The Oceanic Heat Budget

Oceanography Physics
 By :

Anisa Nabila R.R. – 03311740000037

Geomatics Engineering Departement

Sepuluh Nopember Institute of Technology
2019
INTRODUCTION
 The Oceanic Heat Budget
“ Changes in heat stored in the upper layers of the ocean result from a local
imbalance between input and output of heat through the sea surface. The
flux of heat to deeper layers is usually much smaller than the flux through the
surface. Advection out of the area will be described later, and it too tends to
be small, provided the box covers a large enough area. Globally, the flux must
balance, otherwise the oceans as a whole would warm or cool.
So,
What is
“The Oceanic Heat Budget”?
The sum of the changes in heat fluxes into or out of a volume of water is the
heat budget.
 Why The Oceanic Heat Budget is
Important?
The transport of heat is not steady, and significant changes in heat transport,
particularly in the Atlantic, may have been important for the development of the
ice ages. For these reasons, oceanic heat budgets and transports are important for
understanding Earth’s climate and its short and long term variability.
How “The Oceanic Heat Budget” Happen
The sunlight reaching Earth
1/2  oceans and land
1/5  atmosphere
The heat stored by the ocean
Evaporation and infrared radiation 
atmosphere
Transported by current  ameliorate Earth’s
climate  development of ice age

“The oceanic heat budget consists of inputs and

outputs. "Input" identifies a process through
which the ocean gains heat, while "output"
represents a heat loss to the ocean. A complete
list of all inputs and outputs is as follows; +
indicates input or heat gain, - signifies output or
heat loss:
Primary inputs and outputs

• radiation from the sun (+)

• long-wave back radiation (-)
• direct heat transfer air/water (transfer of
sensible heat) (-; + when from air to water)
• evaporative heat transfer (-; + when
condensation; this situation occurs very
rarely, mainly during sea fog conditions)
• advective heat transfer (currents, vertical
convection, turbulence) (- or +); this effect
cancels on the global scale or in closed
basins
Secondary sources
• heat gain from chemical/biological
processes (+)
• heat gain from the earth's interior and
hydrothermal activity(+)
• heat gain from current friction (+)
• heat gain from radioactivity (+)”
- Alexandre Ganachaud, 2003
The major terms in the budget at
the sea surface are:
1. Insolation QSW, the flux of sunlight into the sea;
2. Net Infrared Radiation QLW, net flux of infrared radiation from the sea;
3. Sensible Heat Flux QS, the flux of heat through the surface due to conduction;
4. Latent Heat Flux QL, the flux of heat carried by evaporated water; and
5. Advection QV , heat carried by currents.
Heat Budget :
Conservation of heat requires:

QT = QSW + QLW + QS + QL + QV
 The resultant heat gain or loss QT [wm-2]
 Insolation QSW, the flux of sunlight into the sea
 Net Infrared Radiation QLW, net flux of infrared radiation from the sea
 Sensible Heat Flux QS, the flux of heat out of the sea due to conduction
 Latent Heat Flux QL, the flux of heat carried by evaporated water
 Advection QV, heat carried away by currents
• Change in energy
• DE = CpmDT
• Cp  4.0  103 J kg-1 0C-1

The Oceanic Heat Budget

The Oceanic Heat Budget (Cont.)

• Importance of the ocean

• During an annual cycle
• Cp(Rock)  800 J kg-1 0C-1  0.2Cp(water)
• Exchange heat depth
• Water: 100m
• Land: 1m
• Exchange heat mass
• Water: 1001000 = 100,000 kg
• Land: 13000 = 3,000 kg
• Typical change in temperature
• Water: 100C
• Land: 200C
• Ratio of seasonal heat storage: DE / DE  100
 Factors Influencing
“The Oceanic Heat Budget”
 Heat-Budget Terms
Factors Influencing Insolation Incoming solar radiation is primarily determined
by latitude, season, time of day, and cloudiness. The polar regions are
heated less than the tropics, areas in winter are heated less than the same area
in summer, areas in early morning are heated less than the same area at noon,
and cloudy days have less sun than sunny days.
The following factors are important:
1. The height of the sun above the horizon, which depends on latitude, season,
and time of day. Don’t forget, there is no insolation at night!
2. The length of day, which depends on latitude and season.
3. The cross-sectional area of the surface absorbing sunlight, which depends
on height of the sun above the horizon.
4. Attenuation, which depends on:
• Path length through the atmosphere, which varies as csc ϕ, where ϕ
is angle of the sun above the horizon.
• Clouds, which absorb and scatter radiation.
• Gas molecules which absorb radiation in some bands. H2O, O3, and
CO2 are all important.
• Aerosols which scatter and absorb radiation. Both volcanic and marine
aerosols are important.
• Dust, which scatters radiation, especially Saharan dust over the Atlantic.
5. Reflectivity of the surface, which depends on solar elevation angle and
roughness of sea surface.
Spectral Irradiance
Insolation (spectral irradiance) of sunlight at
top of the atmosphere and at the sea
surface on a clear day. The dashed line is the
best-fitting curve of blackbody radiation the
size and distance of the sun. The number of
standard atmospheric masses is designated
by m. Thus m = 2 is applicable for sunlight
when the sun is 30◦above the horizon.
(From Stewart, 1985).
 Heat Budget Terms
• QSW
• Factors influencing QSW
• qs = fn(latitude, season, time of day)
• Length of day = fn(latitude, season)
• The cross-sectional area
• The surface absorbing sunlight = fn(qs)
• Attenuation
• k = fn(clouds, path length, gas molecules, aerosol, dust)
• Reflectivity
• fn(qs, surface roughness)
• Fig 5.2: surface solar insolation
• Average annual range (Fig 5.3)
• 30 < QSW < 260 Wm-2
 Heat Budget Terms (Cont.)
• QLW
• Fig 5.4: Atmospheric transmittance
• Greenhouse effect
• Greenhouse gasses
• Factors influencing QLW
• The clarity of the atmospheric window
• fn(clouds thickness, cloud height, atmospheric water-vapor content)
• Changes in water vapor and clouds are more important than changes in Tsurface
• Water Temperature
• Ice and snow cover
• Average annual range
• -60 < QLW < -30 Wm-2
 Heat Budget Terms (Cont.)
• QL
• Factors influencing QL
• Vwind
• Relative humidity
• Average annual range
• -130 < QL < -10 Wm-2

