Oceanic eddy with submesoscale edge drives intense air-sea exchanges and beyond.

ABSTRACT: Oceanic mesoscale eddies influence air-sea interaction and atmosphere dynamics through ventilating heat and moisture upward. However, whether the sea surface temperature (SST) gradient on the eddy edge could affect the heat and moisture release is still unknown because of the limited observations and coarse-resolution climate models. Using high-resolution atmospheric simulations, this study compares the atmospheric response to the mesoscale (~ 40 km) and submesoscale (~ 4 km) SST gradients at the edge of an eddy. Results show that submesoscale SST gradient drives stronger surface heat and moisture fluxes, enhancing the vertical mixing intensity by 2-3 times within and above the marine atmospheric boundary layer. As a result, one local precipitation event is found to be an order of magnitud

SUBMITTER: Zhu R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11502877 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature