Upper-Ocean Heat and Salt Balances in the Western Equatorial Pacific in Response to the Intraseasonal Oscillation during TOGA COARE*

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
During the TOGA COARE Intensive Observing Period (IOP) from November 1992 through February 1993, temperature, salinity, and velocity profiles were repeatedly obtained within a 130 km × 130 km region near the center of the Intensive Flux Array (IFA) in the western equatorial Pacific warm pool. Together with high quality measurements of air–sea heat flux, rain rate, upper-ocean microstructure, and penetrating solar radiation, they make up a unique dataset for upper-ocean heat and freshwater budget studies. Three survey cruises sampled different phases of the Intraseasonal Oscillation (ISO) during the IOP. Temporal evolution and advective terms in the heat and salt balance equations, on timescales of 3 days and longer, are estimated using the survey data. The upper-ocean (0–50 m) heat and salt budgets at the center of the IFA were estimated and are closed to within 10 W m−2 of observed air–sea heat fluxes and to within approximately 20% of observed rain rates during each of the three cruises. Genera... Abstract During the TOGA COARE Intensive Observing Period (IOP) from November 1992 through February 1993, temperature, salinity, and velocity profiles were repeatedly obtained within a 130 km × 130 km region near the center of the Intensive Flux Array (IFA) in the western equatorial Pacific warm pool. Together with high quality measurements of air–sea heat flux, rain rate, upper-ocean microstructure, and penetrating solar radiation, they make up a unique dataset for upper-ocean heat and freshwater budget studies. Three survey cruises sampled different phases of the Intraseasonal Oscillation (ISO) during the IOP. Temporal evolution and advective terms in the heat and salt balance equations, on timescales of 3 days and longer, are estimated using the survey data. The upper-ocean (0–50 m) heat and salt budgets at the center of the IFA were estimated and are closed to within 10 W m−2 of observed air–sea heat fluxes and to within approximately 20% of observed rain rates during each of the three cruises. Genera...

This publication has 0 references indexed in Scilit: