Record Details

Air-sea interaction over ocean fronts and eddies

ScholarsArchive at Oregon State University

Field Value
Title Air-sea interaction over ocean fronts and eddies
Names Small, R. J. (creator)
de Szoeke, Simon P. (creator)
Xie, S. P. (creator)
O'Neill, L. (creator)
Seo, H. (creator)
Song, Q. (creator)
Cornillon, P. (creator)
Spall, M. (creator)
Minobe, S. (creator)
Date Issued 2008-08 (iso8601)
Note To the best of our knowledge, one or more authors of this paper were federal employees when contributing to this work. This is the publisher’s final pdf. The published article is copyrighted by Elsevier and can be found at: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/dynamics-of-atmospheres-and-oceans.
Abstract Air-sea interaction at ocean fronts and eddies exhibits positive correlation
between sea surface temperature (SST), wind speed, and
heat fluxes out of the ocean, indicating that the ocean is forcing the
atmosphere. This contrasts with larger scale climate modes where
the negative correlations suggest that the atmosphere is driving
the system. This paper examines the physical processes that lie
behind the interaction of sharp SST gradients and the overlying
marine atmospheric boundary layer and deeper atmosphere, using
high resolution satellite data, field data and numerical models.
The importance of different physical mechanisms of atmospheric
response to SST gradients, such as the effect of surface stability
variations on momentum transfer, pressure gradients, secondary circulations and cloud cover will be assessed. The atmospheric
response is known to create small-scale wind stress curl and divergence
anomalies, and a discussion of the feedback of these features
onto the ocean will also be presented. These processes will be compared
and contrasted for different regions such as the Equatorial
Front in the Eastern Pacific, and oceanic fronts in mid-latitudes such
as the Gulf Stream, Kuroshio, and Agulhas Return Current.
Genre Article
Topic Air-sea interaction
Identifier Small, R. J., de Szoeke, S. P., Xie, S. P., O’Neill, L., Seo, H., Song, Q., ... & Minobe, S. (2008). Air-sea interaction over ocean fronts and eddies. Dynamics of Atmospheres and Oceans, 45(3/4), 274-319. doi:10.1016/j.dynatmoce.2008.01.001

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