A multiplatform investigation of Istrian Front dynamics (north Adriatic Sea) in winter 2015

In the northeastern Adriatic Sea, southwest of the Istrian Peninsula, a persistent thermohaline front is formed, called here the Istrian Front (IF). A Slocum glider was operated across the IF near the entrance to the Kvarner Bay between 24 and 27 February 2015. Three Acoustic Doppler Current Profilers (ADCPs) were also deployed at the entrance of the Kvarner Bay during the same period. The glider crossed twice the IF, which was characterized by a fast response to the local wind condition, detecting strong salinity, temperature and density gradients. During the first crossing a strong northeasterly Bora wind was blowing. This resulted in a very sharp and strong thermohaline front, extended vertically in the entire water column, between saltier and warmer water to the south, and the fresher and colder water to the north. Across the front the SST changed ~ 1.2 °C within a distance of 2.4 km. On the contrary, during the second crossing, about 2 days later, under weaker wind conditions, the IF appeared to be much smoother, inclined and wider while the SST changed ~ 1.2 °C within a distance of 8 km. A strong density gradient was also reported, coincident with the thermohaline IF. From previous observations, mainly experiments in 2003, the IF was known only as a thermohaline front compensated in density. In winter 2015, the density front was strong and well defined, demonstrating a density difference of about 0.36 kg/m3 within a distance of 2.4 km. The ADCP measurements and the numerical model simulations demonstrated a circulation of cold waters exiting from the Kvarner Bay in the southern part of the entrance, while during a Bora event this outflow was taking place in the northern part.

A New Mechanism for Mode Water Formation Involving Cabbeling and Frontogenetic Strain at Thermohaline Fronts. Part II: Numerical Simulations

Submesoscale-resolving numerical simulations are used to investigate a mechanism for sustained mode water formation via cabbeling at thermohaline fronts subject to a confluent strain flow. The simulations serve to further elucidate the mechanism and refine the predictions of the analytical model of Thomas and Shakespeare. Unlike other proposed mechanisms involving air–sea fluxes, the cabbeling mechanism, in addition to driving significant mode water formation, uniquely determines the thermohaline properties of the mode water given knowledge of the source water masses on either side of the front. The process of mode water formation in the simulations is as follows: Confluent flow associated with idealized mesoscale eddies forces water horizontally toward the front. The frontogenetic circulation draws this water near adiabatically from the full depth of the thermohaline front up to the surface 25 m, where resolved submesoscale instabilities drive intense mixing across the thermohaline front, creating the mode water. The mode water is denser than the surrounding stratified fluid and sinks to fill its neutral buoyancy layer at depth. This layer gradually expands up to the surface, and eddies composed entirely of this mode water detach from the front and accumulate in the diffluent regions of the domain. The process continues until the source water masses are exhausted. The temperature–salinity (T–S) relation of the resulting mode water is biased to the properties of the source water that has the larger isopycnal T–S anomaly. This mechanism has the potential to drive O(1) Sv (1 Sv ≡ 106 m3 s−1) mode water formation and may be important in determining the properties of mode water in the global oceans.

Hydrographic Preconditioning for Seasonal Sea Ice Anomalies in the Labrador Sea

This study investigates the hydrographic processes involved in setting the maximum wintertime sea ice (SI) extent in the Labrador Sea and Baffin Bay. The analysis is based on an ocean and sea ice state estimate covering the summer-to-summer 1996/97 annual cycle. The estimate is a synthesis of in situ and satellite hydrographic and ice data with a regional coupled ⅓° ocean–sea ice model. SI advective processes are first demonstrated to be required to reproduce the observed ice extent. With advection, the marginal ice zone (MIZ) location stabilizes where ice melt balances ice mass convergence, a quasi-equilibrium condition achieved via the convergence of warm subtropical-origin subsurface waters into the mixed layer seaward of the MIZ. An analysis of ocean surface buoyancy fluxes reveals a critical role of low-salinity upper ocean (100 m) anomalies for the advancement of SI seaward of the Arctic Water–Irminger Water Thermohaline Front. Anomalous low-salinity waters slow the rate of buoyancy loss–driven mixed layer deepening, shielding an advancing SI pack from the warm subsurface waters, and are conducive to a positive surface meltwater stabilization enhancement (MESEM) feedback driven by SI meltwater release. The low-salinity upper-ocean hydrographic conditions in which the MESEM efficiently operates are termed sea ice–preconditioned waters (SIPW). The SI extent seaward of the Thermohaline Front is shown to closely correspond to the distribution of SIPW. The analysis of two additional state estimates (1992/93, 2003/04) suggests that interannual hydrographic variability provides a first-order explanation for SI maximum extent anomalies in the region.