Sensible heat - Definition

Sensible heat is heat that is transported by a body that has a temperature higher than its surroundings.

In the atmosphere, large-scale transport of heat from the tropics to the poles is affected by both sensible and latent heat, the first of which is the poleward motion of warm air and equatorward motion of cold air, primarily driven by the cyclonic mixing taking place in the Ferrel cell in the midlatitudes, the latter of which is associated with the phase changes of atmospheric water vapor, mostly vaporization and condensation.

See also: Bowen ratio