Surface heat and momentum fluxes in the Gulf of California

Abstract

Meteorological data gathered during eleven cruises in the Gulf of California (between October 1981 and December 1986) are used to calculate (on the basis of empirical formulae) surface heat and momentum fluxes. Their spatial and temporal distribution are studied. The available information is not enough to make a complete description of the fluxes, but a few general tendencies are found. The presence of a seasonal signal is evident and very Sharp spatial gradients are present. In the general heat balance, latent heat fluxes represent a very small part (7% of the short- wave radiation). This implies that the Gulf is not an evaporation basin and that in an annual cycle it must gain heat across the surface and, in order to be in balance, heat must be exported across the Gulfs mouth to the Pacific Ocean.