Monthly Heat Budget Calculations for the Eastern North Pacific Ocean Using Synoptic-Scale Data.
Abstract
A heat budget was calculated for the upper 250 m of the eastern North Pacific Ocean using data from Fleet Numerical Weather Central. The motivation for the study is the proposed ocean basin application of mixed-layer models. The heat budget calculation indirectly determined the magnitude of subsurface physical processes by comparing the monthly change in heat storage with the net air-sea heat flux. The heat storage values were derived from subsurface thermal structure data and compared to two different computations of heat flux data. In certain areas physical processes, as found by Bathen (1971), are two to three times greater than the heat flux. However, in the mean the values are of the same magnitude as the heat flux. Investigation of the heat storage term of the heat budget equation indicates that larger values of the residual term may be due to computational error. Present mixed-layer models which rely solely on the heat flux to balance heat storage changes must be modified to include physical processes for application to ocean basins. (Author)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jun 01, 1975
- Accession Number
- ADA012454
Entities
People
- Robert Timothy Schnoor
- Russell L. Elsberry
Organizations
- Naval Postgraduate School