scholarly journals Mesoscale Dynamics and Eddy Heat Transport in the Japan/East Sea from 1990 to 2010: A Model-Based Analysis

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 33
Author(s):  
Dmitry Stepanov ◽  
Vladimir Fomin ◽  
Anatoly Gusev ◽  
Nikolay Diansky
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transport ◽  
Baroclinic Instability ◽  
Mesoscale Eddies ◽  
Ocean Model ◽  
East Sea ◽  
Meridional Heat Transport ◽  
Mesoscale Dynamics ◽  
Leading Role ◽  
Basin Scale ◽  
Eddy Heat Transport

The driving mechanisms of mesoscale processes and associated heat transport in the Japan/East Sea (JES) from 1990 to 2010 were examined using eddy-resolving ocean model simulations. The simulated circulation showed correctly reproduced JES major basin-scale currents and mesoscale dynamics features. We show that mesoscale eddies can deepen isotherms/isohalines up to several hundred meters and transport warm and low salinity waters along the western and eastern JES boundaries. The analysis of eddy kinetic energy (EKE) showed that the mesoscale dynamics reaches a maximum intensity in the upper 300 m layer. Throughout the year, the EKE maximum is observed in the southeastern JES, and a pronounced seasonal variability is observed in the southwestern and northwestern JES. The comparison of the EKE budget components confirmed that various mechanisms can be responsible for the generation of mesoscale dynamics during the year. From winter to spring, the baroclinic instability of basin-scale currents is the leading mechanism of the JES mesoscale dynamics’ generation. In summer, the leading role in the generation of the mesoscale dynamics is played by the barotropic instability of basin-scale currents, which are responsible for the emergence of mesoscale eddies, and in autumn, the leading role is played by instabilities and the eddy wind work. We show that the meridional heat transport (MHT) is mainly polewards. Furthermore, we reveal two paths of eddy heat transport across the Subpolar Front: along the western and eastern (along 138∘ E) JES boundaries. Near the Tsugaru Strait, we describe the detected intensive westward eddy heat transport reaching its maximum in the first half of the year and decreasing to the minimum by summer.

A Modeling Study of Circulation and Eddies in the Persian Gulf

2010 ◽  
Vol 40 (9) ◽  
pp. 2122-2134 ◽  
Author(s):  
Prasad G. Thoppil ◽  
Patrick J. Hogan
Keyword(s):  
Persian Gulf ◽  
Spatial Scales ◽  
Baroclinic Instability ◽  
Mesoscale Eddies ◽  
Ocean Model ◽  
Coastal Current ◽  
Basin Scale ◽  
Strait Of Hormuz ◽  
Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer ◽  
The Persian Gulf

Abstract The circulation and mesoscale eddies in the Persian Gulf are investigated using results from a high-resolution (∼1 km) Hybrid Coordinate Ocean Model (HYCOM). The circulation in the Persian Gulf is composed of two spatial scales: basin scale and mesoscale. The progression of a cyclonic circulation cell dominates the basin-scale circulation in the eastern half of the gulf (52°–55°E) during March–July. This is primarily the consequence of density-driven outflow–inflow through the Strait of Hormuz and strong stratification. A northwestward-flowing Iranian Coastal Current (ICC; 30–40 cm s−1) between the Strait of Hormuz and north of Qatar (∼52°E) forms the northern flank of the cell. Between July and August the ICC becomes unstable because of the baroclinic instability mechanism by releasing the potential energy stored in the cross-shelf density gradient. As a result, the meanders in the ICC evolve into a series of mesoscale eddies, which is denoted as the Iranian coastal eddies (ICE). The ICE have a diameter of about 115–130 km and extend vertically over most of the water column. Three cyclonic eddies produced by the model during August–September 2005 compared quite well with the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) SST and chlorophyll-a observations. The remnants of ICE are seen until November, after which they dissipate as the winter cooling causes the thermocline to collapse.

scholarly journals Maintenance of mid-latitude oceanic fronts by mesoscale eddies

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (31) ◽  
pp. eaba7880 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhao Jing ◽  
Shengpeng Wang ◽  
Lixin Wu ◽  
Ping Chang ◽  
Qiuying Zhang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transport ◽  
Baroclinic Instability ◽  
Mesoscale Eddies ◽  
Vertical Shear ◽  
Western Boundary ◽  
Boundary Current ◽  
Surface Cooling ◽  
Surface Ocean ◽  
Oceanic Fronts ◽  
Ocean Carbon

