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Journal of Tropical Oceanography ›› 2012, Vol. 31 ›› Issue (4): 49-57.doi: 10.11978/j.issn.1009-5470.2012.04.007 cstr: 32234.14.j.issn.1009-5470.2012.04.007

• Marine geomorphology • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Observational study on heat flux in the coastal zone of Pearl River mouth in spring 2006

MA Ying-sheng1,3, HUANG Fei1,2, HUANG Jian2, WANG Hong1   

  1. 1. Physical Oceanography Laboratory and Ocean-Atmospheric Interaction and Climate Laboratory, Ocean University of China, Qingdao 266100, China; 
    2. Joint Open Laboratory of Marine Meteorology (JOLMM), Institute of Tropical and Marine Meteorology, CMA, Guangzhou 510080, China; 
    3. Hydrometeorological Center of the South China Sea Navy, Zhanjiang, 524001, China
  • Received:2011-01-06 Revised:2011-04-22 Online:2012-10-22 Published:2012-10-24

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Abstract:

Based on the observed data at the mouth of the Pearl River from March to May in 2006 and eddy covariance measurements, the heat fluxes of the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL), including sensible heat flux (QH), latent heat flux (QLE), the sea surface net radiation (RN) and net heat flux (QN), are analyzed. Both QH and QLE increase from March to May, and they are much larger in May than in the two previous months. Data of different synoptic processes or time periods shows that QLE dominates the ABL heat flux exchange. Several “pulse” processes induced by incursions of cold surges with cold and dry air masses influence the heat flux greatly. During the observational period, about 16.5% of the total observational days encountered cold surges, while the heat fluxes in the cold surge days accounted for approximately 25.6% of the total heat flux variation, suggesting that the incursions of cold surges had significant impacts on the ABL heat flux. Monthly average data of RN and QN reveals that both of them increase by a large margin from March to April, and RN also increases from April to May; but at the same time QN decreases, which indicates that the heat flux stored in the ocean in April is the largest. During the average diurnal cycle, the latent heat flux, with a maximum at 15:00 in the afternoon, is always positive. However, the sensible heat flux is positive during the daytime but negative during many hours at night, reaching its peak at about 9:00 in the morning. RN and QN vary at the same time. Both of them are positive during the day, and RN is bigger than QN; at night, both of them are negative, and the absolute value of QN is a little bigger than RN. The difference between RN and QN in May is much greater than in March and April, because the exchange capacity of heat flux has been reinforced in May, which makes the ocean release much more potential energy.

Key words: eddy covariance, coast zone of the Pearl River mouth, heat flux, sea surface net radiation

CLC Number: 

  • P732