SEASONAL VARIABILITY OF LATENT-HEAT FLUXES OVER THE TROPICAL INDIAN-OCEAN USING SSM I AND NOAA AVHRR SATELLITE DATA DURING 1988/

The monthly mean latent heat fluxes using Special Sensor Microwave Ima ger (SSM/I) and Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) data over the Indian Ocean have been estimated using a bulk parameterizatio n technique for the year 1988. Liu's (1986) global relation between mo nthly mean precipitable water and surface-level humidity has been appl ied to estimate surface-level humidity from satellite-derived precipit able water in this work. The month-to-month variation in latent heat f luxes have been studied along with oceanic and atmospheric parameters. The latent heat flux values were found to be higher over the Arabian Sea than those over the Bay of Bengal in the pre-monsoon and monsoon m onths, and almost the same or less for the other months. The latent he at flux values over the Indian Ocean varies from 100 W m-2 in August n ear the Somali coast to 400 W m-2 in June. The latent heat flux associ ated with tropical systems are extremely high.