The Multi-Scale Response of the Eddy Kinetic Energy and Transport to Strengthened Westerlies in an Idealized Antarctic Circumpolar Current

The Southern Ocean's eddy response to changing climate remains unclear, with observations suggesting non-monotonic changes in eddy kinetic energy (EKE) across scales. Here simulations reappear that smaller-mesoscale EKE is suppressed while larger-mesoscale EKE increases with strengthened winds....

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Liu, Ran, Wang, Guihua, Balwada, Dhruv
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: John Wiley and Sons Inc 2024
Subjects:
Eddy kinetic energy spectrum
Mesoscale eddy
Multiscale dynamics
Southern Ocean
Antarc*
Antarctic
Online Access:http://repository.hkust.edu.hk/ir/Record/1783.1-137817
https://doi.org/10.1029/2023gl106747
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Summary:The Southern Ocean's eddy response to changing climate remains unclear, with observations suggesting non-monotonic changes in eddy kinetic energy (EKE) across scales. Here simulations reappear that smaller-mesoscale EKE is suppressed while larger-mesoscale EKE increases with strengthened winds. This change was linked to scale-wise changes in the kinetic energy cycle, where a sensitive balance between the dominant mesoscale energy sinks—inverse KE cascade, and source—baroclinic energization. Such balance induced a strong (weak) mesoscale suppression in the flat (ridge) channel. Mechanistically, this mesoscale suppression is attributed to stronger zonal jets weakening smaller mesoscale eddies and promoting larger-scale waves. These EKE multiscale changes lead to multiscale changes in meridional and vertical eddy transport, which can be parameterized using a scale-dependent diffusivity linked to the EKE spectrum. This multiscale eddy response may have significant implications for understanding and modeling the Southern Ocean eddy activity and transport under a changing climate. © 2024. The Authors.

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