Observation of the surface horizontal thermohaline variability at mesoscale to submesoscale in the north-eastern subtropical Atlantic Ocean

• Published in: Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans
• Main Authors: Kolodziejczyk, Nicolas, N., Reverdin, Gilles, Boutin, Jacqueline, Hernandez, Olga
• Other Authors: Laboratoire d'Océanographie et du Climat : Expérimentations et Approches Numériques (LOCEAN), Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (MNHN)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 (UPMC)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut Pierre-Simon-Laplace (IPSL (FR_636)), 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)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-École polytechnique (X)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-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)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-École polytechnique (X)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Interactions et Processus au sein de la couche de Surface Océanique (IPSO), Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-École polytechnique (X)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-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)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut Pierre-Simon-Laplace (IPSL (FR_636)), ANR-10-EQPX-0040,NAOS,Observations de l'océan global pour l'étude et la prévision de l'océan et du climat: préparation de la nouvelle décennie d'Argo(2010)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2015
• Subjects: surface thermohaline variability; density-compensation; QG turbulence; subtropical North Atlantic; mesoscale to submesoscale; in situ observations; [SDU.STU.GP]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/Geophysics [physics.geo-ph]; North Atlantic
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-01233659; https://hal.science/hal-01233659/document; https://hal.science/hal-01233659/file/JGR%20Oceans%20-%202015%20-%20Kolodziejczyk%20-%20Observation%20of%20the%20surface%20horizontal%20thermohaline%20variability%20at%20mesoscale%20to.pdf; https://doi.org/10.1002/2014JC010455

International audience The seasonal variability of the surface horizontal thermohaline structure is investigated in the north-eastern Atlantic Surface Salinity Maximum (SSM) at length scales from five to hundreds of kilometers, i.e., at submesoscale to mesoscale. The near-surface temperature and salinity data from merchant ship thermosalinograph (TSG) transects across the Atlantic are used to compute the horizontal temperature, salinity and density fluctuations, and the density ratio. During late winter in the north-eastern SSM, thermohaline compensation is observed for wavelengths from 5 km to more than 200 km; in spite of large and sharp surface thermohaline fronts, a weak density surface horizontal gradient is observed. Temperature and salinity exhibit an energetic spectra in k−2 slope scale between 20–100 km scale and a steeper slope at shorter wavelengths, while density spectra exhibit lower energy level with a clear k−3 slope below 20 km, consistent with interior quasigeostrophic turbulence. During summer in the north-eastern SSM, salinity and temperature gradients are no longer compensated due to strong atmospheric heating of the upper ocean. In comparison with winter, the surface density spectrum is enhanced with a flatter slope between k−2 and k−1 between 5 and 20 km.