Coupled Ocean-atmosphere Interaction at Oceanic Mesoscales
ثبت نشده
چکیده
52 abSTr acT. Satellite observations have revealed a remarkably strong positive correlation between sea surface temperature (SST) and surface winds on oceanic mesoscales of 10–1000 km. Although SST influence on the atmosphere had previously been identified from several in situ observational studies, its widespread existence in regions of strong SST gradients throughout the world's ocean and the detailed structure of the surface wind response to SST have only become evident over the past decade from simultaneous satellite measurements of SST and surface winds. This has stimulated considerable scientific interest in the implications of this air-sea interaction to large-scale and mesoscale circulation of the atmosphere and ocean. Convergence and divergence of surface winds in regions of spatially varying SST generate vertical motion that can penetrate deep into the atmosphere. Spatial variability of the SST field also results in a curl of the wind stress and associated upwelling and downwelling that feeds back on the ocean and alters SST itself. Significant progress has been made toward understanding the two-way coupling between the ocean and atmosphere but many exciting research opportunities remain. In addition to regional and global modeling, future research on coupled ocean-atmosphere interaction will continue to be guided by satellite observations. In particular, high-resolution measurements in the vicinity of narrow, intense SST fronts and immediately adjacent to land provided by the next-generation scatterometer will open up new areas of research that cannot be addressed from presently available data sets. The September 2004 average wind stress curl over the california current System constructed from QuikScaT measurements of surface wind stress. The positive (red) and negative (blue) areas correspond to regions of upwelling and downwelling, respectively, and are induced by crosswind gradients of the sea surface temperature field (see Figure 3 and the related text in this article). because of antenna sidelobe contamination, QuikScaT could not measure winds closer than about 30 km to land. The wind stress curl field shown here was extrapolated to the coast for visualization purposes. After Chelton et al., 2007
منابع مشابه
Coupled Ocean - Atmosphere Interaction at Oceanic Mesoscales
Satellite observations have revealed a remarkably strong positive correlation between sea-surface temperature (SST) and surface winds on oceanic mesoscales of 10–1000 km. While this SST influence on the atmosphere had previously been identified from several in situ observational studies, its widespread existence in regions of strong SST gradients throughout the World Ocean and the detailed stru...
متن کاملMesoscale atmosphere ocean coupling enhances the transfer of wind energy into the ocean
Although it is well established that the large-scale wind drives much of the world's ocean circulation, the contribution of the wind energy input at mesoscales (10-200 km) remains poorly known. Here we use regional simulations with a coupled high-resolution atmosphere-ocean model of the South Atlantic, to show that mesoscale ocean features and, in particular, eddies can be energized by their th...
متن کاملCoupled Ocean-Atmosphere Modeling of the Coastal Zone
The primary scientific objectives of the proposed research are to use a coupled atmosphere--ocean model to investigate and quantify the interaction between the oceanic and atmospheric boundary layers and its effect on environmental conditions in the coastal zone. The main focus will be on boundary layer interactions under coastal upwelling conditions, in which cold, upwelled ocean surface water...
متن کاملDecadal variability and predictability in themidlatitude ocean { atmosphere
The coupled ocean{atmosphere interaction and predictability associated with the tropical El Ni~ no phenomenon has motivated researchers to seek analogous phenomena in the midlatitudes as well. Are there midlatitude coupled ocean{atmosphere modes? Is there signiicant predictability in the midlatitudes? The authors address these questions in the broader context of trying to understand the mechani...
متن کاملAir-sea interactions during the passage of a winter storm over the Gulf Stream: A three-dimensional coupled atmosphere-ocean model study
[1] A three-dimensional, regional coupled atmosphere-ocean model with full physics is developed to study air-sea interactions during winter storms off the U. S. east coast. Because of the scarcity of open ocean observations, models such as this offer valuable opportunities to investigate how oceanic forcing drives atmospheric circulation and vice versa. The study presented here considers condit...
متن کامل