Imprint of Southern Ocean eddies on winds, clouds and rainfall
Owing to the turbulent nature of the ocean, mesoscale eddies are omnipresent. The impact of these transitory and approximately circular sea surface temperature fronts on the overlying atmosphere is not well known. Stationary fronts such as the Gulf Stream have been reported to lead to pronounced atm...
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Online Access: | https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/36470/ https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/36470/1/ngeo1863.pdf https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo1863 |
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ftoceanrep:oai:oceanrep.geomar.de:36470 2023-05-15T18:24:58+02:00 Imprint of Southern Ocean eddies on winds, clouds and rainfall Frenger, Ivy Gruber, N. Knutti, R. Münnich, M. 2013 text https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/36470/ https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/36470/1/ngeo1863.pdf https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo1863 en eng Nature Publishing Group https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/36470/1/ngeo1863.pdf Frenger, I. , Gruber, N., Knutti, R. and Münnich, M. (2013) Imprint of Southern Ocean eddies on winds, clouds and rainfall. Nature Geoscience, 6 (8). pp. 608-612. DOI 10.1038/ngeo1863 <https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo1863>. doi:10.1038/ngeo1863 info:eu-repo/semantics/restrictedAccess Article PeerReviewed 2013 ftoceanrep https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo1863 2023-04-07T15:30:56Z Owing to the turbulent nature of the ocean, mesoscale eddies are omnipresent. The impact of these transitory and approximately circular sea surface temperature fronts on the overlying atmosphere is not well known. Stationary fronts such as the Gulf Stream have been reported to lead to pronounced atmospheric changes1, 2. However, the impact of transient ocean eddies on the atmosphere has not been determined systematically, except on winds and to some extent clouds3, 4, 5, 6. Here, we examine the atmospheric conditions associated with over 600,000 individual eddies in the Southern Ocean, using satellite data. We show that ocean eddies locally affect near-surface wind, cloud properties and rainfall. The observed pattern of atmospheric change is consistent with a mechanism in which sea surface temperature anomalies associated with the oceanic eddies modify turbulence in the atmospheric boundary layer. In the case of cyclonic eddies, this modification triggers a slackening of near-surface winds, a decline in cloud fraction and water content, and a reduction in rainfall. We conclude that transient mesoscale ocean structures can significantly affect much larger atmospheric low-pressure systems that swiftly pass by at the latitudes investigated. Article in Journal/Newspaper Southern Ocean OceanRep (GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre für Ocean Research Kiel) Southern Ocean Nature Geoscience 6 8 608 612 |
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OceanRep (GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre für Ocean Research Kiel) |
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English |
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Owing to the turbulent nature of the ocean, mesoscale eddies are omnipresent. The impact of these transitory and approximately circular sea surface temperature fronts on the overlying atmosphere is not well known. Stationary fronts such as the Gulf Stream have been reported to lead to pronounced atmospheric changes1, 2. However, the impact of transient ocean eddies on the atmosphere has not been determined systematically, except on winds and to some extent clouds3, 4, 5, 6. Here, we examine the atmospheric conditions associated with over 600,000 individual eddies in the Southern Ocean, using satellite data. We show that ocean eddies locally affect near-surface wind, cloud properties and rainfall. The observed pattern of atmospheric change is consistent with a mechanism in which sea surface temperature anomalies associated with the oceanic eddies modify turbulence in the atmospheric boundary layer. In the case of cyclonic eddies, this modification triggers a slackening of near-surface winds, a decline in cloud fraction and water content, and a reduction in rainfall. We conclude that transient mesoscale ocean structures can significantly affect much larger atmospheric low-pressure systems that swiftly pass by at the latitudes investigated. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Frenger, Ivy Gruber, N. Knutti, R. Münnich, M. |
spellingShingle |
Frenger, Ivy Gruber, N. Knutti, R. Münnich, M. Imprint of Southern Ocean eddies on winds, clouds and rainfall |
author_facet |
Frenger, Ivy Gruber, N. Knutti, R. Münnich, M. |
author_sort |
Frenger, Ivy |
title |
Imprint of Southern Ocean eddies on winds, clouds and rainfall |
title_short |
Imprint of Southern Ocean eddies on winds, clouds and rainfall |
title_full |
Imprint of Southern Ocean eddies on winds, clouds and rainfall |
title_fullStr |
Imprint of Southern Ocean eddies on winds, clouds and rainfall |
title_full_unstemmed |
Imprint of Southern Ocean eddies on winds, clouds and rainfall |
title_sort |
imprint of southern ocean eddies on winds, clouds and rainfall |
publisher |
Nature Publishing Group |
publishDate |
2013 |
url |
https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/36470/ https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/36470/1/ngeo1863.pdf https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo1863 |
geographic |
Southern Ocean |
geographic_facet |
Southern Ocean |
genre |
Southern Ocean |
genre_facet |
Southern Ocean |
op_relation |
https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/36470/1/ngeo1863.pdf Frenger, I. , Gruber, N., Knutti, R. and Münnich, M. (2013) Imprint of Southern Ocean eddies on winds, clouds and rainfall. Nature Geoscience, 6 (8). pp. 608-612. DOI 10.1038/ngeo1863 <https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo1863>. doi:10.1038/ngeo1863 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/restrictedAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo1863 |
container_title |
Nature Geoscience |
container_volume |
6 |
container_issue |
8 |
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608 |
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612 |
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1766206025992503296 |