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an increase of the latent heat flux in the northern SCS, just behind the
rainfall maximum.
It is interesting to note that, in Figs. 3 and 4, the maximum of
evaporation reflected by the latent heating flux is not coincident with the
enhanced moisture accumulation in front of the intense convection in early
and middle May. In both 2003 and 2004, while a remarkable increase of SST
and moisture occurs in the northern SCS in middle May (Figs. 5(a) and
(b)), the latent heat flux has a minimum change (Fig. 5(c)). The maximum
increase in latent heat flux between 5
◦
Nand10
◦
N is primarily due to the
increase in the surface wind speed (Fig. 5(d)), and it coexists with a SST
cooling (Fig. 5(b)) and a sharp decrease of the humidity. When the latent
heating flux maximum moves into the northern SCS in late May in 2003
Fig. 5. The difference of 10-day average between May 11-20 and May 1-10 in 2003 (solid
lines) and 2004 (dashed lines) of (a) the AIRS humidity at 1000 hPa (g/kg), (b) SST
(
◦
C), (c) latent heat flux from the ocean to the atmosphere (w/m
2
), and (d) wind speed
(m/s) along 105
◦
E-120
◦
E.
