HEAT BUDGET OF A WATER COLUMN. AUTUMN-NORTH ATLANTIC OCEAN
Abstract
The autumn heat budget of an ocean water column over a short time interval was re-examined on the basis of detailed meteorological and oceanographic data. The test station was located at lat, 52 deg 45' N. and and long. 35 deg 30' W. in the North Atlantic Ocean. The study included all appreciable thermal change in the water column with time to a depth of about 200 m. The interval between observed thermal structures was 7 days. Five-day moving average traces were used to provide curves having conservative characteristics by eliminating apparently random fluctuations during short time intervals. The effects of known physical processes which could be evaluated were summed for each week. The residual explained heat change was evaluated by comparing the difference between the actual observed heat change and the amount explained by known physical processes. This residual represents the effects of all unevaluated physical processes, accelerations, the summed error in all evaluations, and the effects which enter from the nature for the computing process. The unexplained residual change is of a form which suggests it includes effects of horizontal advection. A superposition of successive weekly bathythermograph traces indicates that the variation trend in the area between them is related to the explained amount of thermal change in the column. The heat gain of the column for the 1948 autumn almost equaled the heat loss, but such a balance was not attained in either 1947 or 1949.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Aug 01, 1953
- Accession Number
- AD0016159
Entities
People
- Glenn H. Jung
- Robert A. Gilcrest
Organizations
- Texas A&M University