Abstract
The ocean surface boundary layer—approximately the uppermost 100 meters of the ocean—is important in controlling the exchange of heat and gases between the atmosphere and the ocean, but, as Belcher et al. show, current climate models' parameterizations of mixing in the upper ocean are inadequate. In particular, most global climate models do not include representation of surface wave–driven Langmuir turbulence, which is an important driver of mixing and a control on the depth of the ocean surface boundary layer. Failing to include turbulence driven by surface waves causes models to inaccurately calculate the depth of this boundary layer and leads to bias of several degrees in sea surface temperature estimates. Including this turbulence could help improve the models. (Geophysical Research Letters, doi:10.1029/2012GL052932, 2012)
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