A high-resolution simulation of the ocean during the POMME experiment: Mesoscale variability and near surface processes

• Published in: Journal of Geophysical Research
• Main Authors: Paci, A., Caniaux, Guy, Giordani, Hervé, Lévy, Marina, Prieur, Louis, Reverdin, Gilles
• Other Authors: Centre national de recherches météorologiques (CNRM), Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Observatoire Midi-Pyrénées (OMP), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier (UT3), Université de Toulouse (UT)-Université de Toulouse (UT)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Météo-France-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier (UT3), Université de Toulouse (UT)-Université de Toulouse (UT)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Météo-France-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Laboratoire d'Océanographie et du Climat : Expérimentations et Approches Numériques (LOCEAN), Institut Pierre-Simon-Laplace (IPSL), École normale supérieure - Paris (ENS-PSL), Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 (UPMC)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-École polytechnique (X), Institut Polytechnique de Paris (IP Paris)-Institut Polytechnique de Paris (IP Paris)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-École normale supérieure - Paris (ENS-PSL), Institut Polytechnique de Paris (IP Paris)-Institut Polytechnique de Paris (IP Paris)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (MNHN)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 (UPMC)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: CCSD 2007
• Subjects: [PHYS.PHYS.PHYS-GEO-PH]Physics [physics]/Physics [physics]/Geophysics [physics.geo-ph]; [SDU]Sciences of the Universe [physics]; Northeast Atlantic
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-00770698; https://hal.science/hal-00770698v1/document; https://hal.science/hal-00770698v1/file/2005JC003389.pdf; https://doi.org/10.1029/2005JC003389

International audience This article is the second part of a modeling study of upper ocean mesoscale physical processes in an area of the northeast Atlantic that was extensively sampled during the Programme Océan Multidisciplinaire Méso-Echelle (POMME experiment, October 2000-September 2001). The model is a high-resolution regional version of the ocean general circulation model OPA integrated from February to May 2001. The mesoscale upper ocean dynamics has been carefully validated in a first paper (Paci et al., 2005). In the present article, the simulation is used to analyze the contribution of mesoscale eddies to the mixed layer processes during the period that controls the annual subduction rate and the characteristics of the subducted water. Mesoscale eddies account for a significant part of the mixed layer heat, salt, and water budgets through mesoscale and submesoscale structures acting on the horizontal advective terms. They represent respectively 52% and 66% of the horizontal advection of temperature and salinity and 70% of the lateral induction. They also induce an earlier and more intense restratification. The domain-averaged detrainment appears to be reduced by more than 15% by mesoscale eddies and reaches about 0.8 Sv. However, these eddies increase the density of the detrained water. Some dense water, likely to be involved in the formation of subpolar mode water, is detrained by them in a way that maximizes its chance to be effectively subducted in the area.