Abstract The submesoscale energy budget is complex and remains understood only in region-by-region analyses. Based on a series of nested numerical simulations, this study investigated the submesoscale energy budget and flux in the upper ocean of the Kuroshio Extension, including some innovations for examining submesoscale energy budgets in general. The highest-resolution simulation on a ~500 m grid resolves a variety of submesoscale instabilities allowing an energetic analysis in the submesoscale range. The frequency–wavenumber spectra of vertical vorticity variance (i.e., enstrophy) and horizontal divergence variance were used to identify the scales of submesoscale flows as distinct from those of inertia-gravity waves but dominating horizontal divergence variance. Next, the energy transfers between the background scales and the submesoscale were examined. The submesoscale kinetic and potential energy (SMKE and SMPE) were mainly contained in the mixed layer and energized through both barotropic (shear production) and baroclinic (buoyancy production) routes. Averaged over the upper 50 m of ROMS2, the baroclinic transfers amounted to approximately 75% of the sources for the SMKE (3.42 × 10 −9 W/kg) versus the remaining 25% (1.12 × 10 −9 W/kg) via barotropic downscale KE transfers. The KE field was greatly strengthened by energy sources through the boundary—this flux is larger than the mesoscale-to-submesoscale transfers in this region. Spectral energy production, importantly, reveals upscale KE transfers at larger submesoscales and downscale KE transfers at smaller submesoscales (i.e., a transition from inverse to forward KE cascade). This study seeks to extend our understanding of the energy cycle to the submesoscale and highlight the forward KE cascade induced by upper-ocean submesoscale activities in the research domain.
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On scale interactions between the MJO and synoptic scale
DYNAMO was a field experiment conducted over the near‐equatorial Indian Ocean during 2011 and 2012 for a better understanding of the mechanisms of the Madden–Julian Oscillation (MJO). This study uses DYNAMO observations to study the organization of convection and maintenance of the MJO within the framework of synoptic‐scale weather systems. Lorenz box energetics is used over the limited DYNAMO domain to study the in‐scale energetics (i.e. the exchange of energy within a single scale). Formal scale energetics in the frequency domain is used to study the in‐scale as well as out‐of‐scale interactions (i.e. the exchange of energy among diverse scales) of the kinetic energy (KE) and available potential energy (APE) over limited DYNAMO domain and a zonal belt around the Earth extending 20° north and south of the Equator. The synoptic‐scale precipitation distributions, generation of eddy APE (from the covariance of convective heating and temperature) and its disposition to eddy KE (from the covariance of vertical velocity and temperature) confirm the importance of in‐scale energetics for the maintenance of the synoptic scale. The in‐scale energetics in the frequency domain suggest that conversion of APE to KE on the MJO scale is crucial for its maintenance. Out‐of‐scale energetics suggest that over both domains, MJO loses KE to the synoptic time‐scale (2–7 days), but a reverse situation is encountered in the vicinity of the summer subtropical jet. Overall, MJO is found weakly modulating synoptic scales via transferring eddy KE. These results also imply that out‐of‐scale KE interactions between MJO and synoptic scales are not crucial in understanding the maintenance of the MJO over the DYNAMO domain.
more » « less- PAR ID:
- 10375401
- Publisher / Repository:
- Wiley Blackwell (John Wiley & Sons)
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society
- Volume:
- 144
- Issue:
- 717
- ISSN:
- 0035-9009
- Format(s):
- Medium: X Size: p. 2727-2747
- Size(s):
- p. 2727-2747
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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