Upper-ocean Mixed Layer Research Articles

Remote sensing observations of phytoplankton increases triggered by successive typhoons

Phytoplankton blooms in the Western North Pacific, triggered by two successive typhoons with different intensities and translation speeds under different pre-existing oceanic conditions, were observed and analyzed using remotely sensed chlorophyll-a (Chl-a), sea surface temperature (SST), and sea surface height anomaly (SSHA) data, as well as typhoon parameters and CTD (conductivity, temperature, and depth) profiles. Typhoon Sinlaku, with relatively weaker intensity and slower translation speed, induced a stronger phytoplankton bloom than Jangmi with stronger intensity and faster translation speed (Chl-a>0.18 mg·m‒3 versus Chl-a<0.15 mg·m‒3) east of Taiwan Island. Translation speed may be one of the important mechanisms that affect phytoplankton blooms in the study area. Pre-existing cyclonic circulations provided a relatively unstable thermodynamic structure for Sinlaku, and therefore cold water with rich nutrients could be brought up easily. The mixed-layer deepening caused by Typhoon Sinlaku, which occurred first, could have triggered an unfavorable condition for the phytoplankton bloom induced by Typhoon Jangmi which followed afterwards. The sea surface temperature cooling by Jangmi was suppressed due to the presence of the thick upper-ocean mixed-layer, which prevented the deeper cold water from being entrained into the upper-ocean mixed layer, leading to a weaker phytoplankton augment. The present study suggests that both wind (including typhoon translation speed and intensity) and pre-existing conditions (e.g., mixed-layer depths, eddies, and nutrients) play important roles in the strong phytoplankton bloom, and are responsible for the stronger phytoplankton bloom after Sinlaku’s passage than that after Jangmi’s passage. A new typhoon-influencing parameter is introduced that combines the effects of the typhoon forcing (including the typhoon intensity and translation speed) and the oceanic pre-condition. This parameter shows that the forcing effect of Sinlaku was stronger than that of Jangmi.

Material transport in a convective surface mixed layer under weak wind forcing

Flows in the upper ocean mixed layer are responsible for the transport and dispersion of biogeochemical tracers, phytoplankton and buoyant pollutants, such as hydrocarbons from an oil spill. Material dispersion in mixed layer flows subject to diurnal buoyancy forcing and weak winds (|u10|=5ms−1) are investigated using a non-hydrostatic model. Both purely buoyancy-forced and combined wind- and buoyancy-forced flows are sampled using passive tracers, as well as 2D and 3D particles to explore characteristics of horizontal and vertical dispersion. It is found that the surface tracer patterns are determined by the convergence zones created by convection cells within a time scale of just a few hours. For pure convection, the results displayed the classic signature of Rayleigh–Benard cells. When combined with a wind stress, the convective cells become anisotropic in that the along-wind length scale gets much larger than the cross-wind scale. Horizontal relative dispersion computed by sampling the flow fields using both 2D and 3D passive particles is found to be consistent with the Richardson regime. Relative dispersion is an order of magnitude higher and 2D surface releases transition to Richardson regime faster in the wind-forced case. We also show that the buoyancy-forced case results in significantly lower amplitudes of scale-dependent horizontal relative diffusivity, kD(ℓ), than those reported by Okubo (1970), while the wind- and buoyancy-forced case shows a good agreement with Okubo’s diffusivity amplitude, and the scaling is consistent with Richardson’s 4/3rd law, kD ∼ ℓ4/3. These modeling results provide a framework for measuring material dispersion by mixed layer flows in future observational programs.

