OLR (1990) 37 (12) B. Marine Meteorology 1093

region. The chronology of all tropical cyclones of storm force or above known to have affected the Caribbean and adjacent Atlantic is by no means complete, particularly for the early years, but is the most comprehensive to date. It is used here to identify periods of high and low cyclone activity throughout the region and to highlight the com- plexity of spatial as well as temporal variations in cyclone frequency within the region. Dept. of Geog., Univ. of Reading, Berkshire, UK.

B140. Air-sea interactions

90:6962 De Leeuw, Gerrit, 1990. Comment on 'Vertical

distributions of spray droplets near the sea surface: influences of jet drop ejection and surface tearing' by J. Wu [d. Geophys. Res., 95(C6): 9775-97781. J. geophys. Res, 95(C6):9779-9782. Phys. and Electronics Lab. TNO, The Hague, Netherlands.

90:6963 Hasse, Lutz, 1990. On the mechanism of gas ex-

change at the air-sea interface. Tellus, (B)42(3): 250-253.

Experimental evidence has pointed to an influence of capillary waves on gas exchange for liquid- phase-controlled gases, often interpreted in terms of some surface renewal model. Here it is proposed that capillary waves are not likely to be the reason for surface renewal because of the disparity of time scales. Also, the balance of energy of turbulence in wind-water tunnels is different from that in the open sea due to side and bottom friction in the exper- imental facilities. Inst. fur Meereskunde an der Univ. Kiel, Dusternbrooker Weg 20, D-2300 Kiel, FRG.

90:6964 Huang, R.X., 1990. Does atmospheric cooling drive

the Gulf Stream recirculation? J.phys. Oceanogr~ 20(5):750-757.

A two-year model for the recirculation is studied. Initially, a narrow jet of the upper layer moves eastward with the lower layer remaining stagnant. As cold air flows over the narrow front region, all the moving water in the upper layer sinks to the lower layer with the momentum vertically well mixed within the lower layer. Thus, cooling creates an unbalanced eastward jet in the second layer and an unbalanced pressure field at a vertical density front. After geostrophic adjustment, high and low pressure centers north and south of the front respectively, are established. These pressure centers drive a much stronger barotropic eastward current slightly north

of the pressure center and slow westward return flow in the far field both south and north of the front, Thus, cooling over a narrow stream can intensify an eastward jet and create recirculation gyres both north and south of the stream. Dept. of Phys. Oceanogr., WHOI, Woods Hole, MA 02543, USA.

90:6965 Kudryavtsev, V.N. and A.V. Soloviev, 1990. Slippery

near-surface layer of the ocean arising due to daytime solar heating. J. phys. Oceanogr, 20(5): 617-628.

Measurements made in the equatorial Atlantic using a free-rising profiler and drifters revealed a near- surface slippery layer arising from the suppression of turbulent friction through increased upper layer buoyancy due to daytime solar heating. Speeds of up to 19 cm/s were observed for the resulting daytime surface current. Experimental data are taken to suggest the existence of a self-regulating state of the diurnal thermocline, which predicts linear temper- ature and velocity profiles and an equilibrium value of the bulk Richardson number. Simple relations coupling the temperature and velocity differences and thermocline thickness are derived. Soloviev" P.P. Shirshov Inst. of Oceanol., Acad. of Sci., Krasicova 23, Moscow 117851, USSR.

90:6966 Latif, Mojib et al., 1990. Simulation of ENSO related

surface wind anomalies with an atmospheric GCM forced by observed SST. J. Climate, 3(5):509-521.

The ECMWF-T21 atmospheric GCM is forced by observed near-global SST from January 1970 to December 1985 and its low level wind and surface wind stress response over the Pacific is compared with various observations. The induced Southern Oscillation (SO) exhibits the observed phase, but its low frequency variance is too weak and is mainly confined to the western Pacific. A comparison of the response of an equatorial oceanic primitive equation model to both modelled and observed wind stress reveals that the simulated SO appears as a standing oscillation while the observed SO is more likely a sequence of propagating patterns. Max Planck Inst. fur Meteorol., Bundesstr. 55, D-2000 Hamburg 20, FRG. (emm)

90:6967 Liu, W.T. and P.P. Niiler, 1990. The sensitivity of

latent heat flux to the air humidity approxlma. tions used in ocean circulation models. J. geophys. Res, 95(C6):9745-9753.

Two approximations are commonly made to bypass