MODIFICATION OF FRONTAL CIRCULATIONS BY SURFACE HEAT-FLUX

Based on Arnt Eliassen's papers on the transverse circulation al baroc linic zones, we study the influence of heat fluxes from the ocean. The paper first examines a particular weather situation over the Arctic O cean, where a front separates very cold air over the ice cover from wa rmer air over the open water. The paper aims at showing that an observ ed increase of the wind force might be caused by the intense healing o f the cold air over the water. For this purpose, we devise an analytic al solution of the Eliassen equation. The fortunate location of the fr ont in relation to the observations permits a comparison between the o bserved wind and the wind estimated from the equation. It is suggested that many tragic shipwrecks along the border of the ice may be explai ned in this way.