A multilevel ocean mixed layer model resolving the diurnal cycle: Development and validation

AbstractThe representation of transient air‐sea interactions is critical to the prediction of the sea surface temperature diurnal cycle and daily variability. This study develops a multilevel upper ocean model to more realistically resolve these interactions. The model is based on the one‐dimensional turbulence kinetic energy closure developed by Noh et al. [2011], and incorporates new numerical techniques and improved schemes for model physics. The primary improvements include: (1) a surface momentum flux penetration scheme to better depict velocity shear in the diurnal mixed layer; (2) a solar penetration scheme to improve the penetration of visible and near‐infrared bands of solar radiation into the mixed layer ocean; (3) a scheme to resolve the cool‐skin and warm‐layer effects on sea skin temperature; (4) a vertical grid stretch scheme to achieve higher near‐surface resolution with fewer vertical levels; (5) a trapezoidal time integration scheme for flexible time steps; (6) a relaxation term of the previous daily mean difference between observed and modeled sea surface temperature. According to the numerical experiments based on the TOGA‐COARE IMET mooring buoy data and the validation by observations from the National Data Buoy Center, NOAA, the results indicate that the new upper ocean mixed layer model improves the simulation of the diurnal cycle of SST and sea skin temperature, especially in amplitude.

A 1/8° coupled biochemical-physical Indian Ocean Regional Model: Physical results and validation

A coupled physical-biochemical Indian Ocean Regional Model (IORM), based on the Navy Coastal Ocean Model (NCOM) and the Carbon Silicate Nitrogen Ecosystem (CoSiNE) model was configured with the primary objective of providing an accurate estimate of the oceanic physical state along with the biochemical processes simulated by CoSiNE to understand the variability in the Indian Ocean (IO). The model did not assimilate any data; instead, weak relaxation of temperature and salinity was implemented to keep the model stable in the long-term simulations. In this study, the skill of the IORM in simulating physical states in the IO was evaluated. Basin-scale surface circulation and cross-sectional transports were compared to observations, which demonstrated that the model replicated most of the observed features with reasonably good accuracy. Consistency and biases in the upper ocean temperature, salinity, and mixed layer depth were also analyzed. Lastly, the seasonality in the IO, its response to monsoonal forcing, and the evolution and dynamics of surface and subsurface dipole events were examined. The IORM reproduced most of the dynamic features including Ekman pumping, wave propagation, and climate variability at both annual and interannual time scales. The internal ocean dynamics and behavior of the modeled sea surface temperature anomaly (SSTA) suggest a coupled ocean/atmosphere instability that will require further research, including sensitivity experiments to realize improvements in model parameterization.

Assessment of the upper‐ocean mixed layer parameterizations using a large eddy simulation model

AbstractA large eddy simulation (LES) of the upper ocean mixed layer processes in the winter northwestern Pacific is carried out and compared with concurrent microstructure measurements. We find that dissipation rates of turbulent kinetic energy (ε) and temperature variance from LES agree well with field observations in the areas where the Ozmidov length scale, calculated from the modeled ε and buoyancy frequency, exceeds the grid size of LES. It is also found that, even though the Ozmidov length scale is less than the grid size of LES, model estimates of the vertical turbulent heat flux near the base of the mixed layer are very similar to observed values, suggesting that this LES model reproduces the intensity of entrainment well. This enables us to use the results from LES to assess the turbulence closure models of Mellor and Yamada [1982, MY] and Nakanishi and Niino [2009, NN] for several forcing scenarios consisting of strong winds, surface heating, and surface cooling. It is found that NN performs better than MY in reproducing the results from LES for each forcing scenario, particularly when the turbulent length scale is adjusted to be more restricted by density stratification.

The impact of surface waves on the mixing of the upper ocean

A new three-dimensional numerical model is derived through a wave average on the primitive N-S equations, in which both the“Coriolis-Stokes forcing” and the“Stokes-Vortex force” are considered. Three ideal experiments are run using the new model applied to the Princeton ocean model (POM). Numerical results show that surface waves play an important role on the mixing of the upper ocean. The mixed layer is enhanced when wave effect is considered in conjunction with small Langmuir numbers. Both surface wave breaking and Stokes production can strengthen the turbulent mixing near the surface. However, the influence of wave breaking is limited to a thin layer, but Stokes drift can affect the whole mixed layer. Furthermore, the vertical mixing coefficients clearly rise in the mixed layer, and the upper ocean mixed layer is deepened especially in the Antarctic Circumpolar Current when the model is applied to global simulations. It indicates that the surface gravity waves are indispensable in enhancing the mixing in the upper ocean, and should be accounted for in ocean general circulation models.

