METEOROLOGICAL VARIABILITY AND AIR-SEA FLUXES AT A CLOSELY SPACED ARRAY OF SURFACE MOORINGS

Data from an array of five surface moorings, deployed in a region of t ransient ocean fronts with separations of between 17 and 55 km, were u sed to document meteorological variability at an open ocean site and t o look for evidence of links between the surface meteorology and air-s ea fluxes and the gradients in sea surface temperatures. Averages over the array were also compared to historical and model-produced data. S patial variability in surface meteorology was observed infrequently, a nd much of that was associated with atmospheric fronts and periods of low winds. Air-sea fluxes computed using the bulk formulae included sp atial variability linked to the ocean, but spatial gradients in ocean surface velocities introduced a larger signal in the bulk formulae flu xes than did the gradients in sea surface temperature. The greatest di fferences between the observations and climatological data were seen i n relative humidity and sea surface temperature. The bulk estimate of net longwave radiation was the heat flux component most different from the climatology. Wind stress time series from numerical weather predi ction models were in best agreement with the observations at periods o f a few days and longer.