Frontogenesis
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Tropopause folds in ERA‐Interim: Global climatology and relation to extreme weather events Open
Tropopause folds are intimately linked to upper level frontogenesis and jet stream dynamics. They play an important role for stratosphere‐troposphere exchange, the dynamical coupling of upper and lower tropospheric levels, and for generati…
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An Annual Cycle of Submesoscale Vertical Flow and Restratification in the Upper Ocean Open
Numerical simulations suggest that submesoscale turbulence may transform lateral buoyancy gradients into vertical stratification and thus restratify the upper ocean via vertical flow. However, the observational evidence for this restratify…
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Spontaneous Generation of Near-Inertial Waves by the Kuroshio Front Open
While near-inertial waves are known to be generated by atmospheric storms, recent observations in the Kuroshio Front find intense near-inertial internal-wave shear along sloping isopycnals, even during calm weather. Recent literature sugge…
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Extratropical Cyclones: A Century of Research on Meteorology’s Centerpiece Open
The year 1919 was important in meteorology, not only because it was the year that the American Meteorological Society was founded, but also for two other reasons. One of the foundational papers in extratropical cyclone structure by Jakob B…
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The influence of geostrophic strain on oceanic ageostrophic motion and surface chlorophyll Open
Oceanic submesoscale ageostrophic processes have been progressively recognized as an important upwelling mechanism to close the nutrient budget and sustain the observed primary production of phytoplankton in the euphotic layer. Their relat…
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A Composite Perspective of the Extratropical Flow Response to Recurving Western North Pacific Tropical Cyclones Open
This study investigates the composite extratropical flow response to recurving western North Pacific tropical cyclones (WNP TCs), and the dependence of this response on the strength of the TC–extratropical flow interaction as defined by th…
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Effects of Oceanic Mesoscale and Submesoscale Frontal Processes on the Vertical Transport of Phytoplankton Open
Oceanic fronts are dynamically active regions of the global ocean that support upwelling and downwelling with significant implications for phytoplankton production and export. However (on time scales the inertial time scale), the vertical …
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The seasonal cycle of submesoscale flows Open
The seasonal cycle of submesoscale flows in the upper ocean is investigated in an idealised model domain analogous to mid-latitude open ocean regions. Submesoscale processes become much stronger as the resolution is increased, though with …
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Submesoscale Fronts and Their Dynamical Processes Associated with Symmetric Instability in the Northwest Pacific Subtropical Ocean Open
Submesoscale density fronts and the associated processes of frontogenesis and symmetric instability (SI) are investigated in the northwest Pacific subtropical countercurrent (STCC) system by a high-resolution simulation and diagnostic anal…
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The Role of Horizontal Divergence in Submesoscale Frontogenesis Open
Oceanic surface submesoscale currents are characterized by anisotropic fronts and filaments with widths from 100 m to a few kilometers; an O (1) Rossby number; and large magnitudes of lateral buoyancy and velocity gradients, cyclonic vorti…
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Maintenance of mid-latitude oceanic fronts by mesoscale eddies Open
Vertical heat transport by ocean mesoscale eddies plays an important role in maintaining western boundary current extension fronts.
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Kinetic Energy Transfers between Mesoscale and Submesoscale Motions in the Open Ocean’s Upper Layers Open
Mesoscale eddies contain the bulk of the ocean’s kinetic energy (KE), but fundamental questions remain on the cross-scale KE transfers linking eddy generation and dissipation. The role of submesoscale flows represents the key point of disc…
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Submesoscale Currents in the Subtropical Upper Ocean Observed by Long-Term High-Resolution Mooring Arrays Open
Although observational efforts have been made to detect submesoscale currents (submesoscales) in regions with deep mixed layers and/or strong mesoscale kinetic energy (KE), there have been no long-term submesoscale observations in subtropi…
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Surface waves affect frontogenesis Open
This paper provides a detailed analysis of momentum, angular momentum, vorticity, and energy budgets of a submesoscale front undergoing frontogenesis driven by an upper‐ocean, submesoscale eddy field in a Large Eddy Simulation (LES). The L…
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What are the Best Thermodynamic Quantity and Function to Define a Front in Gridded Model Output? Open
Fronts can be computed from gridded datasets such as numerical model output and reanalyses, resulting in automated surface frontal charts and climatologies. Defining automated fronts requires quantities (e.g., potential temperature, equiva…
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Ocean processes underlying surface clustering Open
