Local Balance of Heat Budget in the Atmosphere over the Oceans

Convergence of heat fluxes between the top of the atmosphere and the surface are calculated over the oceans using satellite-based radiative and sensible heat fluxes as well as precipitation estimates. The convergence is then compared with column integrated atmospheric heating based on Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRAIN Q1) as well as the heating calculated using the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) temperatures and wind fields from the Modern Era Retrospective-analysis for Research and Applications (MERRA) (referred to as the AIRS/MERRA). Corresponding calculations using MERRA heating rates and heat fluxes are also performed. Local energy balances among these observation-based datasets and within MERRA are investigated in perspectives of seasonal climatologies and regional wavelet amplitude spectra. The geographical patterns of atmospheric heating rates in different datasets show heating regimes over the Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone, summertime monsoons, and extratropical storm tracks, as well as cooling regimes over subsidence area in the subtropical oceans. Wavelet spectra of atmospheric heating rates show distinct maxima of variability in annual, semi-annual, and/or intraseasonal timescales. Detailed discrepancies in wavelet spectra among different datasets are regional dependence.