Anomalous Sea Surface Temperatures and Local Air–Sea Energy Exchange on Intraannual Timescales in the Northeastern Subtropical Pacific*

Abstract

Abstract Here 11 years of surface data (1961–72, excluding 1963) taken at ocean weather ship N (OWS N) are analyzed. OWS N is located in the subtropical eastern Pacific Ocean (140°W, 30°N). Bulk formulas are employed to calculate each component of the surface heat flux (sensible, latent, longwave, and shortwave) from the 3-h measurements of sea surface temperature (SST), air temperature, surface humidity, wind speed, and cloudiness. Analyses are performed on fluxes averaged over daily and monthly intervals. Results indicate a large fraction of the variance in net surface energy flux is associated with anomalies in the latent heat flux; the latter are principally due to variability in the surface wind speed. Cross correlation and regression analyses of monthly anomalies of SST and SST tendency (∂SST/∂t) with the surface heat flux components indicate over 50% of the variance in SST-tendency anomalies is accounted for by local anomalies in the net surface energy flux. In the summer, the summed variance in th...