5. 2 Western Pacific Cases 



Due to the difficulty in finding sufficient cloud-free cases in the high temperature 

 gradient areas of the North Atlantic (due especially to the lack of reduced "real time" 

 data as discussed in Section 3. 2. 3), it was decided to investigate the relatively 

 cloud-free areas of the Western and mid-Pacific. It was hoped that parts of the 

 Kuroshio or North Pacific Currents could be observed. Three cases were selected 

 for the Western Pacific, and one for the mid-Pacific. Of these four, the mid-Pacific 

 case and one of the Western Pacific cases could not be properly analyzed due to 

 problems associated with near closed-mode conditions. The remaining two cases 

 will be discussed separately: 



5. 2. 1 Kuroshio Current Case 



The data for this case -were run in both the listing and the mapping format. 

 The mapping was done at a scale of 1:2, 500, 000, but the data proved to be much 

 too noisy for adequate analysis on this scale (adjacent data points at an approximate 

 20 n. mi separation differed by as much as 20 K). Presumably much of the apparent 

 noise may be attributed to errors in geographical locations due to the near closed- 

 mode conditions. It was decided to hand average the uncorrected data over 1 

 squares, and to consider abrupt changes in the Channel 5 values as outlining the 

 cloudy areas. (Listings in the albedo format were not available at the time these 

 analyses were prepared. ) Since the area was partly cloudy, the nephanalyses were 

 insufficient for precise determination of clear areas. 



The analysis is shown in Figure 5-3. The data are from Pass 779 of TIROS VII, 

 on 1 1 August 1963 at approximately 0238Z . In addition to the problem of the Channel 2 

 noise, there was occasionally conflicting information as to the cloudiness of an area 

 where individual swaths of the Channel 5 data overlapped each other. As a precaution, 

 all areas indicated as cloudy on any swath were eliminated from the analysis. The 

 resulting cloud pattern, as shown in Figure 5-3 is remarkably similar to that of 



Q 



the nephanalysis from a concurrent TV pass; the nephanalysis showed a series of 

 narrow cloud bands extending westward across a mostly clear area from a larger 

 cloud system. 



The gross outlines of the warm Kuroshio current can be seen to the southeast 

 of Japan, although detailed structure was lost in the averaging process. The usual 

 north- south temperature gradient in this region for the month of August is from 



21 



