scholarly journals Seasonal Modulation of Eddy Kinetic Energy and Its Formation Mechanism in the Southeast Indian Ocean

2011 ◽  
Vol 41 (4) ◽  
pp. 657-665 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fan Jia ◽  
Lixin Wu ◽  
Bo Qiu
Keyword(s):  
Indian Ocean ◽  
Kinetic Energy ◽  
Vertical Velocity ◽  
Baroclinic Instability ◽  
Mesoscale Eddy ◽  
Eddy Kinetic Energy ◽  
Velocity Shear ◽  
Austral Spring ◽  
Eddy Activity ◽  
South Indian

Abstract Mesoscale eddy activity in the southeast Indian Ocean (15°–30°S, 60°–110°E) is investigated based on available satellite altimetry observations. The observed sea level anomaly data show that this region is the only eastern basin among the global oceans where strong eddy activity exists. Furthermore, the eddy kinetic energy (EKE) level in this region displays a distinct seasonal cycle with the maximum in austral summer and minimum in austral winter. It is found that this seasonal modulation of EKE is mediated by baroclinic instability associated with the surface-intensified South Indian Countercurrent (SICC) and the underlying South Equatorial Current (SEC) system. In austral spring and summer the enhanced flux forcing of combined meridional Ekman and geostrophic convergence strengthens the upper-ocean meridional temperature gradient, intensifying the SICC front and its vertical velocity shear. Modulation of the vertical velocity shear results in the seasonal changes in the strength of baroclinic instability, leading to the seasonal EKE variations in the southeast Indian Ocean.

scholarly journals Circulation pattern controls of wet days and dry days in Free State, South Africa

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chibuike Chiedozie Ibebuchi
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Indian Ocean ◽  
Atmospheric Circulation ◽  
Southern Africa ◽  
Austral Summer ◽  
Free State ◽  
Austral Spring ◽  
Study Region ◽  
Southwest Indian Ocean ◽  
South Indian

AbstractAtmospheric circulation is a vital process in the transport of heat, moisture, and pollutants around the globe. The variability of rainfall depends to some extent on the atmospheric circulation. This paper investigates synoptic situations in southern Africa that can be associated with wet days and dry days in Free State, South Africa, in addition to the underlying dynamics. Principal component analysis was applied to the T-mode matrix (variable is time series and observation is grid points at which the field was observed) of daily mean sea level pressure field from 1979 to 2018 in classifying the circulation patterns in southern Africa. 18 circulation types (CTs) were classified in the study region. From the linkage of the CTs to the observed rainfall data, from 11 stations in Free State, it was found that dominant austral winter and late austral autumn CTs have a higher probability of being associated with dry days in Free State. Dominant austral summer and late austral spring CTs were found to have a higher probability of being associated with wet days in Free State. Cyclonic/anti-cyclonic activity over the southwest Indian Ocean, explained to a good extent, the inter-seasonal variability of rainfall in Free State. The synoptic state associated with a stronger anti-cyclonic circulation at the western branch of the South Indian Ocean high-pressure, during austral summer, leading to enhanced low-level moisture transport by southeast winds was found to have the highest probability of being associated with above-average rainfall in most regions in Free State. On the other hand, the synoptic state associated with enhanced transport of cold dry air, by the extratropical westerlies, was found to have the highest probability of being associated with (winter) dryness in Free State.

scholarly journals Structure and Variability of the Shelfbreak East Greenland Current North of Denmark Strait

2017 ◽  
Vol 47 (10) ◽  
pp. 2631-2646 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. Håvik ◽  
K. Våge ◽  
R. S. Pickart ◽  
B. Harden ◽  
W.-J. von Appen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Kinetic Energy ◽  
Time Scales ◽  
Baroclinic Instability ◽  
Shelf Break ◽  
Eddy Kinetic Energy ◽  
East Greenland ◽  
Modes Of Variability ◽  
East Greenland Current ◽  
Denmark Strait ◽  
Seasonal Signal

