Thermodynamic Feedback between Clouds and the Ocean Surface Mixed Layer

A cloud-ocean planetary boundary layer (OPBL) feedback mechanism is presented and tested in this paper. Water vapor, evaporated from the ocean surface or transported by the large-scale air flow, often forms convective clouds under a conditionally unstable lapse rate. The variable cloud cover and rainfall may have positive and negative feedback with the ocean mixed layer temperature and salinity structure. The coupling of the simplified Kuo’s (1965) cumulus cloud model to the Kraus-Turner’s (1967) ocean mixed layer model shows the existence of this feedback mechanism. The theory also predicts the generation of low frequency oscillation in the atmosphere and oceans.