What Is Sea Surface Temperature?

Sea surface temperature, also known as sea temperature, is the water temperature on the surface of seawater. Usually expressed in ° C. Depends on the heat budget of seawater. Has obvious daily and seasonal changes. The daily minimum value usually appears at 4-8 hours, the highest value appears at 14-16 hours, and the highest temperature appears in summer (August to September). The geographical distribution of sea surface temperature changes is particularly significant. The average temperature varies between -1.7 and 30 ° C. The highest value occurs north of the equator and gradually decreases towards the poles. ^[1]

China

British scientists report in the latest issue of Nature that the increase in hurricane activity on the Atlantic is largely related to rising sea temperatures.

Mark Sanders of the University of London and others used a statistical model to find that changes in the frequency and intensity of the Atlantic hurricane can be largely explained by two variables, namely sea surface temperature and trade wind speed near the sea surface. After removing the influence of trade winds, scientists have found that a 0.5 ° C rise in sea surface temperature during August and September will increase hurricane activity by an average of 40%.

The analysis also showed that 40% of the increase in Atlantic hurricane activity between 1996 and 2005 was due to rising sea surface temperatures. During these 10 years, the average sea surface temperature in the tropical North Atlantic region was the highest since it was recorded in 1950.

The numerical simulation of typhoon "Begonia" for 5 days was conducted to study the effect of changes in sea surface temperature (SST) on the intensity of the typhoon. Compared with the NCEP monthly mean sea surface temperature, a tropical rain satellite (TRMM) was introduced in the mesoscale atmospheric model Microwave Imager (TMI) / Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer (AMSR-E) to investigate the effect of SST on the path and intensity of typhoon "Begonia". The research results show that the overall effect of the typhoon intensity and path simulated by the experimental SST changes every day is good; The simulated typhoon path is not sensitive to changes in SST, and the change in typhoon intensity depends not only on the magnitude of SST cooling caused by typhoon movement, but also on the relative position of the SST cooling area. During the strong development of typhoon "Begonia", The cooling zone on the right side of the typhoon center has little effect on the pressure of the typhoon center; after the typhoon has developed strongly, the SST cooling zone begins to affect the intensity of the typhoon, but it causes the typhoon center pressure to decrease little, and the typhoon center pressure decreases by about 3.9 hPa within 6 hours. Both the flux and sea surface wind speed have a good correlation with the distribution of SST: in warm water areas where SST changes to positive values, both the sensible and latent heat fluxes are extreme values of a positive flux distribution And the presence area of maximum wind speed; cooling zone in the corresponding right typhoon, there is a negative Fluxes and minimum wind speed region. ^[2]