Analysis of the factors exciting the ocean–atmosphere heat interaction in the North Atlantic using satellite and vessel data

Abstract

This paper demonstrates some results of using passive microwave (MCW) radiometric methods for an analysis related to the processes of heat air–sea interaction at synoptic time scales in the Newfoundland energetically active zone (EAZ) of the North Atlantic, where the activity of the mid-latitude cyclones is very high. We started with the idea of using the resonance bands of natural MCW radiation absorption in the atmospheric water vapour (1.35 cm) and molecular oxygen (∼0.5 cm) as representative of the relationship between the brightness temperature (T b) measured from satellites and from surface heat fluxes. Transferable by cyclones, horizontal heat fluxes in the atmosphere boundary layer cause changes in both vertical surface heat fluxes and T b simultaneously; this is the reason for the close connection between them. This effect testifies to the important role of the atmosphere in its heat interaction with the ocean (as a physical entity) as well as its T b in the resonance MCW bands (as a quantitative indicator of interaction). These results were obtained by combining meteorological and aerological data from NEWFOUEX-88 and ATLANTEX-90 experiments with stimulated T bs using these data, and the results of MCW radiometric measurements from the Defense Meteorological Satellites Program (DMSP) satellite F-08.