Abstract
We analyze approximately four years of heat-flux measurements at two levels, profiles of air temperature, and multiple measurements of the water temperature collected at a coastal zone site. Our analysis considers underestimation of the sea surface flux resulting from vertical divergence of the heat flux between the surface and the lowest flux level. We examine simple relationships of the heat flux to the wind speed and stratification and the potential influence of fetch and temperature advection. The fetch ranges from about 4 to near 400 km. For a given wind-direction sector, the transfer coefficient varies only slowly with increasing instability but decreases significantly with increasing stability. The intention here is not to recommend a new parameterization but rather to establish relationships that underlie the bulk formula that could lead to assessments of uncertainty and improvement of the bulk formula.
Significance Statement
The behavior of surface heat fluxes in the coastal zone is normally more complex than over the open ocean but has a large impact on human activity. Our study examines extensive flux measurements on a tower in the Baltic Sea that allows partitioning of the fluxes according to wind direction without seriously depleting the data for a given wind-direction sector. Because some of the normal assumptions for the usual parameterization are not met, our study examines relationships behind the parameterization of the surface fluxes.
© 2022 American Meteorological Society. For information regarding reuse of this content and general copyright information, consult the AMS Copyright Policy (www.ametsoc.org/PUBSReuseLicenses).
