High-quality satellite datasets for many components of the climate system are now available over the oceans, with resolutions down to 25 km and 3 hourly. In this talk I will present an analysis of the distributions of weather variables from a variety of input sources, including ISCCP cloud distributions and SeaFlux surface and near-surface variables, including surface fluxes. Weather regimes are sorted by cloud type and precipitation, and then the distribution of surface fluxes is broken up into these weather regimes. An analysis of the variability of the fluxes across differing regimes and different regions of the oceans is then performed. Some sensitivity studies of the flux change magnitudes relative to these weather regimes is then performed.

I will also show comparisons with similar analyses for one reanalysis product, the NASA MERRA, and will compare and contrast the results between the reanalysis product and the satellite data sets.