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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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 |
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Open Polar |
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University of Southampton: e-Prints Soton |
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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 |
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46 |
container_issue |
20 |
container_start_page |
11281 |
op_container_end_page |
11291 |
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1772817914824491008 |