Development of a regional model for the North Indian Ocean

We have developed a one-way nested Indian Ocean regional model. The model combines the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory’s (GFDL) Modular Ocean Model (MOM4p1) at global climate model resolution (nominally one degree), and a regional Indian Ocean MOM4p1 configuration with 25km horizontal resolution and 1m vertical resolution near the surface. Inter-annual global simulations with Coordinated Ocean-Ice Reference Experiments (CORE-II) surface forcing over years 1992–2005 provide surface boundary conditions. We show that relative to the global simulation, (i) biases in upper ocean temperature, salinity and mixed layer depth are reduced, (ii) sea surface height and upper ocean circulation are closer to observations, and (iii) improvements in model simulation can be attributed to refined resolution, more realistic topography and inclusion of seasonal river runoff. Notably, the surface salinity bias is reduced to less than 0.1psu over the Bay of Bengal using relatively weak restoring to observations, and the model simulates the strong, shallow halocline often observed in the North Bay of Bengal. There is marked improvement in subsurface salinity and temperature, as well as mixed layer depth in the Bay of Bengal. Major seasonal signatures in observed sea surface height anomaly in the tropical Indian Ocean, including the coastal waveguide around the Indian peninsula, are simulated with great fidelity. The use of realistic topography and seasonal river runoff brings the three dimensional structure of the East India Coastal Current and West India Coastal Current much closer to observations. As a result, the incursion of low salinity Bay of Bengal water into the south-eastern Arabian Sea is more realistic.

Analysis of recent climate change over the Arctic using ERA-Interim reanalysis data

This study investigates recent climate change over the Arctic and its link to the mid-latitudes using the ERA-Interim global atmospheric reanalysis data from the European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecast (ECMWF). Since 1979, substantial surface warming, associated with the increase in anthropogenic greenhouse gases, has occurred over the Arctic. The greatest warming in winter has taken place offshore in the Kara-Barents Sea, and is associated with the increase in turbulent heat fluxes from the marginal ice zone. In contrast to the marked warming over the Arctic Ocean in winter, substantial cooling appears over Siberia and eastern Asia, linked to the reduction of Arctic sea ice during the freezing season (September–March). However, in summer, very little change is observed in surface air temperature over the Arctic because increased radiative heat melts the sea ice and the amount of turbulent heat gain from the ocean is relatively small. The heat stored in the upper ocean mixed layer in summer with the opening of the Arctic Ocean is released back to the atmosphere as turbulent heat fluxes during the autumn and through to the following spring. This warming of the Arctic and the reduced sea ice amplifies surface cooling over Siberia and eastern Asia in winter.

두 가지 연직혼합방안에 따른 해양대순환모형 혼합층깊이 및 상층수온 모사 민감도 비교

Vertical and horizontal mixing processes in the ocean mixed layer determine sea surface temperature and temperature variability. Accordingly, simulating these processes properly is crucial in order to obtain more accurate climate simulations and more reliable future projections using an ocean general circulation model (OGCM). In this study, by using Modular Ocean Model version 4 (MOM4) developed by Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory, the upper ocean temperature and mixed layer depth were simulated with two different vertical mixing schemes that are most widely used and then compared. The resultant differences were analyzed to understand the underlying mechanism, especially in the Tropical Pacific Ocean where the differences appeared to be the greatest. One of the schemes was the so-called KPP scheme that uses K-Profile parameterization with nonlocal vertical mixing and the other was the N scheme that was rather recently developed based on a second-order turbulence closure. In the equatorial Pacific, the N scheme simulates the mixed layer at a deeper level than the KPP scheme. One of the reasons is that the total vertical diffusivity coefficient simulated with the N scheme is ten times larger, at maximum, in the surface layer compared to the KPP scheme. Another reason is that the zonal current simulated with the N scheme peaks at a deeper ocean level than the KPP scheme, which indicates that the vertical shear was simulated on a larger scale by the N scheme and it enhanced the mixed layer depth. It is notable that while the N scheme simulates a deeper mixed layer in the equatorial Pacific compared to the KPP scheme, the sea surface temperature (SST) simulated with the N scheme was cooler in the central Pacific and warmer in the eastern Pacific. We postulated that the reason for this is that in the central Pacific atmospheric forcing plays an important role in determining SST and so does a strong upwelling in the eastern Pacific. In conclusion, what determines SST is crucial in interpreting the relationship between SST and mixed layer depth.