Oceanic fronts associated with strong western boundary current extensions vent a vast amount of heat into the atmosphere, anchoring mid-latitude storm tracks and facilitating ocean carbon sequestration. However, it remains unclear how the surface heat reservoir is replenished by ocean processes to sustain the atmospheric heat uptake. Using high-resolution climate simulations, we find that the vertical heat transport by ocean mesoscale eddies acts as an important heat supplier to the surface ocean in frontal regions. This vertical eddy heat transport is not accounted for by the prevailing inviscid and adiabatic ocean dynamical theories such as baroclinic instability and frontogenesis but is tightly related to the atmospheric forcing. Strong surface cooling associated with intense winds in winter promotes turbulent mixing in the mixed layer, destructing the vertical shear of mesoscale eddies. The restoring of vertical shear induces an ageostrophic secondary circulation transporting heat from the subsurface to surface ocean.

scholarly journals A new method to assess mesoscale contributions to meridional heat transport in the North Atlantic Ocean

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Delman ◽  
Tong Lee
Keyword(s):  
Atlantic Ocean ◽  
Heat Transport ◽  
North Atlantic ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
North Atlantic Ocean ◽  
Meridional Heat Transport ◽  
The North ◽  
Basin Scale ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
The North Atlantic

Abstract. The meridional heat transport (MHT) in the North Atlantic is critically important to climate variability and the global overturning circulation. A wide range of ocean processes contribute to North Atlantic MHT, ranging from basin-scale overturning and gyre motions to mesoscale instabilities (such as eddies). However, previous analyses of eddy MHT in the region have mostly focused on the contributions of time-variable velocity and temperature, rather than considering the spatial scales that are more fundamental to the physics of ocean eddies. In this study, a zonal spatial-scale decomposition separates large-scale from mesoscale velocity and temperature contributions to MHT, in order to characterize the physical processes driving MHT. Using this approach, we found that the mesoscale contributions to the time mean and interannual/decadal (ID) variability of MHT in the North Atlantic Ocean are larger than large-scale horizontal contributions, though smaller than the overturning contributions. Considering the 40° N transect as a case study, large-scale ID variability is mostly generated in the deeper part of the thermocline, while mesoscale ID variability has shallower origins. At this latitude, most ID MHT variability associated with mesoscales originates in two regions: a western boundary region (70°–60° W) associated with 1–4 year interannual variations, and an interior region (50°–35° W) associated with decadal variations. Surface eddy kinetic energy is not a reliable indicator of high MHT episodes, but the large-scale meridional temperature gradient is an important factor, by influencing the local temperature variance as well as the local correlation of velocity and temperature. Most of the mesoscale contribution to MHT at 40° N is associated with transient and propagating processes, but stationary mesoscale dynamics contribute substantially to MHT south of the Gulf Stream separation, highlighting the differences between the temporal and spatial decomposition of meridional temperature fluxes.

scholarly journals A new method to assess mesoscale contributions to meridional heat transport in the North Atlantic Ocean

Ocean Science ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 979-995
Author(s):  
Andrew Delman ◽  
Tong Lee
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transport ◽  
North Atlantic ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Spatial Scales ◽  
Western Boundary ◽  
Meridional Heat Transport ◽  
The North ◽  
Basin Scale ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
The North Atlantic

Abstract. The meridional heat transport (MHT) in the North Atlantic is critically important to climate variability and the global overturning circulation. A wide range of ocean processes contribute to North Atlantic MHT, ranging from basin-scale overturning and gyre motions to mesoscale instabilities (such as eddies). However, previous analyses of “eddy” MHT in the region have mostly focused on the contributions of time-variable velocity and temperature, rather than considering the association of MHT with distinct spatial scales within the basin. In this study, a zonal spatial-scale decomposition separates large-scale from mesoscale velocity and temperature contributions to MHT, in order to characterize the physical processes driving MHT. Using this approach, we found that the mesoscale contributions to the time-mean and interannual/decadal (ID) variability of MHT in the latitude range 39–45∘ N are larger than large-scale horizontal contributions, though smaller than the overturning contributions. Considering the 40∘ N transect as a case study, large-scale ID variability is mostly generated close to the western boundary. In contrast, most ID MHT variability associated with mesoscales originates in two distinct regions: a western boundary region (70–60∘ W) associated with 1- to 4-year interannual variations and an interior region (50–35∘ W) associated with decadal variations. Surface eddy kinetic energy is not a reliable indicator of high MHT episodes, but the large-scale meridional temperature gradient is an important factor, by influencing the local temperature variance as well as the local correlation of velocity and temperature. Most of the mesoscale contribution to MHT at 40∘ N is associated with transient and propagating processes, but stationary mesoscale structures explain most of the mesoscale MHT south of the Gulf Stream separation, highlighting the differences between the temporal and spatial decomposition of meridional temperature fluxes.

