Global estimation of the heat and fresh water fluxes and oceanic transport from satellite data
- Univ. of California, Santa Barbara, CA (United States)
The exchange of moisture and energy across the air-sea interface exerts a strong influence on atmospheric and oceanic circulations. The knowledge of the annual and interannual variability of the heat and moisture fluxes over large expanses of the global oceans, and particularly the southern oceans, is rather limited because of the lack of available in-situ measurements. Satellite observations represent the only way to achieve the adequate coverage in time and space necessary to fully characterize that variability. These fields are also important in validating climate models used to predict the long-term evolution of the earth planet. The authors have developed methods for estimating the surface solar radiation flux and the latent heat flux over the global oceans based on multi-sensor satellite observations and computed these fluxes for two seven year periods, 1984--1990 and 1988--1994, respectively. The longwave radiation and sensible heat flux have been estimated from Bulk Formulae applied to COADS data. Precipitation has been obtained from Spencer. These fluxes have been used to estimate the net surface heat and fresh water flux at the ocean`s surface. By integrating these fluxes zonally the authors have calculated the meridional heat and freshwater transport for the three oceans: Pacific, Atlantic and Indian, for a 6 year period (1988 to 1993). All the fields thus produced have been evaluated by comparisons with climatologies and other existing data sets (COADS). Results from these comparisons will be presented.
- OSTI ID:
- 471047
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-960420-; ISBN 0-884736-02-5; TRN: IM9722%%170
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: 7. global warming international conference and exposition, Vienna (Austria), 1-3 Apr 1996; Other Information: PBD: 1996; Related Information: Is Part Of The 7. global warming international conference and expo: Abstracts; PB: 154 p.
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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