Summer surface layer thermal response to surface gravity waves in the Yellow Sea

Abstract

The Princeton Ocean Model (POM) with generalized coordinate system (POMgcs) is used to study the summer surface-layer thermal response to surface gravity waves in the Yellow Sea (YS). The parameterization schemes of wave breaking developed by Mellor and Blumberg (J Phys Oceanogr 34:693–698, 2004) and Kantha and Clayson (Ocean Model 6:101–124, 2004), respectively, and Stokes production developed by Kantha and Clayson (Ocean Model 6:101–124, 2004) are both included in the Mellor–Yamada turbulence closure model Mellor and Yamada (Rev Geophys 20:851–875, 1982) of POMgcs. Numerical results show that surface gravity waves impact the depth of surface mixed layer of temperature in the YS in summer. The surface mixed layer in the YS cannot be reproduced well and has a visible difference from the observation if the parameterization schemes are not included. A diagnostic analysis of turbulent kinetic energy suggests that both Stokes production and wave breaking play key roles in enhancing the turbulent mixing near the sea surface in the YS. Stokes production seems to have a greater impact throughout the upper mixed layer in the YS in summer than that of wave breaking. In addition, a diagnostic analysis of the momentum balance shows that Coriolis–Stokes forcing has a significant effect on the momentum budget in the upper layer in the YS, and surface gravity waves are able to reduce the velocity of mean flow near the surface and make the mean flow near the surface more homogeneous vertically in the YS.