Wind‐forced symmetric instability at a transient mid‐ocean front

Mooring and glider observations and a high‐resolution satellite sea surface temperature image reveal features of a transient submesoscale front in a typical mid‐ocean region of the Northeast Atlantic. Analysis of the observations suggests that the front is forced by downfront winds and undergoes sym...

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Published in:Geophysical Research Letters
Main Authors: Yu, Xiaolong, Naveira Garabato, Alberto C., Martin, Adrian P., Evans, D. Gwyn, Su, Zhan
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: 2019
Subjects:
Online Access:https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/435124/
https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/435124/1/Yu_et_al_2019_Geophysical_Research_Letters.pdf
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spelling ftsouthampton:oai:eprints.soton.ac.uk:435124 2023-07-30T04:05:46+02:00 Wind‐forced symmetric instability at a transient mid‐ocean front Yu, Xiaolong Naveira Garabato, Alberto C. Martin, Adrian P. Evans, D. Gwyn Su, Zhan 2019-09-12 text https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/435124/ https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/435124/1/Yu_et_al_2019_Geophysical_Research_Letters.pdf en English eng https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/435124/1/Yu_et_al_2019_Geophysical_Research_Letters.pdf Yu, Xiaolong, Naveira Garabato, Alberto C., Martin, Adrian P., Evans, D. Gwyn and Su, Zhan (2019) Wind‐forced symmetric instability at a transient mid‐ocean front. Geophysical Research Letters. (doi:10.1029/2019GL084309 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2019GL084309>). cc_by_4 Article PeerReviewed 2019 ftsouthampton https://doi.org/10.1029/2019GL084309 2023-07-09T22:32:34Z Mooring and glider observations and a high‐resolution satellite sea surface temperature image reveal features of a transient submesoscale front in a typical mid‐ocean region of the Northeast Atlantic. Analysis of the observations suggests that the front is forced by downfront winds and undergoes symmetric instability, resulting in elevated upper‐ocean kinetic energy, re‐stratification and turbulent dissipation. The instability is triggered as downfront winds act on weak upper‐ocean vertical stratification and strong lateral stratification produced by mesoscale frontogenesis. The instability's estimated rate of kinetic energy extraction from the front accounts for the difference between the measured rate of turbulent dissipation and the predicted contribution from one‐dimensional scalings of buoyancy‐ and wind‐driven turbulence, indicating that the instability underpins the enhanced dissipation. These results provide direct evidence of the occurrence of symmetric instability in a quiescent open‐ocean environment, and highlight the need to represent the instability's re‐stratification and dissipative effects in climate‐scale ocean models. Article in Journal/Newspaper Northeast Atlantic University of Southampton: e-Prints Soton Geophysical Research Letters 46 20 11281 11291
institution Open Polar
collection University of Southampton: e-Prints Soton
op_collection_id ftsouthampton
language English
description Mooring and glider observations and a high‐resolution satellite sea surface temperature image reveal features of a transient submesoscale front in a typical mid‐ocean region of the Northeast Atlantic. Analysis of the observations suggests that the front is forced by downfront winds and undergoes symmetric instability, resulting in elevated upper‐ocean kinetic energy, re‐stratification and turbulent dissipation. The instability is triggered as downfront winds act on weak upper‐ocean vertical stratification and strong lateral stratification produced by mesoscale frontogenesis. The instability's estimated rate of kinetic energy extraction from the front accounts for the difference between the measured rate of turbulent dissipation and the predicted contribution from one‐dimensional scalings of buoyancy‐ and wind‐driven turbulence, indicating that the instability underpins the enhanced dissipation. These results provide direct evidence of the occurrence of symmetric instability in a quiescent open‐ocean environment, and highlight the need to represent the instability's re‐stratification and dissipative effects in climate‐scale ocean models.
format Article in Journal/Newspaper
author Yu, Xiaolong
Naveira Garabato, Alberto C.
Martin, Adrian P.
Evans, D. Gwyn
Su, Zhan
spellingShingle Yu, Xiaolong
Naveira Garabato, Alberto C.
Martin, Adrian P.
Evans, D. Gwyn
Su, Zhan
Wind‐forced symmetric instability at a transient mid‐ocean front
author_facet Yu, Xiaolong
Naveira Garabato, Alberto C.
Martin, Adrian P.
Evans, D. Gwyn
Su, Zhan
author_sort Yu, Xiaolong
title Wind‐forced symmetric instability at a transient mid‐ocean front
title_short Wind‐forced symmetric instability at a transient mid‐ocean front
title_full Wind‐forced symmetric instability at a transient mid‐ocean front
title_fullStr Wind‐forced symmetric instability at a transient mid‐ocean front
title_full_unstemmed Wind‐forced symmetric instability at a transient mid‐ocean front
title_sort wind‐forced symmetric instability at a transient mid‐ocean front
publishDate 2019
url https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/435124/
https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/435124/1/Yu_et_al_2019_Geophysical_Research_Letters.pdf
genre Northeast Atlantic
genre_facet Northeast Atlantic
op_relation https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/435124/1/Yu_et_al_2019_Geophysical_Research_Letters.pdf
Yu, Xiaolong, Naveira Garabato, Alberto C., Martin, Adrian P., Evans, D. Gwyn and Su, Zhan (2019) Wind‐forced symmetric instability at a transient mid‐ocean front. Geophysical Research Letters. (doi:10.1029/2019GL084309 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2019GL084309>).
op_rights cc_by_4
op_doi https://doi.org/10.1029/2019GL084309
container_title Geophysical Research Letters
container_volume 46
container_issue 20
container_start_page 11281
op_container_end_page 11291
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