Clouds, radiation, and the diurnal cycle of sea surface temperature in the tropical Western Pacific
- Univ. of Colorado, Boulder, CO (United States)
In the tropical Western Pacific (TWP) Ocean, the clouds and the cloud-radiation feedback can only be understood in the context of air/sea interactions and the ocean mixed layer. Considerable interest has been shown in attempting to explain why sea surface temperature (SST) rarely rises above 30{degrees}C, and gradients of the SST. For the most part, observational studies that address this issue have been conducted using monthly cloud and SST data, and the focus has been on intraseasonal and interannual time scales. For the unstable tropical atmosphere, using monthly averaged data misses a key feedback between clouds and SST that occurs on the cloud-SST coupling time scale, which was estimated to be 3-6 days for the unstable tropical atmosphere. This time scale is the time needed for a change in cloud properties, due to the change of ocean surface evaporation caused by SST variation, to feed back to the SST variation, to feed back to the SST through its effect on the surface heat flux. This paper addresses the relationship between clouds, surface radiation flux and SST of the TWP ocean over the diurnal cycle.
- Research Organization:
- USDOE Office of Energy Research, Washington, DC (United States). Environmental Sciences Div.
- OSTI ID:
- 263566
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-9503140-; ON: DE96010942; TRN: 96:003652-0071
- Resource Relation:
- Journal Volume: 9; Journal Issue: 8; Conference: 5. atmospheric radiation measurement (ARM) science team meeting, San Diego, CA (United States), 19-23 Mar 1995; Other Information: PBD: Apr 1996; Related Information: Is Part Of Proceedings of the fifth Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) science team meeting; PB: 421 p.
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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