LARGE-SCALE ASPECTS OF ENERGY TRANSFORMATION OVER THE OCEANS 
season. During summer it appears that over large areas 
the sea is actually receiving some energy by conduction 
from the atmosphere. 
In connection with the probable accuracy of the 
author’s Q;, values, one phase of which is discussed by 
Sverdrup elsewhere in this volume,‘ it should be pointed 
out that all of the computations of evaporation and 
heat exchange were based on data published by the 
1059 
tained on shipboard might conceivably show significant 
differences between the two oceans, partly because of a 
true diurnal variation in the quantity (t» — ft.) and 
partly because of an apparent variation created by the 
daytime heating and nighttime cooling of ship and in- 
struments. The author has previously considered this 
latter possibility [7] when attempting to account for 
the very nearly constant latitudinal differences in the 
Fre. 1.—The annual values of the rate of exchange of sensible heat between ocean and atmosphere Q, over the North Atlantic 
and North Pacific, expressed in calories per square centimeter per day. 
TABLE I. SEASONAL VALUES OF Q; IN DirrerENT LatitupE Zones (in cal em day) 
North latitude North Atlantic* North Pacific 
ake Dec.—Feb. Mar.—May June-Aug. Sept.—Nov. Dec.—Feb. Mar.—May June-Aug. Sept.Nov. 
0° 5° —8 =3} —10 —15 6 6 12 11 
5°-10° —10 —13 —3 —4 11 10 13 13 
10°-15° —8 —16 = itil —5 10 9 10 13 
157-20° 0 —14 —16 —4 20 11 11 i 
20°-25° 6 —13 —16 2 34 17 7 14 
25°-30° 22 —4 —12 10 51 19 4 20 
307-35° 37 —3 —16 10 69 22 2 29 
35°—40° 95 18 —14 29 106 29 0 40 
40°-45° 99 14 —23 24 89 16 =} Bil 
45°-50° 80 4 —38 15 49 9 —10 20 
50°-55° 109 10 —33 29 59 17 =7/ By 
55°-60° 121 5 —28 34 70 25 —3 31 
* The North Atlantic includes the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea, within the appropriate latitude ranges for all zonal 
energy values, in this and succeeding tables. 
U.S. Weather Bureau [388] and represent ship observa- 
tions recorded over the oceans at or very near Green- 
wich Meridian noon. As a result, most of the observa- 
tions in the North Atlantic were taken during daylight 
hours, between 0600 and 1200 LMT, while those in the 
North Pacific have been obtained largely during night 
hours, between 2000 and 0600 LMT. Although the 
diurnal variations im evaporation or heat exchange over 
the oceans can be assumed to be small [83], the values 
computed from the uncorrected observational data ob- 
annual values for R between the North Atlantic and 
North Pacific.” 
The author has more recently re-examined the ques- 
tion of possible errors in the computed Q; values— 
errors which might result from the time differences in 
2. The mean annual values for R arranged by five-degree 
ranges of latitude show that for nearly every zone in the North 
Pacific the value for the ratio & is 0.10 or 0.11 greater than for 
the corresponding zone in the North Atlantic. The seasonal 
values, however, do not exhibit this relationship. 
