Diagnosing Cross‐Scale Kinetic Energy Exchanges From Two Submesoscale Permitting Ocean Models
Abstract Fine‐scale motions (<100 km) contribute significantly to the exchanges and dissipation of kinetic energy in the upper ocean. However, knowledge of ocean kinetic energy at fine‐scales (in terms of density and transfers) is currently limited due to the lack of sufficient observational data...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:f68494c8cdfa4e76bd9e5c71523e22a4 2023-05-15T17:35:06+02:00 Diagnosing Cross‐Scale Kinetic Energy Exchanges From Two Submesoscale Permitting Ocean Models Adekunle Ajayi Julien Le Sommer Eric P. Chassignet Jean‐Marc Molines Xiaobiao Xu Aurelie Albert William Dewar 2021-06-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.1029/2019MS001923 https://doaj.org/article/f68494c8cdfa4e76bd9e5c71523e22a4 EN eng American Geophysical Union (AGU) https://doi.org/10.1029/2019MS001923 https://doaj.org/toc/1942-2466 1942-2466 doi:10.1029/2019MS001923 https://doaj.org/article/f68494c8cdfa4e76bd9e5c71523e22a4 Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems, Vol 13, Iss 6, Pp n/a-n/a (2021) energy cascade fine‐scales submesoscales SWOT Physical geography GB3-5030 Oceanography GC1-1581 article 2021 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.1029/2019MS001923 2022-12-31T04:28:07Z Abstract Fine‐scale motions (<100 km) contribute significantly to the exchanges and dissipation of kinetic energy in the upper ocean. However, knowledge of ocean kinetic energy at fine‐scales (in terms of density and transfers) is currently limited due to the lack of sufficient observational data sets at these scales. The sea‐surface height measurements of the upcoming Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) altimeter mission should provide information on kinetic energy exchanges in the upper ocean down to 10–15 km. Numerical ocean models, able to describe ocean dynamics down to ∼10 km, have been developed in anticipation of the SWOT mission. In this study, we use two state‐of‐the‐art, realistic, North Atlantic simulations, with horizontal resolutions ∼1.5 km, to investigate the distribution and exchanges of kinetic energy at fine‐scales in the open ocean. Our results show that the distribution of kinetic energy at fine‐scales approximately follows the predictions of quasigeostrophic dynamics in summertime but is somewhat consistent with submesoscale fronts‐dominated regimes in wintertime. The kinetic energy spectral fluxes are found to exhibit both inverse and forward cascade over the top 1,000 m, with a maximum inverse cascade close to the average energy‐containing scale. The forward cascade is confined to the ocean surface and shows a strong seasonality, both in magnitude and range of scales affected. Our analysis further indicates that high‐frequency motions (<1 day) play a key role in the forward cascade and that the estimates of the spectral fluxes based on geostrophic velocities fail to capture some quantitative aspects of kinetic energy exchanges across scales. Article in Journal/Newspaper North Atlantic Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems 13 6 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
energy cascade fine‐scales submesoscales SWOT Physical geography GB3-5030 Oceanography GC1-1581 |
spellingShingle |
energy cascade fine‐scales submesoscales SWOT Physical geography GB3-5030 Oceanography GC1-1581 Adekunle Ajayi Julien Le Sommer Eric P. Chassignet Jean‐Marc Molines Xiaobiao Xu Aurelie Albert William Dewar Diagnosing Cross‐Scale Kinetic Energy Exchanges From Two Submesoscale Permitting Ocean Models |
topic_facet |
energy cascade fine‐scales submesoscales SWOT Physical geography GB3-5030 Oceanography GC1-1581 |
description |
Abstract Fine‐scale motions (<100 km) contribute significantly to the exchanges and dissipation of kinetic energy in the upper ocean. However, knowledge of ocean kinetic energy at fine‐scales (in terms of density and transfers) is currently limited due to the lack of sufficient observational data sets at these scales. The sea‐surface height measurements of the upcoming Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) altimeter mission should provide information on kinetic energy exchanges in the upper ocean down to 10–15 km. Numerical ocean models, able to describe ocean dynamics down to ∼10 km, have been developed in anticipation of the SWOT mission. In this study, we use two state‐of‐the‐art, realistic, North Atlantic simulations, with horizontal resolutions ∼1.5 km, to investigate the distribution and exchanges of kinetic energy at fine‐scales in the open ocean. Our results show that the distribution of kinetic energy at fine‐scales approximately follows the predictions of quasigeostrophic dynamics in summertime but is somewhat consistent with submesoscale fronts‐dominated regimes in wintertime. The kinetic energy spectral fluxes are found to exhibit both inverse and forward cascade over the top 1,000 m, with a maximum inverse cascade close to the average energy‐containing scale. The forward cascade is confined to the ocean surface and shows a strong seasonality, both in magnitude and range of scales affected. Our analysis further indicates that high‐frequency motions (<1 day) play a key role in the forward cascade and that the estimates of the spectral fluxes based on geostrophic velocities fail to capture some quantitative aspects of kinetic energy exchanges across scales. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Adekunle Ajayi Julien Le Sommer Eric P. Chassignet Jean‐Marc Molines Xiaobiao Xu Aurelie Albert William Dewar |
author_facet |
Adekunle Ajayi Julien Le Sommer Eric P. Chassignet Jean‐Marc Molines Xiaobiao Xu Aurelie Albert William Dewar |
author_sort |
Adekunle Ajayi |
title |
Diagnosing Cross‐Scale Kinetic Energy Exchanges From Two Submesoscale Permitting Ocean Models |
title_short |
Diagnosing Cross‐Scale Kinetic Energy Exchanges From Two Submesoscale Permitting Ocean Models |
title_full |
Diagnosing Cross‐Scale Kinetic Energy Exchanges From Two Submesoscale Permitting Ocean Models |
title_fullStr |
Diagnosing Cross‐Scale Kinetic Energy Exchanges From Two Submesoscale Permitting Ocean Models |
title_full_unstemmed |
Diagnosing Cross‐Scale Kinetic Energy Exchanges From Two Submesoscale Permitting Ocean Models |
title_sort |
diagnosing cross‐scale kinetic energy exchanges from two submesoscale permitting ocean models |
publisher |
American Geophysical Union (AGU) |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1029/2019MS001923 https://doaj.org/article/f68494c8cdfa4e76bd9e5c71523e22a4 |
genre |
North Atlantic |
genre_facet |
North Atlantic |
op_source |
Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems, Vol 13, Iss 6, Pp n/a-n/a (2021) |
op_relation |
https://doi.org/10.1029/2019MS001923 https://doaj.org/toc/1942-2466 1942-2466 doi:10.1029/2019MS001923 https://doaj.org/article/f68494c8cdfa4e76bd9e5c71523e22a4 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1029/2019MS001923 |
container_title |
Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems |
container_volume |
13 |
container_issue |
6 |
_version_ |
1766134154952441856 |