Meteorological variability and air‐sea fluxes at a closely spaced array of surface moorings

Abstract

Data from an array of five surface moorings, deployed in a region of transient ocean fronts with separations of between 17 and 55 km, were used to document meteorological variability at an open ocean site and to look for evidence of links between the surface meteorology and air‐sea fluxes and the gradients in sea surface temperatures. Averages over the array were also compared to historical and model‐produced data. Spatial variability in surface meteorology was observed infrequently, and much ofthat was associated with atmospheric fronts and periods of low winds. Air‐sea fluxes computed using the bulk formulae included spatial variability linked to the ocean, but spatial gradients in ocean surface velocities introduced a larger signal in the bulk formulae fluxes than did the gradients in sea surface temperature. The greatest differences between the observations and climatological data were seen in relative humidity and sea surface temperature. The bulk estimate of net longwave radiation was the heat flux component most different from the climatology. Wind stress time series from numerical weather prediction models were in best agreement with the observations at periods of a few days and longer.