Marine atmospheric boundary layer and low-level cloud responses to the Kuroshio Extension front in the early summer of 2012: three-vessel simultaneous observations and numerical simulations

2014 ◽  
Vol 71 (5) ◽  
pp. 511-526 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yoshimi Kawai ◽  
Toru Miyama ◽  
Satoshi Iizuka ◽  
Atsuyoshi Manda ◽  
Mayumi K. Yoshioka ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Layer ◽  
Atmospheric Boundary Layer ◽  
Numerical Simulations ◽  
Kuroshio Extension ◽  
Early Summer ◽  
Marine Atmospheric Boundary Layer ◽  
Low Level ◽  
The Kuroshio ◽  
Kuroshio Extension Front

scholarly journals Observed Variations of the Atmospheric Boundary Layer and Stratocumulus over a Warm Eddy in the Kuroshio Extension

2019 ◽  
Vol 147 (5) ◽  
pp. 1581-1591 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qian Wang ◽  
Su-Ping Zhang ◽  
Shang-Ping Xie ◽  
Joel R. Norris ◽  
Jian-Xiang Sun ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Layer ◽  
Heat Flux ◽  
Atmospheric Boundary Layer ◽  
Kuroshio Extension ◽  
Atmospheric Model ◽  
Low Pressure ◽  
Marine Atmospheric Boundary Layer ◽  
Warm Eddy ◽  
Lifting Condensation Level ◽  
The Kuroshio

Abstract A research vessel sailing across a warm eddy in the Kuroshio Extension on 13 April 2016 captured an abrupt development of stratocumulus under synoptic high pressure. Shipboard observations and results from regional atmospheric model simulations indicate that increased surface heat flux over the ocean eddy lowered surface pressure and thereby accelerated southeasterly winds. The southeasterly winds transported moisture toward the low pressure and enhanced the air–sea interface heat flux, which in turn deepened the low pressure and promoted low-level convergence and rising motion over the warm eddy. The lifting condensation level lowered and the top of the marine atmospheric boundary layer (MABL) rose, thereby aiding the development of the stratocumulus. Further experiments showed that 6°C sea surface temperature anomalies associated with the 400-km-diameter warm eddy accounted for 80% of the total ascending motion and 95% of total cloud water mixing ratio in the marine atmospheric boundary layer during the development of stratocumulus. The synthesis of in situ soundings and modeling contributes to understanding of the mechanism by which the MABL and marine stratocumulus respond to ocean eddies.

Interannual Modulations of Oceanic Imprints on the Wintertime Atmospheric Boundary Layer under the Changing Dynamical Regimes of the Kuroshio Extension

2016 ◽  
Vol 29 (9) ◽  
pp. 3273-3296 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ryusuke Masunaga ◽  
Hisashi Nakamura ◽  
Takafumi Miyasaka ◽  
Kazuaki Nishii ◽  
Bo Qiu
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Layer ◽  
High Resolution ◽  
Atmospheric Boundary Layer ◽  
Kuroshio Extension ◽  
Surface Wind ◽  
Vertical Wind Shear ◽  
Heat Fluxes ◽  
Convective Precipitation ◽  
Positive Anomaly ◽  
The Kuroshio

Abstract The Kuroshio Extension (KE) fluctuates between its different dynamic regimes on (quasi) decadal time scales. In its stable (unstable) regime, the KE jet is strengthened (weakened) and less (more) meandering. The present study investigates wintertime mesoscale atmospheric structures modulated under the changing KE regimes, as revealed in high-resolution satellite data and data from a particular atmospheric reanalysis (ERA-Interim). In the unstable KE regime, a positive anomaly in sea surface temperature (SST) to the north of the climatological KE jet accompanies positive anomalies in upward heat fluxes from the ocean, surface wind convergence, and cloudiness. As revealed in the atmospheric reanalysis, these positive anomalies coincide with local lowering of sea level pressure, weaker vertical wind shear, warming and thickening of the marine atmospheric boundary layer (MABL), anomalous ascent, and convective precipitation. In the stable KE regime, by contrast, the corresponding imprints of sharp SST gradients across the KE and Oyashio fronts on the wintertime MABL are separated more distinctly, and so are the surface baroclinic zones along those two SST fronts. In the ERA-Interim data, such mesoscale imprints of the KE variability as above are not well represented in a period during which the resolution of SST data prescribed is relatively low. The present study thus elucidates the importance of high-resolution SST data prescribed for atmospheric reanalysis in representing modulations of the MABL structure and air–sea fluxes by the variability of oceanic fronts and/or jets, including the modulations occurring with the changing KE regimes through the hydrostatic pressure adjustment and vertical mixing mechanisms.

