Air-sea interaction throughout the troposphere over a very high sea surface temperature phenomenon

Abstract

A large region of very high sea surface temperature (SST, >30C) was maintained for more than 10 days in the tropical western Pacific. This study examined how this "hot event" (HE), observed in November 2006 (HE0611), was generated by air-sea interaction throughout the whole troposphere. Cloud motion wind and cloud cover data obtained from geostationary satellite measurements showed deep convective systems with divergent air flows in the eastern part of HE0611 (-East). High-level convergence was derived from cloud motion winds over the western part of HE0611 (-West), where the SST rapidly increased up to 30C. Cloud-free conditions with convergent flow were considered to be related to the deep convection over HE0611-East. These interactions through the whole troposphere over HE0611 may have been a true appearance of "remote convection," which has been suggested as a mechanism of very high SST generation in tropical oceans. Copyright 2010 by the American Geophysical Union.