Improving Latent and Sensible Heat Flux Estimates for the Atlantic Ocean (1988–99) by a Synthesis Approach*

Abstract

A new daily latent and sensible flux product developed at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) with 1 1 resolution for the Atlantic Ocean (65S-65N) for the period from 1988 to 1999 was presented. The flux product was developed by using a variational objective analysis approach to obtain best estimates of the flux-related basic surface meteorological variables (e.g., wind speed, air humidity, air temperature, and sea surface temperature) through synthesizing satellite data and outputs of numerical weather prediction (NWP) models at the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) and the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF). The state-of-the-art bulk flux algorithm 2.6a, developed from the field experiments of the Coupled Ocean-Atmosphere Response Experiment (COARE), was applied to compute the flux fields.