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The small scales of the ocean may hold the key to surprises

Nature Climate Change volume 12, pages 496–499 (2022)Cite this article

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Sharp fronts and eddies that are ubiquitous in the world ocean, as well as features such as shelf seas and under-ice-shelf cavities, are not captured in climate projections. Such small-scale processes can play a key role in how the large-scale ocean and cryosphere evolve under climate change, posing a challenge to climate models.

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Fig. 1: Surface currents at a range of model resolutions.
Fig. 2: The evolution of global ocean model resolution by publication year.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Met Office, Exeter, UK

    Helene Hewitt & Malcolm Roberts

  2. Brown University, Providence, RI, USA

    Baylor Fox-Kemper

  3. Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, USA

    Brodie Pearson

  4. Max-Planck-Institute for Meteorology, Hamburg, Germany

    Daniel Klocke

Authors
  1. Helene Hewitt
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  2. Baylor Fox-Kemper
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  3. Brodie Pearson
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  4. Malcolm Roberts
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  5. Daniel Klocke
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Correspondence to Helene Hewitt.

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Hewitt, H., Fox-Kemper, B., Pearson, B. et al. The small scales of the ocean may hold the key to surprises. Nat. Clim. Chang. 12, 496–499 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-022-01386-6

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