Ocean-Atmosphere Water Flux and Evaporation

Definition

The ocean–atmosphere water exchange is the difference between evaporation and precipitation at the surface of the ocean. Evaporation is the turbulent transport of water vapor from ocean to the atmosphere. Precipitation is the return of water to the ocean from the atmosphere in the form of rain and snow.

Introduction

The equation of water conservation in the atmospheric column is

$$ \frac{{\partial W}}{{\partial t}}+ \cdot \boldsymbol{\Theta} =\mathbf{ E}-\mathbf{ P}=\mathbf{ F} $$

(1)

where

$$ \boldsymbol{\Theta} =\int\nolimits_0^{{{{\mathrm{ p}}_{\mathrm{ s}}}}} {\mathrm{ q}\mathbf{ u}\mathrm{ dp}} $$

(2)

is the moisture transport integrated over the depth of the atmosphere, and

$$ W=\frac{1}{g}\int\nolimits_0^{{{{\mathrm{ p}}_{\mathrm{ s}}}}} {\mathrm{ qdp}} $$

(3)

is the precipitable water or column-integrated water vapor. In these equations, p is the pressure, p_s is the pressure at the surface, and q and uare the specific humidity and wind vector at a certain level....