Turbulent flux of heat and water vapor from the ocean

Observations from the weather ship station M (66°N, 2°E) are used in this study. For each month of the 19-year period 1948–1967 the data are divided into 18 groups according to the wind direction. For each wind speed interval we calculate the mean value of the difference between the sea surface temperature and the surface air temperature, and the difference between the saturation water vapor pressure for the sea surface temperature and the water vapor pressure in the surface air. We find that these differences are independent of the wind speed. These observational facts are shown to be in agreement with the classical turbulence theory, which includes the use of wind-speed independent transfer coefficients for heat and water vapor.

Also a differential equation is derived from which we may calculate the surface temperature of an air column when the temperature profile of the initial air mass and the sea surface temperature along the surface trajectory of the air column are known.