Study of ocean-atmosphere interaction in the Southwest Atlantic Ocean using the heat fluxes associated with oceanic mesoscale processes

SOLMAN, SILVINA; LEYBA, INÉS MERCEDES; SARACENO, MARTIN

Natal

Workshop; IMBER ClimEco5 Summer School; 2016

Heat fluxes between the ocean and atmosphere largely represent the link between the two media. A possible mechanism of interaction is generated by mesoscale ocean eddies. In this work we evaluated if the processes such as fronts or eddies in Southwest Atlantic may significantly affect flows between the ocean and the atmosphere. We explored the average properties of mesoscale eddies in the Southwest Atlantic and we obtained that regions with the highest number of eddies match with the regions of higher turbulent kinetic energy, such as Brazil-Malvinas Confluence or Subantarctic Front. Then, we analyzed if the mesoscale eddies can modify the underlying atmosphere due to its surface characteristics. Atmospheric conditions associated with eddies were examined using data of sea surface temperature, sensible and latent heat flux, two meters temperature and precipitation from NCEP-CFSR reanalysis. The results showed that the reanalysis (NCEPC-FSR) adequately reflects the variability expected from eddies in the Southwest Atlantic: cyclonic eddies have a cold core while anticyclonic eddies have a warm core. Furthermore, the results showed that sea surface temperature anomalies generated by eddies induce sufficient local anomalous heat flow between the ocean and atmosphere that impact the atmosphere stability near the surface Finally, it was statistically verified that the detected interactions are intrinsic to the process of oceanic mesoscale discussed.