Surface Stress and Atmospheric Boundary Layer Response to Mesoscale SST Structure in Coupled Simulations of the Northern California Current System

Abstract

Abstract The influence of mesoscale sea surface temperature (SST) variations on wind stress and boundary layer winds is examined from coupled ocean–atmosphere numerical simulations and satellite observations of the northern California Current System. Model coupling coefficients relating the divergence and curl of wind stress and wind to downwind and crosswind SST gradients are generally smaller than observed values and vary by a factor of 2 depending on planetary boundary layer (PBL) scheme, with values larger for smoothed fields on the 0.25° observational grid than for unsmoothed fields on the 12-km model grid. Divergence coefficients are larger than curl coefficients on the 0.25° grid but not on the model grid, consistent with stronger scale dependence for the divergence response than for curl in a spatial cross-spectral analysis. Coupling coefficients for 10-m equivalent neutral stability winds are 30%–50% larger than those for 10-m wind, implying a correlated effect of surface-layer stability variations. Crosswind surface air temperature and SST gradients are more strongly coupled than downwind gradients, while the opposite is true for downwind and crosswind heat flux and SST gradients. Midlevel boundary layer wind coupling coefficients show a reversed response relative to the surface that is predicted by an analytical model; a predicted second reversal with height is not seen in the simulations. The relative values of coupling coefficients are consistent with previous results for the same PBL schemes in the Agulhas Return Current region, but their magnitudes are smaller, likely because of the effect of mean wind on perturbation heat fluxes.