Seasonality of submesoscale flows in the ocean surface boundary layer
A signature of submesoscale flows in the upper ocean is skewness in the distribution of relative vorticity. Expected to result for high Rossby-number flows, such skewness has implications for mixing, dissipation and stratification within the upper ocean. An array of moorings deployed in the Northeas...
Published in: | Geophysical Research Letters |
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2016
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Online Access: | http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/513169/ https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/513169/7/grl54082.pdf https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/513169/1/Buckingham_et_al-2016-Geophysical_Research_Letters.pdf https://doi.org/10.1002/2016GL068009 |
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ftnerc:oai:nora.nerc.ac.uk:513169 2023-05-15T17:41:25+02:00 Seasonality of submesoscale flows in the ocean surface boundary layer Buckingham, Christian E. Naveira Garabato, Alberto C. Thompson, Andrew F. Brannigan, Liam Lazar, Ayah Marshall, David P. Nurser, A.J. George Damerell, Gillian Heywood, Karen J. Belcher, Stephen E. 2016-03-16 text http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/513169/ https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/513169/7/grl54082.pdf https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/513169/1/Buckingham_et_al-2016-Geophysical_Research_Letters.pdf https://doi.org/10.1002/2016GL068009 en eng https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/513169/7/grl54082.pdf https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/513169/1/Buckingham_et_al-2016-Geophysical_Research_Letters.pdf Buckingham, Christian E.; Naveira Garabato, Alberto C.; Thompson, Andrew F.; Brannigan, Liam; Lazar, Ayah; Marshall, David P.; Nurser, A.J. George; Damerell, Gillian; Heywood, Karen J.; Belcher, Stephen E. 2016 Seasonality of submesoscale flows in the ocean surface boundary layer. Geophysical Research Letters, 43 (5). 2118-2126. https://doi.org/10.1002/2016GL068009 <https://doi.org/10.1002/2016GL068009> cc_by CC-BY Marine Sciences Publication - Article PeerReviewed 2016 ftnerc https://doi.org/10.1002/2016GL068009 2023-02-04T19:42:47Z A signature of submesoscale flows in the upper ocean is skewness in the distribution of relative vorticity. Expected to result for high Rossby-number flows, such skewness has implications for mixing, dissipation and stratification within the upper ocean. An array of moorings deployed in the Northeast Atlantic for one year as part of the OSMOSIS experiment reveals that relative vorticity is positively skewed during winter even though the scale of the Rossby number is less than 0.5. Furthermore, this skewness is reduced to zero during spring and autumn. There is also evidence of modest seasonal variations in the gradient Rossby number. The proposed mechanism by which relative vorticity is skewed is that the ratio of lateral to vertical buoyancy gradients, as summarized by the inverse gradient Richardson number, restricts its range during winter but less so at other times of the year. These results support recent observations and model simulations suggesting the upper ocean is host to a seasonal cycle in submesoscale turbulence. Article in Journal/Newspaper Northeast Atlantic Natural Environment Research Council: NERC Open Research Archive Geophysical Research Letters 43 5 2118 2126 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Natural Environment Research Council: NERC Open Research Archive |
op_collection_id |
ftnerc |
language |
English |
topic |
Marine Sciences |
spellingShingle |
Marine Sciences Buckingham, Christian E. Naveira Garabato, Alberto C. Thompson, Andrew F. Brannigan, Liam Lazar, Ayah Marshall, David P. Nurser, A.J. George Damerell, Gillian Heywood, Karen J. Belcher, Stephen E. Seasonality of submesoscale flows in the ocean surface boundary layer |
topic_facet |
Marine Sciences |
description |
A signature of submesoscale flows in the upper ocean is skewness in the distribution of relative vorticity. Expected to result for high Rossby-number flows, such skewness has implications for mixing, dissipation and stratification within the upper ocean. An array of moorings deployed in the Northeast Atlantic for one year as part of the OSMOSIS experiment reveals that relative vorticity is positively skewed during winter even though the scale of the Rossby number is less than 0.5. Furthermore, this skewness is reduced to zero during spring and autumn. There is also evidence of modest seasonal variations in the gradient Rossby number. The proposed mechanism by which relative vorticity is skewed is that the ratio of lateral to vertical buoyancy gradients, as summarized by the inverse gradient Richardson number, restricts its range during winter but less so at other times of the year. These results support recent observations and model simulations suggesting the upper ocean is host to a seasonal cycle in submesoscale turbulence. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Buckingham, Christian E. Naveira Garabato, Alberto C. Thompson, Andrew F. Brannigan, Liam Lazar, Ayah Marshall, David P. Nurser, A.J. George Damerell, Gillian Heywood, Karen J. Belcher, Stephen E. |
author_facet |
Buckingham, Christian E. Naveira Garabato, Alberto C. Thompson, Andrew F. Brannigan, Liam Lazar, Ayah Marshall, David P. Nurser, A.J. George Damerell, Gillian Heywood, Karen J. Belcher, Stephen E. |
author_sort |
Buckingham, Christian E. |
title |
Seasonality of submesoscale flows in the ocean surface boundary layer |
title_short |
Seasonality of submesoscale flows in the ocean surface boundary layer |
title_full |
Seasonality of submesoscale flows in the ocean surface boundary layer |
title_fullStr |
Seasonality of submesoscale flows in the ocean surface boundary layer |
title_full_unstemmed |
Seasonality of submesoscale flows in the ocean surface boundary layer |
title_sort |
seasonality of submesoscale flows in the ocean surface boundary layer |
publishDate |
2016 |
url |
http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/513169/ https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/513169/7/grl54082.pdf https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/513169/1/Buckingham_et_al-2016-Geophysical_Research_Letters.pdf https://doi.org/10.1002/2016GL068009 |
genre |
Northeast Atlantic |
genre_facet |
Northeast Atlantic |
op_relation |
https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/513169/7/grl54082.pdf https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/513169/1/Buckingham_et_al-2016-Geophysical_Research_Letters.pdf Buckingham, Christian E.; Naveira Garabato, Alberto C.; Thompson, Andrew F.; Brannigan, Liam; Lazar, Ayah; Marshall, David P.; Nurser, A.J. George; Damerell, Gillian; Heywood, Karen J.; Belcher, Stephen E. 2016 Seasonality of submesoscale flows in the ocean surface boundary layer. Geophysical Research Letters, 43 (5). 2118-2126. https://doi.org/10.1002/2016GL068009 <https://doi.org/10.1002/2016GL068009> |
op_rights |
cc_by |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1002/2016GL068009 |
container_title |
Geophysical Research Letters |
container_volume |
43 |
container_issue |
5 |
container_start_page |
2118 |
op_container_end_page |
2126 |
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1766142950973112320 |