Barrier Layers in the Tropical South Atlantic: Mean Dynamics and Submesoscale Effects*

Abstract

Abstract Barrier layers are generated when the surface mixed layer is shallower than the layer where temperature is well mixed, in geographical regions where salinity plays a key role in setting up upper-ocean density stratification. In the tropical oceans, thick barrier layers are also found in a latitude range where spiraling trajectories from surface in situ drifters suggest the presence of predominantly cyclonic submesoscale-like vortices. The authors explore these dynamical processes and their interplay in the present paper, focusing on the tropical South Atlantic Ocean and using a high-resolution modeling approach. The objective is threefold: to investigate the mean dynamics contributing to barrier-layer formation in this region, to study the distribution and seasonality of submesoscale features, and to verify whether and how the submesoscale impacts barrier-layer thickness. The model used is the Regional Ocean Modeling System (ROMS) in its Adaptive Grid Refinement in Fortran (AGRIF) online-nested configuration with a horizontal resolution ranging between 9 and 1 km. The simulated circulation is first described in terms of mean and submesoscale dynamics, and the associated seasonal cycle. Mechanisms for barrier-layer formation are then investigated. The results confirm previous hypotheses by Mignot et al. on the relevance of enhanced winter mixing deepening the isothermal layer, whereas the salinity stratification is sustained by advection of surface fresh waters and subsurface salinity maxima. Finally, submesoscale effects on barrier-layer thickness are studied, quantifying their contribution to vertical fluxes of temperature and salinity. Submesoscale vortices associated with salinity fronts are found to have a significant effect, producing thicker barrier layers (by ~20%–35%) and a shallower mixed layer because of their restratifying effect on salinity.