• QS
• Factors influencing QS
• Vwind
• Air-sea temperature difference
• Average annual range
• -42 < QS < -2 Wm-2
Direct calculation of fluxes
• Gust-Probe Measurements of Turbulent Fluxes  the only
method
• Characteristics
• On low-flying aircraft or offshore platforms
• Usually at 30m height
• Need fast-response instruments
• Measure u, v, humidity, T
• Expensive
• Measurements  large space or longer time
• Only for calibration
• Calculation
• T = <ru'w'> = r<u'w'>  ru*2
• QS = Cp<rw't'> = rCp<w't'>
• QL = LE <w'q'>
Indirect calculation of fluxes: Bulk formulas
• Bulk formulas
• The observed correlations between fluxes and variables
• T = rCDU102
• QS = rCpCSU10 (ts - ta)
• QL = rLECLU10 (qs - qa)
• ta  thermometers on ships
• ts  thermometers on ships or AVHRR
• qa  relative humidity made from ships
• qs  ts (assuming saturated air on surface)
• CD, CS, CL  correlating gust-probe measurements with the variables in the bulk formulas
(Table 5.1: suggested values)
Indirect calculation of fluxes: Bulk formulas
(cont.)
• Calculations of each variable
• Wind stress and speed
• See chapter 4 in Oceanography Physics by Robert H. Stewart
• Sources of error
• Sampling error (insufficient measurements in time and space)
• CD
• Insolation
• QSW = S(1-A) – C
• S = 1365 W m-2
• A: albedo
• C: constant including absorption by ozone, other gasses and cloud droplets
• Sources of error
• Angular distribution of sunlight reflected from clouds and surface
• Daily variability of QSW
Indirect calculation of fluxes: Bulk formulas
(cont.)
• Calculations of each variable (cont.)
• Rainfall (water flux)
• Difficulties of ship measurements
• Rain falls horizontally and its path is distorted by the ship’s superstructure
• Most rain at sea is drizzle  difficult to detect or measure
• TRMM (Tropical rain measurement mission)
• Infrared observations  height of cloud tops
• Microwave radiometer
• Re-analyses of the output from numerical weather forecast models
• Ship observations
• Combinations
• Sources of error
• Rain rate  cumulative rain fall (Sampling error)
• Miss storm
Indirect calculation of fluxes: Bulk formulas
(cont.)
• Calculations of each variable (cont.)
• Net long-wave radiation
• F = <e> (Fd –ST4)
• <e> : average emissivity of the surface
• Fd : downward flux (from satellite, microwave radiometer data or numerical models)
• S : Stefan-Boltzmann constant
• F tends to be constant over space and time  not necessary to improve
• Latent heat flux
• QL = rLECLU10 (qs - qa)
• Difficult to measure from satellite (not sensitive to qs)
• Two indirect ways to use satellite measurements
• Monthly averages of surface humidity  water vapor in the air column
• SST from AVHRR + water vapor and wind from SSM/I
Indirect calculation of fluxes: Bulk formulas
(cont.)
• Calculations of each variable (cont.)
• Sensible heat flux
• Ship observations of air-sea temperature difference and wind speed
• Numerical models output
• Almost small everywhere
Bathymetric Surveys and Oceanic Heat Budget
Bathymetric Surveys
Bathymetric surveys allow us to measure
the depth of a water body as well as map
the underwater features of a water
body. Multiple methods can be used for
bathymetric surveys including multi-beam
and single-beam surveys, ADCPs, sub-
bottom profilers, and the Ecomapper
Autonomous Underwater Vehicle. We use
bathymetric surveys for many different
types of research including flood
inundation, contour of streams and
reservoirs, leakage, scour and stabilization,
water-quality studies, dam removal,
biological and spill, and storage and fill in
reservoirs and ponds. (USGS)
• A key result of the hydrographic surveys/bathymetric surveys is the
need for a coherent combination of atmosphere (temperature and
winds) and ocean observations (temperature and salinity)
Thank You
Sources :
• Physical
oceanography. Dr.
Cheng-Chien Liu.
Department of Earth
Sciences National
Cheng Kung
University. 2003
• Oceanography
Physics. Robert H.
Stewart