ABSTRACT
The role of the free surface of the ocean in the formation of the structure and various regimes of the near-surface layer variability becomes clear if it is imagined for a moment that it can be replaced by a thin, solid heat-conductive cover which is opaque for solar light. The following will occur in this case:
• the kinetic energy of the wind will not be transferred to the upper layers of the water;
• there will be no sea waves, Stokes transport, drift currents, wave-wind turbulence, Langmuir cells, various effects of surfactant films, or any other various surface and near-surface manifestations of the water dynamics;
• there will be no gas exchange through the surface; • there will be no salinization due to evaporation or freshening due to
precipitation; • the processes of photosynthesis will not function; • solar heat will be absorbed strictly on the surface, i.e. by the cover proper
with subsequent contact heat transfer to deeper layers; • free convection, whose origin is in the cold boundary layer, will be the sole
active factor in the regime of cooling; • the boundary layer will always be warm and hydrostatically stable in the
regime of warming, and heat transfer will occur due to molecular heat conductivity;
• the diurnal thermocline will be essentially thicker and the absolute values of ATD will be much greater.