Development and evaluation of an Earth System Model with surface gravity waves

The critical role of oceanic surface waves in climate system is attracting more and more attention. We set up an Earth System Model, which is named as the First Institute of Oceanography‐Earth System Model (FIO‐ESM), composed of a coupled physical climate model and a coupled carbon cycle model. A surface wave model is introduced through including the nonbreaking wave‐induced vertical mixing, which can improve the performance of climate model especially in the simulation of upper ocean mixed layer depth in the southern ocean, into the ocean general circulation model. The FIO‐ESM is employed to conduct Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5) experiments. The historical simulation of FIO‐ESM's physical climate model for 1850–2005 shows that the simulated patterns of surface air temperature (SAT), rainfall, and El Niño‐Southern Oscillation (ENSO) match those of the observations. Future projections under the four scenarios of RCP2.6, RCP4.5, RCP6.0, and RCP8.5 are also conducted and the global averaged SAT in 2100 would be −0.007°C, 1.10°C, 1.85°C, and 3.92°C higher than that in 2005, respectively. The historical simulation and future projection under RCP8.5 with global carbon cycle show the SAT and atmospheric CO2 concentration are well reproduced in the historical period and the global averaged SAT would increase by 3.90°C in 2100, which is quite similar to the physical climate model's result. Further analysis shows surface wave makes projected SAT in RCP2.6 about 2°C cooler in the Arctic area and 2°C warmer in the southern ocean.

Turbulence in the Upper-Ocean Mixed Layer

Nearly all operational models of upper-ocean mixing assume that the turbulence responsible for this mixing is driven by the atmospheric fluxes of momentum, heat, and moisture and the shear imposed by the ocean circulation. This idealization is supported by historical measurements of dissipation rate within the boundary layer. Detailed measurements made recently by many investigators and supported by theoretical and numerical results have found significant deviations from this classical view attributable to the influence of surface waves. Although a review of these measurements finds strong support for the influence of waves-and, in particular, for the predictions of large-eddy simulations, including the Craik-Leibovich vortex force-there are insufficient data to give definitive support to a new paradigm.

Evaluation of the Southern Ocean O2/Ar‐based NCP estimates in a model framework

AbstractThe sea‐air biological O2 flux assessed from measurements of surface O2 supersaturation in excess of Ar supersaturation (“O2 bioflux”) is increasingly being used to constrain net community production (NCP) in the upper ocean mixed layer. In making these calculations, one generally assumes that NCP is at steady state, mixed layer depth is constant, and there is no O2 exchange across the base of the mixed layer. The object of this paper is to evaluate the magnitude of errors introduced by violations of these assumptions. Therefore, we examine the differences between the sea‐air biological O2 flux and NCP in the Southern Ocean mixed layer as calculated using two ocean biogeochemistry general circulation models. In this approach, NCP is considered a known entity in the prognostic model, whereas O2 bioflux is estimated using the model‐predicted O2/Ar ratio to compute the mixed layer biological O2 saturation and the gas transfer velocity to calculate flux. We find that the simulated biological O2 flux gives an accurate picture of the regional‐scale patterns and trends in model NCP. However, on local scales, violations of the assumptions behind the O2/Ar method lead to significant, non‐uniform differences between model NCP and biological O2 flux. These errors arise from two main sources. First, venting of biological O2 to the atmosphere can be misaligned from NCP in both time and space. Second, vertical fluxes of oxygen across the base of the mixed layer complicate the relationship between NCP and the biological O2 flux. Our calculations show that low values of O2 bioflux correctly register that NCP is also low (&lt;10 mmol m−2 day−1), but fractional errors are large when rates are this low. Values between 10 and 40 mmol m−2 day−1 in areas with intermediate mixed layer depths of 30 to 50 m have the smallest absolute and relative errors. Areas with O2 bioflux higher than 30 mmol m−2 day−1 and mixed layers deeper than 40 m tend to underestimate NCP by up to 20 mmol m−2 day−1. Excluding time periods when mixed layer biological O2 is undersaturated, O2 bioflux underestimates time‐averaged NCP by 5%–15%. If these time periods are included, O2 bioflux underestimates mixed layer NCP by 20%–35% in the Southern Ocean. The higher error estimate is relevant if one wants to estimate seasonal NCP since a significant amount of biological production takes place when mixed layer biological O2 is undersaturated.