scholarly journals Eddy-Induced Heat Transport in the Subtropical North Pacific from Argo, TMI, and Altimetry Measurements

2005 ◽  
Vol 35 (4) ◽  
pp. 458-473 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bo Qiu ◽  
Shuiming Chen
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transport ◽  
North Pacific ◽  
North Pacific Ocean ◽  
Kuroshio Extension ◽  
Heat Fluxes ◽  
Seasonal Thermocline ◽  
Basin Scale ◽  
Turbulent Closure ◽  
Eddy Heat Transport ◽  
The Kuroshio

Abstract Basin-scale heat transport induced by mesoscale oceanic eddies is estimated by combining satellite-derived sea surface height and temperature [temperature data are from the TRMM Microwave Imager (TMI)] data with Argo float temperature–salinity data. In the North Pacific Ocean subtropical gyre, warm (cold) temperature anomalies of mesoscale eddies are found to be consistently located to the west of high (low) SSH anomalies. The phase misalignment between the temperature and velocity anomalies, however, is largely confined to the seasonal thermocline, causing most of the eddy-induced heat transport to be carried in the surface 200-m layer. By establishing a statistical relationship between the surface and depth-integrated values of the eddy heat transport, the basin-scale eddy heat transport is derived from the concurrent satellite SSH/SST data of the past six years. In the Kuroshio Extension region, the meandering zonal jet is found to generate oppositely signed eddy heat fluxes. As a result, the zonally integrated poleward heat transport associated with the Kuroshio Extension is at a level O(0.1 PW), smaller than the previous estimates based on turbulent closure schemes. Large poleward eddy heat transport is also found in the subtropical North Pacific along a southwest–northeast-tilting band between Taiwan and the Midway Islands. This band corresponds to the region of the subtropical front, and it is argued that the relevant temperature field for identifying this band in the turbulent closure scheme models should be that averaged over the seasonal thermocline.

scholarly journals Ensemble forecasting greatly expands the prediction horizon for ocean mesoscale variability

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Prasad G. Thoppil ◽  
Sergey Frolov ◽  
Clark D. Rowley ◽  
Carolyn A. Reynolds ◽  
Gregg A. Jacobs ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Initial Conditions ◽  
Horizontal Resolution ◽  
Ocean Model ◽  
Mesoscale Dynamics ◽  
Predictive Skill ◽  
Freshwater Transport ◽  
Prediction Horizon ◽  
Initial Location ◽  
Ocean Models ◽  
High Uncertainty

AbstractMesoscale eddies dominate energetics of the ocean, modify mass, heat and freshwater transport and primary production in the upper ocean. However, the forecast skill horizon for ocean mesoscales in current operational models is shorter than 10 days: eddy-resolving ocean models, with horizontal resolution finer than 10 km in mid-latitudes, represent mesoscale dynamics, but mesoscale initial conditions are hard to constrain with available observations. Here we analyze a suite of ocean model simulations at high (1/25°) and lower (1/12.5°) resolution and compare with an ensemble of lower-resolution simulations. We show that the ensemble forecast significantly extends the predictability of the ocean mesoscales to between 20 and 40 days. We find that the lack of predictive skill in data assimilative deterministic ocean models is due to high uncertainty in the initial location and forecast of mesoscale features. Ensemble simulations account for this uncertainty and filter-out unconstrained scales. We suggest that advancements in ensemble analysis and forecasting should complement the current focus on high-resolution modeling of the ocean.

Mesoscale eddies in the Black Sea: Characteristics and kinematic properties in a high-resolution ocean model

2021 ◽  
pp. 103613
Author(s):  
Ehsan Sadighrad ◽  
Bettina A. Fach ◽  
Sinan S. Arkin ◽  
Baris Salihoğlu ◽  
Sinan Hüsrevoğlu
Keyword(s):  
High Resolution ◽  
Black Sea ◽  
Mesoscale Eddies ◽  
Ocean Model ◽  
The Black Sea ◽  
Kinematic Properties
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