Heat budget of the central American seas
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Abstract
The oceanic heat budget of the Gulf of Mexico, Gulf Stream region, Caribbean Sea, and Eastern North Pacific is calculated on the basis of ship observations during 1911-70. Net radiation largely follows the pattern of cloudiness, apart from its latitudinal dependence. Latent and sensible heat flux is largest in the Gulf Stream domain during winter, when sea-air temperature contrasts are most pronounced; smallest values are found in the cold water regions along the North Coast of South America. For the year as a whole, the ocean imports heat at the rate of 24, 43 and 3 W m-2 in the Gulf of Mexico, Gulf Stream region, and Caribbean Sea, respectively, but exports 13 W m-2 from the Eastern North Pacific.
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