Thursday, September 13, 2018

Stealth sea surface temperatures

~Although the record high surface water temperatures may appear currently smallish
~Their influence is somehow reflected in larger area of surface air temperatures

    OK it was a long day,  so you think of having a drink of water,  but it is warm,  no problems,  add some ice and almost instant cold settles.  But the instant reading of water near surface is colder than mid to bottom, the ice hasn't had time to absorb all the heat available.  Eventually the ice melts,  and its good and refreshing to drink.  This is pretty much what is happening over the Arctic Ocean,  except remainder sea ice is a tad salty,  if all melted  less so than sea water,  so the fresher water melt settles on top, in fact density of sea water at 0 C is heavier than just melted sea ice, even sea water at 4 C would be denser than  a fresh melt at about  0 C,  how do we measure the real temperature of the sea water when such a situation exists?     Is a good question,  perhaps shall we judge it by melting sea ice action? 


   North of East Siberian Sea,  August 30,  September 13 loop,  a fair bit of melting has occurred while the sst was near 0 C next to the ice,   but very warm 3 to 4 degrees C not very further away. 



   NCEP September 9 very warm SST zones are somehow amplified as much larger surface air areas.   Scattered sea ice mixed with open water temperatures are more near or below  0 C.   Are the very warm salty sst's lurking under the fresher melt waters?   WD September 13, 2018

No comments:

Post a Comment