The Measurement of Air-Sea Fluxes
Abstract
This project involves the investigation of an indirect method of inferring surface fluxes of momentum, sensible heat and latent heat over the ocean. The work includes participation in the Humidity Exchange Over the Sea (HEXOS) program, a multinational project involving a series of field measurements and theoretical development. The air-sea fluxes are important physical processes which must be parameterized in climate, synoptic, mesoscale, and boundary layer and oceanic numerical models. Because of the increasing contribution of sea spray and whitecap-produced water droplets, it has been suggested that the humidity and heat exchange is strongly nonlinear in wind speed. Thus, it is believed that high wind speed conditions, though brief in duration, may contribute a disproportionate amount to the air-sea budgets. This has a profound influence on local boundary layer structure and intensification of storms by baroclinic instability. It is important to realize that we have almost no hard data on air-sea fluxes over the open ocean (perhaps 20 numerical modelers for each real data point) and that estimates of the fluxes based on mean meteorological data and drag coefficients are totally unverified for winds greater than 12 m/s. We also have some very preliminary evidence that fluxes derived from the drag coefficient method can be in error by more than a factor of two under changing sea-state and wind conditions. (jhd)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Oct 09, 1990
- Accession Number
- ADA228511
Entities
People
- Christopher W. Fairall
- George S. Young
Organizations
- Pennsylvania State University