Introduction

This is the second of a two-volume atlas of the climate at the sea surface of the North Atlantic Ocean. Both Volume 1 (Isemer and Hasse 1985) and this second volume are based on the work and data of A. F. Bunker, whose name is therefore included in the title. While Volume 1 presents regional and annual variations of observed meteorological parameters of the marine atmosphere, this volume contains some of the most important air-sea interaction quantities: net shortwave radiation, net longwave radiation, the turbulent fluxes of latent and sensible heat, and the surface wind stress. These quantities are derived by means of parameterisations from the same data base as the observations presented in Volume 1. The basic data are observations by ships of the Voluntary Observing Fleet (V. O. F.) from the years 1941 to 1972. Bunker originally calculated monthly and annual means of observed parameters and derived quantities, and standard deviations of some of the observed parameters for irregularly shaped areas, called gerrymanders (see Fig. 1 in Vol. 1). He selected these areas with respect to oceanographic conditions (including coastal configurations) and in order to have a sufficient number of observations in each gerrymander.