NASA Logo

NTRS

NTRS - NASA Technical Reports Server

Back to Results
Satellite-Based Surface Heat Budgets and Sea Surface Temperature Tendency in the Tropical Eastern Indian and Western Pacific Oceans for the 1997/98 El Nino and 1998/99 La NinaThe 1997/98 is a strong El Nino warm event, while the 1998/99 is a moderate La Nina cold event. We have investigated surface heat budgets and sea surface temperature (SST) tendency for these two events in the tropical western Pacific and eastern Indian Oceans using satellite-retrieved surface radiative and turbulent fluxes. The radiative fluxes are taken from the Goddard Satellite-retrieved Surface Radiation Budget (GSSRB), derived from radiance measurements of the Japanese Geostationary Meteorological Satellite 5. The GSSRB covers the domain 40 deg S - 4 deg N, 90 deg E-17 deg W and a period from October 1997 to December 2000. The spatial resolution is 0.5 deg x 0.5 deg lat-long and the temporal resolution is 1 day. The turbulent fluxes are taken from Version 2 of the Goddard Satellite-based Surface Turbulent Fluxes (GSSTF-2). The GSSTF-2 has a spatial resolution of 1 deg x 1 deg lat-long over global Oceans and a temporal resolution of 1 day covering the period July 1987-December 2000. Daily turbulent fluxes are derived from the S S M (Special Sensor Microwave/Imager) surface wind and surface air humidity, and the SST and 2-m air temperature of the NCEP/NCAR reanalysis, using a stability-dependent bulk flux algorithm. The changes of surface heat budgets, SST and tendency, cloudiness, wind speed, and zonal wind stress of the 1997/98 El Nino relative to the1998/99 La Nina for the northern winter and spring seasons are analyzed. The relative changes of surface heat budgets and SST tendency of the two events are quite different between the tropical eastern Indian and western Pacific Oceans. For the tropical western Pacific, reduced solar heating (more clouds) is generally associated with decreased evaporative cooling (weaker winds), and vise versa. The changes in evaporative cooling over-compensate that of solar heating and dominate the spatial variability of the changes in net surface heating. Both solar heating and evaporative cooling offset each other to reduce interannual variability of net surface heating. In addition, the area of increased SST tendency is larger than that of increased net surface heating, due to less solar radiation penetration through the bottom of deeper ocean mixed layer (stronger winds). For the tropical eastern Indian Ocean, enhanced solar heating (less clouds) is generally associated with reduced evaporative cooling (weaker winds). Both solar heating and evaporative cooling reinforce each other to increase interannual variability of net surface heating. In addition, the area of increased SST tendency is smaller than that of increased net surface heating in the southern domain. The relative changes in wind and zonal wind stress indicate more solar radiation penetration through the ocean mixed layer and more northward heat transport by Ocean current from the south to the north Indian Ocean for the El Nino than for the La Nina.
Document ID
20040013501
Acquisition Source
Goddard Space Flight Center
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Chou, Shu-Hsien
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Chou, Ming-Dah
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Chan, Pui-King
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Lin, Po-Hsiung
(National Taiwan Univ. Taipei, Taiwan, Province of China)
Date Acquired
August 21, 2013
Publication Date
January 1, 2002
Subject Category
Meteorology And Climatology
Meeting Information
Meeting: 12th Conference on Satellite Meteorology and Oceanography, 9-13 February, Long Beach, CA
Location: Long Beach, CA
Country: United States
Start Date: February 9, 2003
End Date: February 13, 2003
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other

Available Downloads

There are no available downloads for this record.
No Preview Available