7 Conclusions
In summary, we analyzed measurements from two cruises in the tropics held during the summer months and through the analysis of nighttime data with winds less than 10 m s−1, confirmed that the turbulent fluxes (LH and SH) are independent of LWin@zenith and no significant dependence was found between cloud IR radiative effects and the turbulent fluxes on the spatial and temporal scales of our spectral measurements. Neither was a significant dependence found between LWout and LWin@zenith. Establishing these independences is important because it allows us to focus our analysis on the radiative fluxes and supports our hypothesis of the properties of the TSL influencing the heat flow at the interface as it indicates the heat from the absorbed additional IR radiation is not immediately returned to the atmosphere through the upward fluxes of LH, SH, and LWout. Our results also provide initial evidence of the mechanism for increased heat storage in the upper ocean resulting, indirectly, from the absorption of increased IR radiation in the EM skin layer. Since there is no immediate, observable increase in surface heat loss associated with increased absorption of incoming IR radiation from the atmosphere, there is therefore an increase of heat available within the TSL to supply energy for the surface heat losses. It is also not possible for the additional energy in the TSL to be conducted into the bulk of the ocean (i.e., beneath the viscous skin layer) as that would require conduction up a mean temperature gradient in the TSL.