The Effect of Sea Surface Temperature Fronts on Atmospheric Frontogenesis
It is thought that the sensible heat fluxes associated with sea surface temperature (SST) fronts can affect the genesis and evolution of atmospheric fronts. An analytic model is developed and used to explore this idea. The model predictions are compared with climatologies of atmospheric fronts over...
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ftunivbergen:oai:bora.uib.no:11250/2986672 2023-05-15T17:34:40+02:00 The Effect of Sea Surface Temperature Fronts on Atmospheric Frontogenesis Reeder, Michael J Spengler, Thomas Spensberger, Clemens 2021 application/pdf https://hdl.handle.net/11250/2986672 https://doi.org/10.1175/JAS-D-20-0118.1 eng eng American Meteorological Society urn:issn:0022-4928 https://hdl.handle.net/11250/2986672 https://doi.org/10.1175/JAS-D-20-0118.1 cristin:1939259 Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences. 2021, 78 (6), 1753-1771. Navngivelse 4.0 Internasjonal http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.no Copyright 2021 American Meteorological Society Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences 1753-1771 78 6 Journal article Peer reviewed 2021 ftunivbergen https://doi.org/10.1175/JAS-D-20-0118.1 2023-03-14T17:43:54Z It is thought that the sensible heat fluxes associated with sea surface temperature (SST) fronts can affect the genesis and evolution of atmospheric fronts. An analytic model is developed and used to explore this idea. The model predictions are compared with climatologies of atmospheric fronts over the North Atlantic Ocean identified in reanalyses. The climatologies are divided into times when fronts are detected at a point and times when they are not, and compared with model results with and without fronts in their initial conditions. In airstreams with fronts, both the climatologies and model show that adiabatic frontogenesis is much more important than diabatic frontogenesis. They also show that there is weak diabatic frontogenesis associated with differential sensible heating over the SST front and frontolysis either side of it. Because of the upstream and downstream frontolysis, the SST front has relatively little net effect on atmospheric fronts in the model. This result holds true as the width and strength of the SST front changes. In airstreams initially without fronts, a combination of adiabatic and diabatic frontogenesis is important for the local genesis of atmospheric fronts over the SST front. The model shows sustained frontogenesis only when the deformation is sufficiently strong or when the translation speed is low, as advection otherwise weakens the potential temperature gradient. This strong localized diabatic frontogenesis, which is amplified by adiabatic frontogenesis, can result in a front, which is consistent with atmospheric fronts in the region being most frequently located along the SST front. publishedVersion Article in Journal/Newspaper North Atlantic University of Bergen: Bergen Open Research Archive (BORA-UiB) Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences |
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Open Polar |
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University of Bergen: Bergen Open Research Archive (BORA-UiB) |
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ftunivbergen |
language |
English |
description |
It is thought that the sensible heat fluxes associated with sea surface temperature (SST) fronts can affect the genesis and evolution of atmospheric fronts. An analytic model is developed and used to explore this idea. The model predictions are compared with climatologies of atmospheric fronts over the North Atlantic Ocean identified in reanalyses. The climatologies are divided into times when fronts are detected at a point and times when they are not, and compared with model results with and without fronts in their initial conditions. In airstreams with fronts, both the climatologies and model show that adiabatic frontogenesis is much more important than diabatic frontogenesis. They also show that there is weak diabatic frontogenesis associated with differential sensible heating over the SST front and frontolysis either side of it. Because of the upstream and downstream frontolysis, the SST front has relatively little net effect on atmospheric fronts in the model. This result holds true as the width and strength of the SST front changes. In airstreams initially without fronts, a combination of adiabatic and diabatic frontogenesis is important for the local genesis of atmospheric fronts over the SST front. The model shows sustained frontogenesis only when the deformation is sufficiently strong or when the translation speed is low, as advection otherwise weakens the potential temperature gradient. This strong localized diabatic frontogenesis, which is amplified by adiabatic frontogenesis, can result in a front, which is consistent with atmospheric fronts in the region being most frequently located along the SST front. publishedVersion |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Reeder, Michael J Spengler, Thomas Spensberger, Clemens |
spellingShingle |
Reeder, Michael J Spengler, Thomas Spensberger, Clemens The Effect of Sea Surface Temperature Fronts on Atmospheric Frontogenesis |
author_facet |
Reeder, Michael J Spengler, Thomas Spensberger, Clemens |
author_sort |
Reeder, Michael J |
title |
The Effect of Sea Surface Temperature Fronts on Atmospheric Frontogenesis |
title_short |
The Effect of Sea Surface Temperature Fronts on Atmospheric Frontogenesis |
title_full |
The Effect of Sea Surface Temperature Fronts on Atmospheric Frontogenesis |
title_fullStr |
The Effect of Sea Surface Temperature Fronts on Atmospheric Frontogenesis |
title_full_unstemmed |
The Effect of Sea Surface Temperature Fronts on Atmospheric Frontogenesis |
title_sort |
effect of sea surface temperature fronts on atmospheric frontogenesis |
publisher |
American Meteorological Society |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
https://hdl.handle.net/11250/2986672 https://doi.org/10.1175/JAS-D-20-0118.1 |
genre |
North Atlantic |
genre_facet |
North Atlantic |
op_source |
Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences 1753-1771 78 6 |
op_relation |
urn:issn:0022-4928 https://hdl.handle.net/11250/2986672 https://doi.org/10.1175/JAS-D-20-0118.1 cristin:1939259 Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences. 2021, 78 (6), 1753-1771. |
op_rights |
Navngivelse 4.0 Internasjonal http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.no Copyright 2021 American Meteorological Society |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1175/JAS-D-20-0118.1 |
container_title |
Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences |
_version_ |
1766133578723229696 |