On heat and moisture exchanges between the sea surface and the atmosphere during the Medalpex

Summary Data collected by a buoy, moored in the Ligurian Sea about 27 nautical miles off the coast during the period 1 March-31 May, 1982, are analysed. The buoy was equipped by the Institute for Naval Automation (IAN) of the Italian National Research Council (CNR) during the Mediterranean Alpine Experiment (Medalpex), joint program of the Alpine Experiment (Alpex). Exchanges of heat and mass across the air-sea interface are computed from the collected data and comparisons with existing values are made. The resulting agreement confirms the strong interaction between the sea and the atmosphere in some peculiar situations, and lends weight to the oceanographic hypothesis for the statistical occurrence of deepening of orographic cyclones in the Liguro-Provencal basin. Paper presented at the IV Congresso del Gruppo Nazionale per la Fisica dell'Atmosfera e dell'Oceano, June 22–24, 1987, Rome.