Eddy Thermal Conductivity in the Upper 12 m of the Tropical Atlantic

Abstract

Continuous temperature measurements at four levels between the surface and a depth of 12 m during 11–21 February 1969 were used to derive the depth variation of the diurnal temperature change. The Austausch coefficients were then computed from thermal conductivity theory. They show a striking correlation with wind speed, increasing by almost an order of magnitude if the wind speed increases by 1 m see−1. Mean amplitudes and phases of the diurnal temperature waves obtained by combining the measurements of 11 days result in an Austausch coefficient of 420 gm cm−1 sec−1.