A simple quasi-equilibrium analytical model is used to explore hypotheses related to observed spatial correlations between sea surface temperatures and wind stress on horizontal scales of 50–500 km. It is argued that a plausible contributor to the observed correlations is the approximate linear relationship between the surface wind stress and...
Bulk aerodynamic formulas are applied to meteorological data from low-altitude aircraft flights to observational estimates of the subgrid enhancement of momentum, sensible heat, and latent heat the atmospheric–oceanic boundary in light wind, fair weather conditions during TOGA COARE Global Atmosphere Coupled Ocean–Atmosphere Response Experiment). Here, subgrid enhancement the contributions of...
The authors reconsider the problem of estimating the sensible heat transfer at the earth's surface from direct measurements of turbulent fluxes in the atmospheric boundary layer. For simplicity, only horizontally homogeneous conditions are considered for a thin atmospheric layer containing no liquid water, adjacent to the earth's ground surface. Applying...
Madden–Julian oscillation (MJO) wind and convection anomalies are locally amplified over the northeast Pacific warm pool during June–November. Composite analysis using NCEP reanalysis data indicates that perturbation available potential energy (PAPE) production through the positive correlation of intraseasonal temperature and convective diabatic heating anomalies supports the local intensification of MJO-related...
Intraseasonal precipitation variability over the northeast Pacific warm pool during June–October in the National Center for Atmospheric Research Community Atmosphere Model 2.0.1 with a relaxed Arakawa–Schubert convection parameterization is found to be strongly sensitive to wind-induced variations in surface latent heat flux. A control simulation with interactive surface fluxes produces...
The enhancement of monthly averaged evaporation by atmospheric mesoscale systems is estimated from long-term hourly observations of surface meteorological data from the Tropical Ocean Global Atmosphere (TOGA) Tropical Atmosphere Ocean (TAO) buoy moorings over the equatorial Pacific Ocean and a bulk aerodynamic flux algorithm developed as a result of the...
Tropical intraseasonal variability in the eastern North Pacific during June–September of 2000–03 is
analyzed using satellite and buoy observations. Quick Scatterometer ocean vector winds and the Tropical
Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) precipitation indicate that periods of anomalous surface westerly flow
over the east Pacific warm pool during a summertime intraseasonal...
Satellite measurements of surface wind stress from the QuikSCAT scatterometer and sea surface temperature (SST) from the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission Microwave Imager are analyzed for the three-month period 21 July–20 October 1999 to investigate ocean–atmosphere coupling in the eastern tropical Pacific. Oceanic tropical instability waves (TIWs) with periods of...
Boreal summer intraseasonal (30–90-day time scale) sea surface temperature (SST) variability in the east Pacific warm pool is examined using Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) Microwave Imager (TMI) sea surface temperatures during 1998–2005. Intraseasonal SST variance maximizes at two locations in the warm pool: in the vicinity of 9°N, 92°W...
Measurements of near-surface winds by the NASA scatterometer (NSCAT) from October 1996 through June 1997 are analyzed to investigate the three major wind jets along the Pacific coast of Central America that blow over the Gulfs of Tehuantepec, Papagayo, and Panama. Each jet is easily identifiable as locally intense offshore...