Northward Heat Flux in Midwest Summers
Kern E. Kenyon
4632 North Lane, Del Mar, USA.
DOI: 10.4236/ijg.2013.48105   PDF    HTML   XML   3,059 Downloads   4,744 Views   Citations

Abstract

Watching the winds in northwest Iowa during more than 30 summers has led me to two conclusions about the local atmosphere at ground level: there is a net northward transport of heat and water taking place throughout the summer; warm humid winds from the south continually alternate with cool dry winds from the north. The proposed northward heat transfer is consistent with the constraint, placed on the motions of the oceans and the atmosphere, of the earth’s heat balance due to the increased absorption of solar radiation at low latitudes compared to that at high latitudes. At mid-latitudes in the interior of continents, like North America, it is the job of the atmosphere alone to constantly help satisfy the global heat balance. Although qualitative in nature, the predicted northward heat flux is strongly based on frequent observations over lengthy time intervals.

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K. Kenyon, "Northward Heat Flux in Midwest Summers," International Journal of Geosciences, Vol. 4 No. 8, 2013, pp. 1117-1119. doi: 10.4236/ijg.2013.48105.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

References

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[2] T. H. Vonder Haar and A. H. Oort, “New Estimate of Annual Poleward Energy Transport by Northern Hemisphere Oceans,” Journal of Physical Oceanography, Vol. 3, No. 2, 1973, pp. 169-172.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1175/1520-0485(1973)003<0169:NEOAPE>2.0.CO;2
[3] K. E. Kenyon, “A Shallow Northeastward Current in the North Pacific,” Journal of Geophysical Research, Vol. 86, No. C7, 1981, pp. 6529-6536.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/JC086iC07p06529

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