Key points are not available for this paper at this time.
A simple theory is presented to account for the difference between the temperature at the ocean-air interface and that of the water at a depth of about one meter. Except in very light winds and intense solar radiation the mean temperature difference ΔT is expected to be of the formwhere q is the sum of the sensible, latent, and long-wave radiative heat flux from ocean to atmosphere and τ/ρw is the kinematic stress. No data are available to test this prediction. The influence of slicks and solar insolation on interface temperature is also briefly discussed.
Peter M. Saunders (Mon,) studied this question.