AbstractData from a mooring array deployed north of Denmark Strait from September 2011 to August 2012 are used to investigate the structure and variability of the shelfbreak East Greenland Current (EGC). The shelfbreak EGC is a surface-intensified current situated just offshore of the east Greenland shelf break flowing southward through Denmark Strait. This study identified two dominant spatial modes of variability within the current: a pulsing mode and a meandering mode, both of which were most pronounced in fall and winter. A particularly energetic event in November 2011 was related to a reversal of the current for nearly a month. In addition to the seasonal signal, the current was associated with periods of enhanced eddy kinetic energy and increased variability on shorter time scales. The data indicate that the current is, for the most part, barotropically stable but subject to baroclinic instability from September to March. By contrast, in summer the current is mainly confined to the shelf break with decreased eddy kinetic energy and minimal baroclinic conversion. No other region of the Nordic Seas displays higher levels of eddy kinetic energy than the shelfbreak EGC north of Denmark Strait during fall. This appears to be due to the large velocity variability on mesoscale time scales generated by the instabilities. The mesoscale variability documented here may be a source of the variability observed at the Denmark Strait sill.

On the Decadal Variability of the Eddy Kinetic Energy in the Kuroshio Extension

2017 ◽  
Vol 47 (5) ◽  
pp. 1169-1187 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yang Yang ◽  
X. San Liang ◽  
Bo Qiu ◽  
Shuiming Chen
Keyword(s):  
Kinetic Energy ◽  
Potential Energy ◽  
Decadal Variability ◽  
Kuroshio Extension ◽  
Baroclinic Instability ◽  
Eddy Kinetic Energy ◽  
Time Varying ◽  
Barotropic Instability ◽  
Available Potential Energy ◽  
Decadal Modulation

AbstractPrevious studies have found that the decadal variability of eddy kinetic energy (EKE) in the upstream Kuroshio Extension is negatively correlated with the jet strength, which seems counterintuitive at first glance because linear stability analysis usually suggests that a stronger jet would favor baroclinic instability and thus lead to stronger eddy activities. Using a time-varying energetics diagnostic methodology, namely, the localized multiscale energy and vorticity analysis (MS-EVA), and the MS-EVA-based nonlinear instability theory, this study investigates the physical mechanism responsible for such variations with the state estimate from the Estimating the Circulation and Climate of the Ocean (ECCO), Phase II. For the first time, it is found that the decadal modulation of EKE is mainly controlled by the barotropic instability of the background flow. During the high-EKE state, violent meanderings efficiently induce strong barotropic energy transfer from mean kinetic energy (MKE) to EKE despite the rather weak jet strength. The reverse is true in the low-EKE state. Although the enhanced meander in the high-EKE state also transfers a significant portion of energy from mean available potential energy (MAPE) to eddy available potential energy (EAPE) through baroclinic instability, the EAPE is not efficiently converted to EKE as the two processes are not well correlated at low frequencies revealed in the time-varying energetics. The decadal modulation of barotropic instability is found to be in pace with the North Pacific Gyre Oscillation but with a time lag of approximately 2 years.

Seasonal variations of eddy kinetic energy flux in the South Indian Countercurrent region

2020 ◽  
Vol 38 (5) ◽  
pp. 1464-1475
Author(s):  
Zhongqian Chen ◽  
Faming Wang ◽  
Jian Zheng ◽  
Yuxing Yang
Keyword(s):  
Kinetic Energy ◽  
Energy Flux ◽  
Seasonal Variations ◽  
Eddy Kinetic Energy ◽  
The South ◽  
South Indian

scholarly journals Surface Cooling, Winds, and Eddies over the Continental Shelf

2017 ◽  
Vol 47 (4) ◽  
pp. 879-894 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. H. Brink
Keyword(s):  
Kinetic Energy ◽  
Continental Shelf ◽  
Cooling Rate ◽  
Baroclinic Instability ◽  
Eddy Kinetic Energy ◽  
Density Stratification ◽  
Equilibrium Density ◽  
Wind Effect ◽  
Surface Cooling ◽  
Model Calculations

AbstractModels show that surface cooling over a sloping continental shelf should give rise to baroclinic instability and thus tend toward gravitationally stable density stratification. Less is known about how alongshore winds affect this process, so the role of surface momentum input is treated here by means of a sequence of idealized, primitive equation numerical model calculations. The effects of cooling rate, wind amplitude and direction, bottom slope, bottom friction, and rotation rate are all considered. All model runs lead to instability and an eddy field. While instability is not strongly affected by upwelling-favorable alongshore winds, wind-driven downwelling substantially reduces eddy kinetic energy, largely because the downwelling circulation plays a similar role to baroclinic instability by flattening isotherms and so reducing available potential energy. Not surprisingly, cross-shelf winds appear to have little effect. Analysis of the model runs leads to quantitative relations for the wind effect on eddy kinetic energy for the equilibrium density stratification (which increases as the cooling rate increases) and for eddy length scale.

