Relationship Between Latent Heat Flux and Sea Surface Temperature in Alexandria Eastern Harbor, Egypt

Abstract

The immersed sensor data in Alexandria Eastern Harbor (AEH) are analyzed to explore the relation between latent heat flux (LHF) from the AEH and the sea surface temperature (SST). Output results represent that the LHF continued to rise with SST≥292K, while LHF increases with decreasing SST at SSTs lower than 292 K, However, the relationship cannot be expounded by thermodynamic investigation alone. Consequently, the analysis of humidity differences (Δq) and wind speeds represent that the Δq primarily determines the sharp increase in LHF while at high SST, and a decrease in wind speed is mostly responsible for the low LHF at low SST. The temporal analysis of the two time periods, namely ≤90 days (seasonal time scale) and ≤30 days (monthly timescale), reveals that high LHF above warm SST was operative on the two time periods. The cross-correlation between SST and LHF on these time periods was characterized by a one-day lag with correlation coefficients of 0.47 and 0.25, respectively.