This study systematically investigated the ocean mixed layer responses to tropical cyclone (TC) using available Argo profiles during the period of 1998–2011 in the northwest Pacific. Results reveal that isothermal layer (IL) deepening and isothermal layer (IL) cooling with evident rightward biases induced by strong TCs are clearer compared to the weak TCs. Likewise, the rightward biases of IL d...

Temperature and salinity data from 2001 through 2005 from Argo profiling floats have been analyzed to examine the time evolution of the mixed layer depth (MLD) and density in the late fall to early spring in mid to high latitudes of the North Pacific. To examine MLD variations on various time scales from several days to seasonal, relatively small criteria (0.03 kg m–3 in density and 0.2°C in te...

The authors propose a parameterization for restratification by mixed layer eddies that develop from baroclinic instabilities of ocean fronts. The parameterization is cast as an overturning streamfunction that is proportional to the product of horizontal buoyancy gradient, mixed layer depth, and inertial period. The parameterization has remarkable skill for an extremely wide range of mixed layer...

The impact of changes in shortwave radiation penetration depth on the global ocean circulation and heat transport is studied using the GFDL Modular Ocean Model (MOM4) with two independent parameterizations that use ocean color to estimate the penetration depth of shortwave radiation. Ten to eighteen percent increases in the depth of 1% downwelling surface irradiance levels results in an increas...

Ageostrophic baroclinic instabilities develop within the surface mixed layer of the ocean at horizontal fronts and efficiently restratify the upper ocean. In this paper a parameterization for the restratification driven by finiteamplitude baroclinic instabilities of the mixed layer is proposed in terms of an overturning streamfunction that tilts isopycnals from the vertical to the horizontal. T...

Ageostrophic baroclinic instabilities develop within the surface mixed layer of the ocean at horizontal fronts and efficiently restratify the upper ocean. In this paper a parameterization for the restratification driven by finite-amplitude baroclinic instabilities of the mixed layer is proposed in terms of an overturning streamfunction that tilts isopycnals from the vertical to the horizontal. ...

What determines the vertical distribution of phytoplankton in different aquatic environments remains an open question. To address this question, we develop a model to explore how phytoplankton respond through growth and movement to opposing resource gradients and different mixing conditions. We assume stratification creates a well-mixed surface layer on top of a poorly mixed deep layer and nutr...