Mesoscale Energy Balance and Air–Sea Interaction in the Kuroshio Extension: Low-Frequency versus High-Frequency Variability

Abstract

AbstractUsing eddy-resolving Community Earth System Model (CESM) simulations, this study investigates mesoscale energetics and air–sea interaction at two different time-scale windows in the Kuroshio Extension (KE) region. Based on an energy budget analysis, it is found that both baroclinic and barotropic pathways contribute to eddy energy generation within the low-frequency window (longer than 3 weeks) in this region, while both air–sea heat fluxes and wind stresses act as prominent eddy killers that remove energy from the ocean. In contrast, within the high-frequency window oceanic variability is mainly fed by baroclinic instability and regulated by turbulent thermal wind (TTW) processes, while the positive wind work is derived primarily from ageostrophic flow, i.e., Ekman drift, and along with air–sea heat fluxes has little influence on geostrophic mesoscale eddies.