DIURNAL HEATING IN THE OKHOTSK SEA UNDER ANTICYCLONIC CONDITIONS: MULTISENSOR STUDY

Development of diurnal warming in the open Okhotsk Sea during the daytime and calm conditions was studied using sea surface temperature (SST) fields retrieved from NOAA AVHRR, Terra and Aqua MODIS, Aqua AMSR-E and ADEOS-II AMSR data. Sea surface wind fields were estimated from AMSR-E/AMSR measurements as well as were obtained from QuikSCAT scatterometer. Weak winds and cloudless conditions were observed in the central area of anticyclone, which moved slowly on 28-30 June 2003 east off Sakhalin. The area where the amplitude of the diurnal SST signal ${\Delta}T$ was significant also shifted slowly and had or circular or elongated shape. The ${\Delta}T$ was estimated relative to the SST values in the areas surrounding the centre of anticyclone where wind speed W exceeded 5- 6 m/s. The diurnal variations of SST, day-night differences were computed using NOAA-12 and NOAA-16 AVHRRderived data. Analysis of simultaneous SST and W fields showed that the increase of W from 0 to 5-6 m/s causes the decrease of ${\Delta}T$ to zero. Maximum warming exceeded $8^{\circ}C$ and was observed in the centre of anticyclone where W = 0 m/s. So strong heating was likely due to the increased chlorophyll a concentration in the area under study that follows from analysis of satellite ocean colour data.