Journal
ATMOSPHERE
Volume 10, Issue 9, Pages -Publisher
MDPI
DOI: 10.3390/atmos10090504
Keywords
Arabian Gulf; Red Sea; Persian Gulf; Merra 2; ERA 5; heat fluxes
Funding
- Research Sector at Kuwait University [ZS03/16]
- NSF [OCE-1435665]
Ask authors/readers for more resources
The air-sea heat fluxes in marginal seas and under extreme weather conditions constitute an essential source for energy transport and mixing dynamics. To reproduce these effects in numerical models, we need a better understanding of these fluxes. In response to this demand, we undertook a study to examine the surface heat fluxes in the Arabian Gulf (2013 to 2014) and Red Sea (2008 to 2010)-the two salty Indian Ocean marginal seas. We use high-quality buoy observations from offshore meteorological stations and data from two reanalysis products, the Modern-Era Retrospective analysis for Research and Applications version 2 (MERRA2) from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and ERA5, the fifth generation of the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) atmospheric reanalyses of global climate. Comparison of the reanalyses with the in situ-derived fluxes shows that both products underestimate the net heat fluxes in the Gulf and the Red Sea, with biases up to -45 W/m(2) in MERRA2. The reanalyses reproduce relatively well the seasonal variability in the two regions and the effects of wind events on air-sea fluxes. The results suggest that when forcing numerical models, ERA5 might provide a preferable dataset of surface heat fluxes for the Arabian Gulf while for the Red Sea the MERRA2 seems preferable.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available