Seasonality of Subsurface Shear Instabilities at Tropical Instability Wave Fronts in the Atlantic Ocean in a High‐Resolution Simulation

Abstract

AbstractTropical Instability Waves (TIWs) have been shown to modulate upper ocean mixing. However, previous studies on the modulation of TIW related mixing are based on small numbers of TIWs and have not considered temporal variability, which can lead to discrepancies in the findings. In this study, using a 12‐year simulation carried out with a comprehensive, global, high‐resolution ocean model, we present evidence of seasonally modulated shear instabilities at TIW fronts in the Atlantic Ocean that reach down to the thermocline depth, potentially inducing mixing below the mixed layer depth. We find that, regardless of whether TIWs are present earlier in the year, frontal instabilities and potential mixing primarily occur in boreal summer, coinciding with a vertical shear maximum between the mean zonal currents. We argue that in the Atlantic Ocean, vertical shear at TIW fronts does usually not suffice to cause frontal instabilities below the mixed layer depth. Instead, the background shear needs to be sufficiently large in addition to TIW shear, to overcome the stability. The background shear in turn varies seasonally and is strongly driven by the variability of the northern branch of the South Equatorial Current (nSEC). As such, the variability of the nSEC strongly contributes to the generation and modulation of instabilities at TIW fronts that reach below the mixed layer depth and have the potential to induce mixing. Our results highlight the importance of seasonal variability when studying TIW impacts and their effect on mixing.