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Air‐sea interaction throughout the troposphere over a very high sea surface temperature phenomenon
Author(s) -
Qin Huiling,
Kawamura Hiroshi
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2009gl041685
Subject(s) - troposphere , sea surface temperature , climatology , geostationary orbit , deep convection , convection , environmental science , cloud cover , atmospheric sciences , atmospheric convection , geology , satellite , meteorology , cloud computing , geography , physics , astronomy , computer science , operating system
A large region of very high sea surface temperature (SST, >30°C) was maintained for more than 10 days in the tropical western Pacific. This study examined how this “hot event” (HE), observed in November 2006 (HE0611), was generated by air‐sea interaction throughout the whole troposphere. Cloud motion wind and cloud cover data obtained from geostationary satellite measurements showed deep convective systems with divergent air flows in the eastern part of HE0611 (‐East). High‐level convergence was derived from cloud motion winds over the western part of HE0611 (‐West), where the SST rapidly increased up to 30°C. Cloud‐free conditions with convergent flow were considered to be related to the deep convection over HE0611‐East. These interactions through the whole troposphere over HE0611 may have been a true appearance of “remote convection,” which has been suggested as a mechanism of very high SST generation in tropical oceans.