Intercomparison of five high spatial and temporal resolution latent heat flux datasets over the Northwest Pacific Ocean

In this study, high spatiotemporal resolution of five latent heat flux (LHF) datasets are compared over the Northwest Pacific Ocean for the period 1998–2007. Overall, the datasets show encouraging agreement in spatial and temporal characteristics. However, there are substantial discrepancies, especially in magnitude, both spatially and temporally. The ERA-Interim dataset gives the maximum LHF while the SeaFlux dataset gives the minimum. These consistencies and discrepancies of the LHF in the five datasets are mainly due to the differences in bulk variables, specifically the sea–air specific humidity difference (Qs-a) and wind speed. Generally, large Qs-a leads to large LHF. However, wind speed and Qs-a play different roles in different regions. The maximum LHF in the Kuroshio western boundary current region arises from high wind coupling with large Qs-a, and the minimum LHF at low latitude is mainly due to weak winds whilst at high latitude it is mainly due to the rapid poleward decrease of Qs-a.