The heat and dynamic air-sea interaction in the Pacific sector of the Southern ocean

Meteorological conditions and sea surface heat balance variations in the section following 67 degrees S between Antarctic peninsula and Balleni islands and in the quasi-meridional section from 67 degrees S to the Pennela coast in February/March 1992 were analyzed using the data of meteorological observations in cruise 6 of r/v ''Academic Ioffe'' carried out within the WOCE programme. The anomalous high atmospheric pressure and a weak cyclonic activity were observed in the studied region east of 140 degrees W and relatively low pressure and strong cyclonic activity was registered west of this meridian. The mean heat balance of the sea surface during the period of our work in the section along 67 degrees S proved to be near the zero (1.3 W/m(2)). The sea-surface here received the heat with solar and atmospheric radiation (35.7 W/m(2)) and lost in with the explicit and latent heat fluxes (7.3 and 27.1 W/m(2) respectively). Wind direction changes account for the main variations of these fluxes. They intensified during the time of relatively dry and cold south winds. With more humid and warm northern winds the latent heat fluxes become weaker, and the explicit heat fluxes usually changed their sing, that is the ocean starts to get the heat from the atmosphere. The results of this study were compared with the literary data.