Authors: R. Suseela Reddy, Rezwanul Karim
Affiliation: Dept. of Physics, Atmospheric Sciences and General Science, Jackson,
Mississippi
There is accumulated evidence from recent past literature to show the possible
relation between solar and geomagnetic activity, and meteorological parameters
(Pittock, 1978; Reddy et.al., 1979; Bhalme et.al., 1979; Reddy and Karim, 2003).
Not many studies have been reported on the relationship between geomagnetic
activity and terrestrial weather including ocean-atmospheric interactions that
have significant impacts over the large-scale atmospheric circulations.
In the present study, we investigate the relationship between Geomagnetic Storms
and ocean-atmospheric interactions including heat, momentum and moisture fluxes
over the Gulf of Mexico during the summer (July to September) for the period,
2001 -2003.The data used in this study include, (i) Geomagnetic storms, and
(ii) Buoy data (sea surface temperature, air temperature, sea level pressure
and wind speed) obtained from National Data Buoy Center (NDBC). The fluxes were
computed using standard bulk formulae. The statistical techniques used for data
analysis include superposed epoch analysis and student test .The result of the
study has pointed out a significant increase in the fluxes 1-3 days after the
storm occurrence followed by a decrease in sea level pressure. The effect of
these fluxes on Gulf coast weather is noticed. The study is important for further
understanding the climate variability of large-scale circulations including
El Nino/Southern Oscillation (ENSO). NOAA/Howard University NCAS Grant supports
the work.