REACT was a three-phase project facing the daunting challenges in climate science today by addressing significant limitations with current climate models. The goal of REACT was to demonstrate the value of assimilating observed oceanic and atmospheric data into a new generation of leading-edge models that would ultimately extend the breadth and depth of predictive capabilities and lead to more reliable projections.

This was a JRF-managed collaboration, as well as a unique public-private partnership which included researchers from Penn State University (PSU), ExxonMobil Research and Engineering Company (EMRE), Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI), and NOAA Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory (PMEL). A team of seven eminent climate scientists with different scientific interests and representing diverse organizations made up the REACT Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) that establishes the scientific objectives and guides the experimental design for the program. In addition, Schlumberger materially contributed to the REACT program.

REACT Collaborators
REACT Scientific Advisory Board

• Current fully coupled climate models have not used observed ocean data sets because appropriate oceanic data collection technology has only recently become available.
• Climate models today rely on physics-based representations of atmospheric, terrestrial, and oceanic states. The model components are tuned to reflect known historical averaged climate values. This approach does not allow experimental verification for the fully coupled physical models nor the resulting forecasts for daily to monthly timescales.
• Since more than 90% of the global heat increase since 1970 is due to ocean warming caused by greenhouse gasses, incorporating observed flux data in the climate models should certainly enable more accurate forecasts.
• While we know the direction of the CO₂ and warming trends, their accuracy, their variations, and their feedback effects are poorly understood. More accurate predictions are needed to quantify the prospective risks and opportunities, and to help stabilize overly politicized views of what lies ahead.
• The multi-disciplinary nature of REACT research required a high level of cooperation and collaboration. To that end, JRF assembled a unique group of highly experienced climate researchers across academia and industry to direct the scientific objectives of REACT.

REACT Phase I: Select and integrate CO₂ and other sensors capable of reliably acquiring accurate parametric data suitable for use in Phase ll tests.
Phase I sought to identify, test and integrate onto Wave Gliders a robust sensor suite to enable high-density sampling of the upper ocean and atmospheric boundary layer. Targeted parameters included partial pressure of carbon dioxide both in seawater and in air, oceanic temperature, salinity, and acidity in addition to wind speed and temperature. Beginning in early 2020, sea trials with four Wave Glider systems were providing the required data to allow the establishment of data integrity, reliability and suitability to task. Three different CO₂ sensors were evaluated along with a number of other sensors. Phase l was completed in 2021. EMRE and Jupiter funded this phase.

REACT Phase I Gallery

Note: REACT Phases II & III have not been funded or executed. The following detailed descriptions capture the substance of those two ambitious programs.

• Ocean regions between 1,000–10,000 sq km will be selected in coastal and blue water locations. The configured platforms will be deployed for months at a time collecting comprehensive high-resolution data to characterize these areas. The extent of the venue characterizations will be beyond anything currently available.
• Analysis of the data will likely yield patterns that suggest changes as to other required data and how it is obtained.
• Predictive models will be developed based on leading-edge research within our existing, and expanding collaborative work group. The complexity of these prospective models is not to be underestimated.
• There is mounting evidence that the emerging data-assimilative models used for short-term forecasting could be extended to address longer term horizons.
• The models will ingest the data and attempt projections of various parameters that will then be processed in an evolving adaptive, active feedback loop of predictions > evaluation > model modification > repeat. This kind of analysis will be run repeatedly with the goal of demonstrating improved forecasting capability over expanding time horizons.
• We will expand our use of observational data to derive empirical constants in a predictive model. Different regions and conditions can have fluxes influenced through dynamical and thermo-dynamical mechanisms. To improve the models, we need data to characterize these model equations and their constants.

REACT Phase lll: Persistent global-scale monitoring.
Phase III of the REACT program is contingent upon the successful outcomes of the prior two phases. Although the exact details are unknowable at this time, it is deemed likely that the unique high-resolution data set characterizing the upper ocean and atmospheric boundary layer in parts of the world’s oceans will not only lead to improved short- and medium-term weather/climate forecasting, but drive understanding of the oceanic carbon cycle and response to cumulative anthropogenic carbon emissions. The data set will inform and enable hierarchical modeling connecting the physical biogeochemical and biological components of the upper ocean to enhance global system models.

Phase III anticipates that potential scientific and commercial value will justify the deployment of a global-scale upper-ocean data collection system that will synergistically complement deep ocean monitoring efforts (such as SOCCOM) and evolving space-based observation systems. This would be a sizable undertaking, involving a large-scale collaborative effort between industrial, academic and governmental stakeholders.

SOCCOM

REACT could lead the way in helping define the trajectory for future research in ocean climate science.

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