Earth's average surface temperature is increasing by about 0.1 degrees
C/decade. Thus we need to wait many decades to get accurate measurements
of Earth's temperature.
Meterological satellites in polar orbits are used to measure cloud
cover
AVHRR (Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer) is also used to measure
cloud cover data (substracted from solar insolation).
Instruments on Polar-orbiting meteorlogical satellites measure the
radiation parts of the heat budget.
Heat Fluxes
Latent-Heat Flux is influenced primarily by wind speed and relative
humidity.
High winds and dry air evaporate much more water than weak winds
with relative humidity near 100%.
In Polar regions, evaporation from ice-covered oceans is much less
than from open water.
In the Arctic, most of the heat lost from the sea is through leads
(ice-free areas). Hence the percent of open water is very important
for the arctic heat budget.
Sensible-Heat Flux is influenced primarily by wind speed and air/sea
temperature difference.
High winds and large temperature differences cause high fluxes. Think
of this as a wind-chill factor for the oceans.
Fluxes are calculated from the correlation of vertical wind and horizontal
wind, humidity, and the air temperature.
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