Application of new Q-W relation to study latent heat fluxes over Indian Ocean using SEASAT-SMMR data

Abstract

The MONEX-79 ship observations have been used to compute latent heat fluxes (called direct method) over the Indian Ocean region. Latent heat fluxes have also been calculated using the above mentioned ship observations except the direct measured values of surface level humidity (called indirect method) which have been derived using the relation proposed by Gautam et at [Bound-Layer Meteorol (Netherlands), 60 (1992) 179]. The correlation coefficient between latent heat fluxes obtained by these two methods is 0.9, suggesting that this Q-W relation can be used for latent heat flux computations. This methodology has also been extended to Seasat-SMMR data. Using the same data set, the latent heat nux variabilities for deep depression and normal cases over the Bay of Bengal have been studied to bring out the finer details of the ocean-atmosphere interaction process at the boundary layer. This study demonstrates the application of satellite data for the estimation of heat fluxes on instantaneous basis for operational purposes in numerical models.