Quan, X., and K. M. Weickmann, 1991: Characteristics of regional annual variation of the oceanic heating to the atmosphere. Chinese J. Atmos. Sci., 15, 403-412.
In this work, the characteristics of regional annual variations of the heat fluxes released from ocean to the atmosphere in some tropical and mid-latitude regions are revealed. The climatic mean value of the fluxes appears to vary with an annual cycle over cold SST regions but with a semi-annual cycle over warm SST regions. Comparing it with the flux of turbulent exchange of latent heat and the flux of upward long-wave radiation the flux of sensible heat exchange is very small. Over the warm SST regions the value of the latent heat flux is larger and varies with larger amplitudes than that of upward long-wave radiation. By contrast, over the cold SST regions the two quantities are of similar magnitude and importance in contribution to the variations of the total heat flux from ocean to atmosphere. While the SST providing surface condition as a background, both surface wind and cloud cover play a dominant role in determining the intensity of the heat flux and its variabilities.