scholarly journals The Antecedent Large-Scale Conditions of the “Perfect Storms” of Late October and Early November 1991

2010 ◽  
Vol 138 (7) ◽  
pp. 2546-2569 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jason M. Cordeira ◽  
Lance F. Bosart
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Kinetic Energy ◽  
North Atlantic ◽  
North Pacific ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Baroclinic Instability ◽  
Subsequent Development ◽  
Eddy Kinetic Energy ◽  
The North ◽  
The North Atlantic

Abstract The “Perfect Storms” (PSs) were a series of three high-impact extratropical cyclones (ECs) that impacted North America and the North Atlantic in late October and early November 1991. The PSs included the Perfect Storm in the northwest Atlantic, a second EC over the North Atlantic that developed from the interaction of the PS with Hurricane Grace, and a third EC over North America commonly known as the “1991 Halloween Blizzard.” The PSs greatly impacted the North Atlantic and North America with large waves, coastal flooding, heavy snow, and accumulating ice, and they also provided an opportunity to investigate the physical processes that contributed to a downstream baroclinic development (DBD) episode across North America that culminated in the ECs. Downstream baroclinic development resulted from an amplification of the large-scale flow over the North Pacific that was influenced by anomalous tropical convection, the recurvature and extratropical transition of western North Pacific Tropical Cyclones Orchid, Pat, and Ruth, and the subsequent evolution of the extratropical flow. The progression of DBD occurred following the development of a negative PNA regime and the generation of baroclinic instability over North America associated with equatorward-displaced potential vorticity anomalies and poleward-displaced corridors of high moisture content. An analysis of the eddy kinetic energy tendency equation demonstrated that the resulting baroclinic conversion of eddy available potential energy into eddy kinetic energy during the cyclogenesis process facilitated the progression of DBD across North America and the subsequent development of the ECs.

scholarly journals Norwegian Atlantic Slope Current along the Lofoten Escarpment

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ilker Fer ◽  
Anthony Bosse ◽  
Johannes Dugstad
Keyword(s):  
Kinetic Energy ◽  
Baroclinic Instability ◽  
Volume Transport ◽  
Eddy Kinetic Energy ◽  
Barotropic Instability ◽  
Average Volume ◽  
Data Set ◽  
The Core ◽  
Cycle Amplitude ◽  
Conversion Rates

Abstract. Observations from moored instruments are analyzed to describe the Norwegian Atlantic Slope Current at the Lofoten Escarpment. The data set covers a 14-month period from June 2016 to September 2017, and resolves the core of the current from 200 to 650 m depth, between the 650 m and 1500 m isobaths. The along-slope current, vertically averaged between 200 and 600 m depth has an annual cycle amplitude of 0.1 m s−1 with strongest currents in winter, and a temporal average of 0.15 m s−1. Higher frequency variability is characterized by fluctuations that reach 0.8 m s−1, lasting for 1 to 2 weeks, and extend as deep as 600 m. In contrast to observations in Svinøy, the slope current is not barotropic and varies strongly with depth (a shear of 0.05 to 0.1 m s−1 per 100 m in all seasons). Within the limitations of the data, the average volume transport is estimated at 2.8 ± 1.8 Sv (1 Sv = 106 m3 s−1), with summer and winter averages of 2.3 and 4.0 Sv, respectively. The largest transport is associated with the high temperature classes (> 7 °C) in all seasons, with the largest values of both transport and temperature in winter. Calculations of the barotropic and baroclinic conversion rates using the moorings are supplemented by results from a high resolution numerical model. While the conversion from mean to eddy kinetic energy (e.g. barotropic instability) is likely negligible over the Lofoten Escarpment, the baroclinic conversion from mean potential energy into eddy kinetic energy (e.g. baroclinic instability), can be substantial with volume-averaged values of (1–2) × 10−4 W m−3.

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