Climatic features of the Mediterranean Sea detected by the analysis of the longwave radiative bulk formulae

Abstract. Some important climatic features of the Mediterranean Sea stand out from an analysis of the systematic discrepancies between direct measurements of longwave radiation budget and predictions obtained by the most widely used bulk formulae. In particular, under clear-sky conditions the results show that the surface values of both air temperature and humidity over the Mediterranean Sea are larger than those expected over an open ocean with the same amount of net longwave radiation. Furthermore, the twofold climatic regime of the Mediterranean region strongly affects the downwelling clear-sky radiation. This study suggests that a single bulk formula with constant numerical coefficients is unable to reproduce the fluxes at the surface for all the seasons.

Key words: Meteorology and Atmospheric dynamics (radiative processes) – Oceanography: general (marginal and semienclosed seas; marine meteorology)