An analysis of observed large air-sea temperature differences in tropical cyclones
- Bureau of Meteorology Research Centre, Melbourne (Australia)
At high wind speeds over the sea, the lower part of the atmospheric boundary layer becomes filled with spray. In recent years, much attention has been devoted to the question of whether the evaporation from these droplets contributes significantly to the total sea-air evaporative flux under such conditions. Direct observations of turbulent fluxes of heat, moisture and momentum over the sea at moderately high wind speeds were taken during HEXOS Main Experiment (HEXMAX). (HEXOS is the Humidity Exchange Over the Sea program.) An analysis of these results shows that the neutral transfer coefficient is nearly constant with wind speed, up to about 18 m/s, albeit with considerable scatter about the mean. Here the author describes a preliminary investigation of the possible effects evaporation of sea spray could have on the vertical structure of the atmospheric boundary layer at high wind speeds. The remainder of the paper consists of a brief discussion of a radiosonde ascent launched from a ship during a tropical cyclone, a description of the turbulent closure model used to investigate the role of the various physical processes, followed by a discussion of the model results and their relationship to the observation.
- Sponsoring Organization:
- Office of Naval Research, Washington, DC (United States)
- OSTI ID:
- 467697
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-9409461-; TRN: IM9721%%125
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: 2. International conference on air-sea interaction and on meterology and oceanography of the coastal zone, Lisbon (Portugal), 22-27 Sep 1994; Other Information: PBD: [1994]; Related Information: Is Part Of Second international conference on air-sea interaction and on meteorology and oceanography of the coastal zone; PB: 343 p.
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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