-  LITERATURE STUDY and a user consultation to prepare the requirements for the technical specification. The data needed in the project need to be specified and to be collected
2- DATA ANALYSIS to build the Sea-Spray Source Function (SSSF)  (based EO data, in situ data and auxiliary data, metadata). Part of the data set will be used to drive relations between SSA fluxes and ambient parameters, preferably those that can be obtained from satellite observations. In some cases (e.g. chlorophyll) satellites may be the only way to get information on a global scale. The resulting SSSF will be evaluated with another part of the data base set aside for this purpose and not used for building the parameterization. Once validated, the parameterization will be implemented in a GCM (Global Climate Model)  and SSA (Sea-Spray Aerosol) burden calculated with the GCM will be validated to assess the working of the source function. After satisfactory validation direct and indirect effects of SSA will be calculated and analyzed.
3- DISCUSSION OF THE RESULTS i.e. the direct outcomes of the project as regards the development of an SSSF and the effects of SSA evaluated by the it’s use in a GCM as well as the use of satellites for such studies. A main vehicle for these discussions is the SSA workshop organized by OSSA toward the end of the project and a major outcome is the scientific roadmap indicating the open issues for future research and possible operational use.

An overarching task is to increase awareness of the use of satellites for scientific studies and to communicate the results of OSSA to the scientific community and the general public.