Ocean mixing with lead-dependent subgrid scale brine rejection parameterization in a climate model

Sea ice thickness is highly spatially variable and can cause uneven ocean heat and salt flux on subgrid scales in climate models. Previous studies have demonstrated improvements in ocean mixing simulation using parameterization schemes that distribute brine rejection directly in the upper ocean mixed layer. In this study, idealized ocean model experiments were conducted to examine modeled ocean mixing errors as a function of the lead fraction in a climate model grid. When the lead is resolved by the grid, the added salt at the sea surface will sink to the base of the mixed layer and then spread horizontally. When averaged at a climate-model grid size, this vertical distribution of added salt is lead-fraction dependent. When the lead is unresolved, the model errors were systematic leading to greater surface salinity and deeper mixed-layer depth (MLD). An empirical function was developed to revise the added-salt-related parameter n from being fixed to lead-fraction dependent. Application of this new scheme in a climate model showed significant improvement in modeled wintertime salinity and MLD as compared to series of CTD data sets in 1997/1998 and 2006/2007. The results showed the most evident improvement in modeled MLD in the Arctic Basin, similar to that using a fixed n=5, as recommended by the previous Arctic regional model study, in which the parameter n obtained is close to 5 due to the small lead fraction in the Arctic Basin in winter.

Formation and erosion of the seasonal thermocline in the Kuroshio Extension Recirculation Gyre

Data from the Kuroshio Extension Observatory (KEO) surface mooring are used to analyze the balance of processes affecting the upper ocean heat content and surface mixed layer temperature variations in the Recirculation Gyre (RG) south of the Kuroshio Extension (KE). Cold and dry air blowing across the KE and its warm RG during winter cause very large heat fluxes out of the ocean that result in the erosion of the seasonal thermocline in the RG. Some of this heat is replenished through horizontal heat advection, which may enable the seasonal thermocline to begin restratifying while the net surface heat flux is still acting to cool the upper ocean. Once the surface heat flux begins warming the ocean, restratification occurs rapidly due to the low thermal inertia of the shallow mixed layer depth. Enhanced diffusive mixing below the mixed layer tends to transfer some of the mixed layer heat downward, eroding and potentially modifying sequestered subtropical mode water and even the deeper waters of the main thermocline during winter. Diffusivity at the base of the mixed layer, estimated from the residual of the mixed layer temperature balance, is roughly 3×10−4m2/s during the summer and up to two orders of magnitude larger during winter. The enhanced diffusivities appear to be due to large inertial shear generated by wind events associated with winter storms and summer tropical cyclones. The diffusivity's seasonality is likely due to seasonal variations in stratification just below the mixed layer depth, which is large during the summer when the seasonal thermocline is fully developed and low during the winter when the mixed layer extends to the top of the thermocline.

