Remotely driven anomalous sea-air heat flux over the north Indian Ocean during the summer monsoon season

Abstract

The atmosphere typically receives heat from the open tropical ocean; an exception is the western and central Arabian Sea during the summer monsoon season. This article analyzes in situ observations from buoys and ships and examines mechanisms responsible for the reverse sea-air interfacial heat flux that have yet to be addressed. Key factors are the horizontal advection of heat and the heat flux derived via mixing and entrainment of air from above the atmospheric mixed layer in a Richardson number regime where shear-driven mixing would not normally be expected. This study invites a fresh look at the physics of entrainment and mixing in the atmospheric boundary layer. The reverse heat flux observations offer an opportunity to test the efficacy of physics encapsulated in boundary layer parameterization schemes for coupled models.