Affiliation:
1. Frontier Science Center for Deep Ocean Multispheres and Earth System (FDOMES) and Physical Oceanography Laboratory/Key Laboratory of Ocean Observation and Information of Hainan Province Sanya Oceanographic Institution Ocean University of China Qingdao/Sanya China
2. Laoshan Laboratory Qingdao China
3. Department of Oceanography University of Hawaii at Manoa Honolulu HI USA
Abstract
AbstractOceanic submesoscale processes (submesoscales) with O(1–10) km horizontal scale can generate strong vertical buoyancy flux (VBF) that significantly modulate upper‐ocean stratification. Because submesoscales cannot be resolved by the prevailing ocean models, their VBFs have to be properly parameterized in order to improve model performance. Here, based on theoretical scaling analysis, we propose a new parameterization of submesoscale VBF by simultaneously considering mixed‐layer baroclinic instability (MLI) and strain‐induced frontogenesis, which are two leading generation mechanisms of submesoscales that typically co‐occur in open ocean. Compared with the parameterization of Fox‐Kemper et al. (2008, https://doi.org/10.1175/2007jpo3792.1; F08) that only considers the MLI, the new parameterization includes mesoscale strain rate and improves vertical structure function. Diagnostic validations based on submesoscale permitting simulation outputs suggest that the newly parameterized VBFs are more realistic than F08 in regard to three‐dimension distributions. How to incorporate this new parameterization into coarser‐grid ocean models, however, needs further studies.
Funder
National Key Research and Development Program of China
National Natural Science Foundation of China
Publisher
American Geophysical Union (AGU)
Subject
General Earth and Planetary Sciences,Geophysics
Cited by
2 articles.
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