Evaluating austral summer mixed‐layer response to surface wave–induced mixing in the Southern Ocean

Three ocean general circulation models and a climate model are employed to evaluate the influences of the nonbreaking surface wave–induced mixing on the austral summer (December‐January‐February) mixed layer in the Southern Ocean. These models use either the Mellor‐Yamada turbulence closure scheme or the K profile parameterization scheme. The numerical results show that the nonbreaking surface wave–induced mixing can reduce sea surface temperature and increase subsurface temperature of the upper ocean, which can deepen the upper ocean mixed layer. For these four models, austral summer mixed‐layer depths in the cases with the wave‐induced mixing deepen by 6.2–21.5 m than those without in the Southern Ocean (30°S–65°S), much closer to the observation. These results indicate that incorporation of the wave‐induced mixing can improve the simulation of the austral summer upper mixed layer in the Southern Ocean. Although the responses of four models are different, all simulation results show notable improvements, which may imply that the nonbreaking surface wave–induced mixing is an indispensable physical process for ocean and climate models.

Surface gravity wave effects on the upper ocean boundary layer: Modification of a one-dimensional vertical mixing model

The impact of ocean surface gravity waves on the near-surface currents and on the upper ocean mixed layer is investigated using the one-dimensional general ocean turbulence model (GOTM). The goal of the investigation is to determine coupling methodology which required theories, modifications and parameterizations to incorporate the influence of surface wave forcing into an ocean dynamic model. To this end, some well-known theories of air–sea interaction are applied to modify momentum and energy equations to include the surface wave stress, wind energy input, wave dissipation, and Stokes drift. A two dimensional wave energy spectrum is used as a representative sea state for a sufficiently large fetch. The performance of the wave-modified model is tested by a series of model experiments which cover a number of features of the upper ocean boundary layer on diurnal and seasonal time scales. These sets of model experiments include both some idealized test cases to show the importance and sensitivity of the upper ocean to wave parameterizations, and some additional observation-oriented experiments which highlight the role of the modifications in improving the prediction of the upper ocean dynamical variability. The results confirm again the dominant role of Stokes drift in influencing both the magnitude and the angular turning of the surface Ekman current and the evolution of the upper ocean boundary layer (mixed layer depth and temperature evolution), in comparison with other wave induced parameters. Meanwhile, it is shown that the modified model is sensitive to wave parameterizations and the wave energy spectrum. However, there remain a number of uncertainties due to choice of wave energy spectrum, wave forcing parameterization, the surface eddy viscosity, momentum and energy surface boundary conditions, and the role of some important processes excluded from this study, such as the effect of Langmuir circulations.

Modeling of wave-induced irradiance variability in the upper ocean mixed layer

Abstract. A Monte Carlo based radiative transfer model has been developed for calculating the availability of solar radiation within the top 100 m of the ocean. The model is optimized for simulations of spatial high resolution downwelling irradiance Ed fluctuations that arise from the lensing effect of waves at the water surface. In a first step the accuracy of simulation results has been verified by measurements of the oceanic underwater light field and through intercomparison with an established radiative transfer model. Secondly the potential depth-impact of nonlinear shaped single waves, from capillary to swell waves, is assessed by considering the most favorable conditions for light focusing, i.e. monochromatic light at 490 nm, very clear oceanic water with a low chlorophyll a content of 0.1 mg m−3 and high sun elevation. Finally light fields below irregular wave profiles accounting for realistic sea states were simulated. Our simulation results suggest that under open ocean conditions light flashes with 50% irradiance enhancements can appear down to 35 m depth, and light variability in the range of ±10% compared to the mean Ed is still possible in 100 m depth.

