Thermal Communication Between the Sea Surface and the Lower Troposphere

Abstract

Seasonal mean sea surface temperatures and 1000–700 mb thicknesses are correlated by pattern and also for 5° squares over the eastern North Pacific in order to find out more about bulk heat exchange between ocean and atmosphere. The results bring out the importance of static stability as a primary variable in heat exchange—the stability being varied by air mass modifications associated with advection, by cyclonic and frontal lifting, and by heating or cooling of the mean surface. Geographical and temporal effects are described against this background.