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Role of Ocean and Atmosphere Variability in Scale-Dependent Thermodynamic Air-Sea Interactions

Journal Article · · Journal of Geophysical Research. Oceans
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1029/2021jc018340· OSTI ID:1978544
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [5];  [6];  [2];  [4];  [4];  [7];  [7]
  1. Texas A & M Univ., College Station, TX (United States); National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), Boulder, CO (United States); OSTI
  2. Texas A & M Univ., College Station, TX (United States); National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), Boulder, CO (United States)
  3. Univ. of Washington, Seattle, WA (United States)
  4. Univ. of Miami, FL (United States)
  5. National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), Boulder, CO (United States)
  6. Texas A & M Univ., College Station, TX (United States)
  7. Texas A & M Univ., College Station, TX (United States); Pilot National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology (QNLM) (China); Ocean University of China (China)
+ Show Author Affiliations

This study investigates the influence of oceanic and atmospheric processes in extratropical thermodynamic air-sea interactions resolved by satellite observations (OBS) and by two climate model simulations run with eddy-resolving high-resolution (HR) and eddy-parameterized low-resolution (LR) ocean components. Here, in this work, spectral methods are used to characterize the sea surface temperature (SST) and turbulent heat flux (THF) variability and co-variability over scales between 50 and 10,000 km and 60 days to 80 years in the Pacific Ocean. The relative roles of the ocean and atmosphere are interpreted using a stochastic upper-ocean temperature evolution model forced by noise terms representing intrinsic variability in each medium, defined using climate model data to produce realistic rather than white spectral power density distributions. The analysis of all datasets shows that the atmosphere dominates the SST and THF variability over zonal wavelengths larger than ~2,000–2,500 km. In HR and OBS, ocean processes dominate the variability of both quantities at scales smaller than the atmospheric first internal Rossby radius of deformation (R1, ~600–2,000 km) due to a substantial ocean forcing coinciding with a weaker atmospheric modulation of THF (and consequently of SST) than at larger scales. The ocean forcing also induces oscillations in SST and THF with periods ranging from intraseasonal to multidecadal, reflecting a red spectrum response to ocean forcing similar to that driven by atmospheric forcing. Such features are virtually absent in LR due to a weaker ocean forcing relative to HR.

Research Organization:
Univ. of Miami, FL (United States); Texas A & M Univ., College Station, TX (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC); National Science Foundation (NSF); National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
Grant/Contract Number:
SC0019433; SC0020072
OSTI ID:
1978544
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1875198
Journal Information:
Journal of Geophysical Research. Oceans, Journal Name: Journal of Geophysical Research. Oceans Journal Issue: 7 Vol. 127; ISSN 2169-9275
Publisher:
American Geophysical UnionCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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