THE RADIATIONAL TEMPERATURE CHANGES OVER THE EASTERN NORTH PACIFIC OCEAN IN JULY 1949

Abstract

The net gain or loss of energy at 700 millibars over the eastern North Pacific Ocean due to the absorption and emission of radiation by water vapor was computed for nine days during a period when the subtropical anticyclone split in two and re-amalgamated. The maps of the distribution of the equivalent temperature change show organized patterns of maximum and minimum radiative cooling which changed from day to day with the changes in flow pattern. These patterns are shown to move regularly in response to the changes in the atmospheric structure, but not in such a simple fashion that they move with the winds or remain in the same relationship to the 700-mb contour pattern from day to day. The computed absorption of solar radiation corresponded to temperature rises of from 0.3 to l.0C; the long-wave radiational exchange corresponded to cooling from a few tenths to more than 2.5C. The net effect ranged from a slight warming to a cooling of more than 2.5C.