Abstract
The energy balance equation of an atmospheric column indicates that two approaches are possible to compute regional net surface energy flux. The first approach is to use the sum of surface energy flux components Fnet,c and the second approach is to use net top-of-atmosphere (TOA) irradiance and horizontal energy transport by the atmosphere Fnet,t. When regional net energy flux is averaged over the global ocean, Fnet,c and Fnet,t are, respectively, 16 and 2 Wm–2, both larger than the ocean heating rate derived from ocean temperature measurements. The difference is larger than the estimated uncertainty of Fnet,t of 11 Wm–2. Larger regional differences between Fnet,c and Fnet,t exist over tropical ocean. The seasonal variability of energy flux components averaged between 45°N and 45°S ocean reveals that the surface provides net energy to the atmosphere from May to July. These two examples demonstrates that the energy balance can be used to assess the quality of energy flux data products.
Highlights
Estimating the surface energy budget is one of the key components of understanding energy flow within the Earth system
The first method is to use all surface flux components and the resulting net surface flux is denoted by Fnet,c
The net surface energy flux averaged over global ocean is nearly equal to the ocean heating rate provided that the enthalpy transported by river runoff is negligible
Summary
Estimating the surface energy budget is one of the key components of understanding energy flow within the Earth system. These are enthalpy fluxes and depend on near surface and surface properties (e.g., Cronin et al, 2019) In addition to these enthalpy fluxes, the enthalpy is transferred through the atmosphereocean boundary when water is transported by precipitation and evaporation (Mayer et al, 2017; Trenberth and Fasullo, 2018; Kato et al, 2021). Fluxes at the surface include net surface irradiance Rsfc, sensible heat flux FSH and latent heat flux FLH, and enthalpy flux associated with precipitation Ffallout and evaporation Fv. The atmosphere can transport enthalpy, potential energy and kinetic energy through lateral boundaries. Horizontal transport of moist static energy and water vapor, as well as surface turbulent fluxes are derived from the ERA-Interim reanalysis data product (Dee et al, 2011). The time period used in this study is from January 2001 to December 2016
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