Air‐Sea Turbulent Heat Flux Feedback Over Mesoscale Eddies
Abstract Air‐sea turbulent heat fluxes play a fundamental role in generating and dampening sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies. To date, the turbulent heat flux feedback (THFF) is well quantified at basin‐wide scales (∼20 Wm−2K−1) but remains unknown at the oceanic mesoscale (10–100 km). Here, u...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Wiley
2021-10-01
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| Series: | Geophysical Research Letters |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1029/2021GL095407 |
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| author | Sophia Moreton David Ferreira Malcolm Roberts Helene Hewitt |
| author_facet | Sophia Moreton David Ferreira Malcolm Roberts Helene Hewitt |
| author_sort | Sophia Moreton |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Air‐sea turbulent heat fluxes play a fundamental role in generating and dampening sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies. To date, the turbulent heat flux feedback (THFF) is well quantified at basin‐wide scales (∼20 Wm−2K−1) but remains unknown at the oceanic mesoscale (10–100 km). Here, using an eddy‐tracking algorithm in three configurations of the coupled climate model HadGEM3‐GC3.1, the THFF over mesoscale eddies is estimated. The THFF magnitude is strongly dependent on the ocean‐to‐atmosphere regridding of SST, a common practice in coupled models for calculating air‐sea heat flux. Our best estimate shows that the mesoscale THFF ranges between 35 and 45 Wm−2K−1 globally, across different eddy amplitudes. Increasing the ratio of atmosphere‐to‐ocean grid resolution can lead to an underestimation of the THFF, by as much as 80% for a 6:1 resolution ratio. Our results suggest that a large atmosphere‐to‐ocean grid ratio can result in an artificially weak dampening of mesoscale SST anomalies. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-0fece6c7aa9240ce9eded0c84dbcf390 |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 0094-8276 1944-8007 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2021-10-01 |
| publisher | Wiley |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Geophysical Research Letters |
| spelling | doaj-art-0fece6c7aa9240ce9eded0c84dbcf3902025-08-20T02:36:27ZengWileyGeophysical Research Letters0094-82761944-80072021-10-014820n/an/a10.1029/2021GL095407Air‐Sea Turbulent Heat Flux Feedback Over Mesoscale EddiesSophia Moreton0David Ferreira1Malcolm Roberts2Helene Hewitt3Department of Meteorology University of Reading Reading UKDepartment of Meteorology University of Reading Reading UKUK Met Office Hadley Centre Exeter UKUK Met Office Hadley Centre Exeter UKAbstract Air‐sea turbulent heat fluxes play a fundamental role in generating and dampening sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies. To date, the turbulent heat flux feedback (THFF) is well quantified at basin‐wide scales (∼20 Wm−2K−1) but remains unknown at the oceanic mesoscale (10–100 km). Here, using an eddy‐tracking algorithm in three configurations of the coupled climate model HadGEM3‐GC3.1, the THFF over mesoscale eddies is estimated. The THFF magnitude is strongly dependent on the ocean‐to‐atmosphere regridding of SST, a common practice in coupled models for calculating air‐sea heat flux. Our best estimate shows that the mesoscale THFF ranges between 35 and 45 Wm−2K−1 globally, across different eddy amplitudes. Increasing the ratio of atmosphere‐to‐ocean grid resolution can lead to an underestimation of the THFF, by as much as 80% for a 6:1 resolution ratio. Our results suggest that a large atmosphere‐to‐ocean grid ratio can result in an artificially weak dampening of mesoscale SST anomalies.https://doi.org/10.1029/2021GL095407mesoscale eddiesair‐sea interactionhigh‐resolution climate modeling |
| spellingShingle | Sophia Moreton David Ferreira Malcolm Roberts Helene Hewitt Air‐Sea Turbulent Heat Flux Feedback Over Mesoscale Eddies Geophysical Research Letters mesoscale eddies air‐sea interaction high‐resolution climate modeling |
| title | Air‐Sea Turbulent Heat Flux Feedback Over Mesoscale Eddies |
| title_full | Air‐Sea Turbulent Heat Flux Feedback Over Mesoscale Eddies |
| title_fullStr | Air‐Sea Turbulent Heat Flux Feedback Over Mesoscale Eddies |
| title_full_unstemmed | Air‐Sea Turbulent Heat Flux Feedback Over Mesoscale Eddies |
| title_short | Air‐Sea Turbulent Heat Flux Feedback Over Mesoscale Eddies |
| title_sort | air sea turbulent heat flux feedback over mesoscale eddies |
| topic | mesoscale eddies air‐sea interaction high‐resolution climate modeling |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1029/2021GL095407 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT sophiamoreton airseaturbulentheatfluxfeedbackovermesoscaleeddies AT davidferreira airseaturbulentheatfluxfeedbackovermesoscaleeddies AT malcolmroberts airseaturbulentheatfluxfeedbackovermesoscaleeddies AT helenehewitt airseaturbulentheatfluxfeedbackovermesoscaleeddies |