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Ocean–atmosphere coupling

Mesoscale eddy effects

Nature Geoscience volume 6, pages 594–595 (2013)Cite this article

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Interactions between the ocean and atmosphere are complex. An analysis of satellite data from the Southern Ocean reveals a tight coupling of ocean and atmosphere on horizontal scales of around 100 km that modifies both near-surface winds and ocean circulation.

Because of its enormous heat capacity, the ocean plays a critical role in regulating the Earth's climate. Up to about a decade ago, it was generally believed that, outside the tropics, the ocean responds only passively to atmospheric forcing1. However, with the advent of satellite measurements of sea surface temperature and surface winds with resolutions down to about 50 km, it became apparent that the strong gradients in sea surface temperature that are associated with meanders in the Gulf Stream, the California Current and most other ocean currents can directly affect surface winds1,2,3. Writing in Nature Geoscience, Frenger et al.4 present evidence of this same coupling between sea surface temperature and wind speed occurring over circular rotating eddies with radii of around 100 km (referred to as mesoscale) that are found throughout the ocean5.

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Figure 1: Vertical ocean velocities induced by an idealized Southern Ocean eddy.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dudley Chelton is at the College of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon 97331-5503, USA,

    Dudley Chelton

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  1. Dudley Chelton
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Correspondence to Dudley Chelton.

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Chelton, D. Mesoscale eddy effects. Nature Geosci 6, 594–595 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo1906

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