Observations of Marine Atmospheric Boundary Layer Transitions across the Summer Kuroshio Extension*

2009 ◽  
Vol 22 (6) ◽  
pp. 1360-1374 ◽  
Author(s):  
Youichi Tanimoto ◽  
Shang-Ping Xie ◽  
Kohei Kai ◽  
Hideki Okajima ◽  
Hiroki Tokinaga ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Layer ◽  
Atmospheric Boundary Layer ◽  
Kuroshio Extension ◽  
Cloud Base ◽  
Northwest Pacific ◽  
Turbulent Heat ◽  
Marine Atmospheric Boundary Layer ◽  
Near Surface ◽  
Low Cloud ◽  
Baiu Front

Abstract The baiu and Kuroshio Extension (KE) fronts, both zonally oriented and nearly collocated east of Japan, are the dominant summertime features of the atmosphere and ocean, respectively, over the midlatitude northwest Pacific. An atmospheric sounding campaign was conducted on board the R/V Roger Revelle during the 2005 summer. Transects of soundings across the KE front are analyzed to study its effects on the atmosphere, along with continuous surface meteorological and ceilometer cloud-base observations. While the KE front remained nearly stationary during the cruise, the baiu front displayed large meridional displacements that changed wind direction across the KE front. The presence of sharp sea surface temperature (SST) gradients anchored by the KE enhanced the thermal and moisture advection, causing substantial changes in the marine atmospheric boundary layer (MABL) structure. When the baiu front was displaced north of the KE front, southwesterly winds advected warm, humid air from the subtropics over the cold water, producing a surface inversion favorable to fog formation. When the baiu front was to the south, on the other hand, northerly winds across the KE front destabilized the MABL, leading to the formation of a solid low-cloud deck beneath a strong capping inversion. The wind changes with the meridional displacement of the baiu front thus caused large variations in near-surface atmospheric stability and surface turbulent heat fluxes, with potential feedback on deep convection and fog/low-cloud formation around the front.

scholarly journals Separation of Climatological Imprints of the Kuroshio Extension and Oyashio Fronts on the Wintertime Atmospheric Boundary Layer: Their Sensitivity to SST Resolution Prescribed for Atmospheric Reanalysis

2015 ◽  
Vol 28 (5) ◽  
pp. 1764-1787 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ryusuke Masunaga ◽  
Hisashi Nakamura ◽  
Takafumi Miyasaka ◽  
Kazuaki Nishii ◽  
Youichi Tanimoto
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Layer ◽  
High Resolution ◽  
Atmospheric Boundary Layer ◽  
Kuroshio Extension ◽  
Heat Fluxes ◽  
Turbulent Heat ◽  
Near Surface ◽  
The Kuroshio ◽  
Baroclinic Zone ◽  
Sst Fronts

Abstract Mesoscale structures of the wintertime marine atmospheric boundary layer (MABL) as climatological imprints of oceanic fronts within the Kuroshio–Oyashio Extension (KOE) region east of Japan are investigated by taking advantage of high horizontal resolution of the ERA-Interim global atmospheric reanalysis data, for which the resolution of sea surface temperature (SST) data has been improved. These imprints, including locally enhanced sensible and latent heat fluxes and local maxima in cloudiness and precipitation in association with locally strengthened surface-wind convergence in the vicinities of SST fronts along the warm Kuroshio Extension and cool Oyashio to its north, are also identified in high-resolution satellite data. In addition to these mesoscale MABL features, meridionally confined near-surface baroclinic zones and zonally oriented sea level pressure (SLP) minima associated with the dual SST fronts are represented in ERA-Interim only in the period of high-resolution SST, but those imprints of the Oyashio front are missing in the low-resolution SST period. In the presence of the prevailing monsoonal northerlies, latitudinal displacements of the SLP trough, baroclinic zone, and the peak meridional gradient of the turbulent heat fluxes from each of the corresponding SST fronts are also found to be sensitive to the frontal width that depends on the SST resolution. The analysis herein suggests that the converging surface northerlies into the SLP minima can contribute positively to the formation of a surface baroclinic zone along the Kuroshio Extension, while a stronger baroclinic zone along the Oyashio front is maintained primarily through the pronounced cross-frontal contrast in sensible heat release from the ocean.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document