Ageostrophic ocean processes such as frontogenesis, submesoscale mixed‐layer instabilities, shelf break fronts, and topographic interactions on the continental shelf produce surface‐divergent flows that affect buoyant material over time. T…
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Wind‐Forced Symmetric Instability at a Transient Mid‐Ocean Front Open
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 …
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On the Upper-Ocean Vertical Eddy Heat Transport in the Kuroshio Extension. Part I: Variability and Dynamics Open
Oceanic eddies play a crucial role in transporting heat from the subsurface to surface ocean. However, dynamics responsible for the vertical eddy heat transport Q T have not been systematically understood, especially in the mixed layer of …
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High‐Resolution Simulations of Submesoscale Processes in the Baltic Sea: The Role of Storm Events Open
Recently discovered, ocean submesoscales have attracted considerable attention due to their ability to change the upper ocean stratification, affect vertical transport, and induce a downscale cascade of energy toward dissipation. In this p…
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Global Climatologies of Fronts, Airmass Boundaries, and Airstream Boundaries: Why the Definition of “Front” Matters Open
Climatologies of fronts, airmass boundaries, and airstream boundaries can be calculated using automated approaches on gridded data. Such approaches may require choices to define a front, including a quantity (or quantities) to diagnose the…
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Observations of Submesoscale Variability and Frontal Subduction within the Mesoscale Eddy Field of the Tasman Sea Open
Submesoscale lenses of water with anomalous hydrographic properties have previously been observed in the East Australian Current (EAC) system, embedded within the thermocline of mesoscale anticyclonic eddies. The waters within these lenses…
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Response of the Atmospheric Boundary Layer to Submesoscale Sea Surface Temperature Fronts Open
Submesoscale sea surface temperature fronts are ubiquitous throughout much of the global ocean; however, the response of the marine atmospheric boundary layer (MABL) to the ocean submesoscale is not well understood. In this manuscript larg…
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Diagnosing Isopycnal Diffusivity in an Eddying, Idealized Midlatitude Ocean Basin via Lagrangian, in Situ, Global, High-Performance Particle Tracking (LIGHT) Open
Isopycnal diffusivity due to stirring by mesoscale eddies in an idealized, wind-forced, eddying, midlatitude ocean basin is computed using Lagrangian, in Situ, Global, High-Performance Particle Tracking (LIGHT). Simulation is performed via…
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Interactions between Convection and a Moist Vortex Associated with an Extreme Rainfall Event over Southern West Africa Open
An intense mesoscale convective system (MCS) in the Guinea Coast region caused one of the highest ever recorded daily rainfall amounts at the Nigerian station Abakaliki on 12 June 2016 (223.5 mm). This paper provides a detailed analysis of…
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A diagnostic study on heavy rainfall induced by Typhoon Utor (2013) in South China: 1. Rainfall asymmetry at landfall Open
After striking the Philippines on 11 August 2013, Typhoon Utor made its second landfall over southern South China on 14 August and brought heavy rainfall, causing widespread damages after its landfall. The heavy rainfall associated with Ut…
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Large-scale drivers of the mistral wind: link to Rossby wave life cycles and seasonal variability Open
The mistral is a northerly low-level jet blowing through the Rhône valley in southern France and down to the Gulf of Lion. It is co-located with the cold sector of a low-level lee cyclone in the Gulf of Genoa, behind an upper-level trough …
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Frontal‐wave cyclogenesis in the North Atlantic –a climatological characterisation Open
The ambient conditions during cyclogenesis on fronts in the North Atlantic (NA) are characterised climatologically in the ERA‐Interim dataset. These ‘secondary’ cyclones, which grow from frontal waves, are typically small in scale, shallow…
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Ageostrophic Frontal Processes Controlling Phytoplankton Production in the Catalano-Balearic Sea (Western Mediterranean) Open
Buoyancy-induced unstable boundary currents and the accompanying retrograde density fronts are often the sites of pronounced mesoscale activity, ageostrophic frontal processes, and associated high biological production in marginal seas. Bi…
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Frontogenesis and the Creation of Fine‐Scale Vertical Phytoplankton Structure Open
Fine‐scale spatial structuring of phytoplankton patches has significant consequences for the marine food web, from altering phytoplankton exposure to surface light and limiting nutrients, to influencing the foraging of zooplankton, modifyi…
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Lagrangian and Eulerian characterization of two counter‐rotating submesoscale eddies in a western boundary current Open
In recent decades, high‐spatial resolution ocean radar and satellite imagery measurements have revealed a complex tangle of submesoscale filaments and eddies, in the surface velocity, temperature, and chlorophyll a fields. We use a suite o…