Large-Eddy Simulation of Shallow Water Langmuir Turbulence Using Isogeometric Analysis and the Residual-Based Variational Multiscale Method

Abstract We develop a residual-based variational multiscale (RBVMS) method based on isogeometric analysis for large-eddy simulation (LES) of wind-driven shear flow with Langmuir circulation (LC). Isogeometric analysis refers to our use of NURBS (Non-Uniform Rational B-splines) basis functions which have been proven to be highly accurate in LES of turbulent flows (Bazilevs, Y., et al. 2007, Comput. Methods Appl. Mech. Eng., 197, pp. 173–201). LC consists of stream-wise vortices in the direction of the wind acting as a secondary flow structure to the primary, mean component of the flow driven by the wind. LC results from surface wave-current interaction and often occurs within the upper ocean mixed layer over deep water and in coastal shelf regions under wind speeds greater than 3 m s−1. Our LES of wind-driven shallow water flow with LC is representative of a coastal shelf flow where LC extends to the bottom and interacts with the sea bed boundary layer. The governing LES equations are the Craik-Leivobich equations (Tejada-Martínez, A. E., and Grosch, C. E., 2007, J. Fluid Mech., 576, pp. 63–108; Gargett, A. E., 2004, Science, 306, pp. 1925–1928), consisting of the time-filtered Navier-Stokes equations. These equations possess the same structure as the Navier-Stokes equations with an extra vortex force term accounting for wave-current interaction giving rise to LC. The RBVMS method with quadratic NURBS is shown to possess good convergence characteristics in wind-driven flow with LC. Furthermore, the method yields LC structures in good agreement with those computed with the spectral method in (Thorpe, S. A., 2004, Annu. Rev. Fluids Mech., 36, pp. 584 55–79) and measured during field observations in (D’Alessio, S. J., et al., 1998, J. Phys. Oceanogr., 28, pp. 1624–1641; Kantha, L., and Clayson, C. A., 2004, Ocean Modelling, 6, pp. 101–124).

Diurnal Cycle Induced Amplification of Sea Surface Temperature Intraseasonal Oscillations Over the Bay of Bengal in Summer Monsoon Season

In spite of strong mean summer monsoon winds, the magnitudes of diurnal and intraseasonal oscillations (ISO) of the sea surface temperature (SST) in the Bay of Bengal (BoB) are as strong as the respective magnitudes in the western Pacific. Using continuous observations during the peak summer monsoon of 1998 at BoB buoy (DS4) located at (89° E, 19° N), we show that the strong near-surface diurnal variation in the BoB during warming phases of the ISO leads to almost double the magnitude of the diurnal SST over the BoB as compared to that during the cooling phases. The simulation experiments with and without the diurnal cycle of surface fluxes indicate that more than one-third of the observed SST ISO amplitude could arise from the rectification of the diurnal cycle through the influence of late night and early daytime upper-ocean mixing processes during the warming phases. The rapid shoaling of the upper-ocean mixed layer occurs during afternoon while it deepens slowly during late night and early daytime which tends to retain the warm SSTs at the end of the nighttime cooling. The insight derived from these experiments on the influence of the diurnal cycle on ISOs of the SST underlines the need for a proper simulation of the diurnal cycle of the SST in climate models.

Factors influencing the climatological mixed layer depth in the South China Sea: numerical simulations

The mixed layer depth (MLD) in the upper ocean is an important physical parameter for describing the upper ocean mixed layer. We analyzed several major factors influencing the climatological mixed layer depth (CMLD), and established a numerical simulation in the South China Sea (SCS) using the Regional Ocean Model System (ROMS) with a high-resolution (1/12°×1/12°) grid nesting method and 50 vertical layers. Several ideal numerical experiments were tested by modifying the existing sea surface boundary conditions. Especially, we analyzed the sensitivity of the results simulated for the CMLD with factors of sea surface wind stress (SSWS), sea surface net heat flux (SSNHF), and the difference between evaporation and precipitation (DEP). The result shows that of the three factors that change the depth of the CMLD, SSWS is in the first place, when ignoring the impact of SSWS, CMLD will change by 26% on average, and its effect is always to deepen the CMLD; the next comes SSNHF (13%) for deepening the CMLD in October to January and shallowing the CMLD in February to September; and the DEP comes in the third (only 2%). Moreover, we analyzed the temporal and spatial characteristics of CMLD and compared the simulation result with the ARGO observational data. The results indicate that ROMS is applicable for studying CMLD in the SCS area.