INFLUENCE OF THE NEAR-SURFACE WIND SPEED AND DIRECTION ON THE HEAT AND RADIATIVE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE OCEAN—ATMOSPHERE SYSTEM IN AREAS OF THE SUBPOLAR HYDROLOGICAL FRONT

A. G. Grankov and A. A. Milshin

The paper illustrates the role of the atmospheric horizontal heat and moisture transfer as a determining factor forming the heat and microwave radiative characteristics of the ocean and atmosphere in the area of the subpolar hydrological front of the North Atlantic. The study is based on the results of analysis of the NEWFOUEX-88 and ATLANTEX-90 vessel experiments combined with synchronous data of the microwave radiometric measurements from the F-08 meteorological satellite (the DMSP series). A correlation is found between the brightness temperature in cold waters of the subpolar hydrological front and the direction of heat transfer from opposite warm oceanic areas of the front. Such a correlation testifies to a potential possibility of using the satellite microwave radio¬metric data to estimate the influence of the heat and moisture transfer across the front on the intensity of the ocean—atmosphere heat interaction in the Newfoundland energy-active zone.