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      Impact of oceanic-scale interactions on the seasonal modulation of ocean dynamics by the atmosphere

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      a , 1 , 2 , 3 , 4
      Nature Communications
      Nature Pub. Group

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          Abstract

          Ocean eddies (with a size of 100–300 km), ubiquitous in satellite observations, are known to represent about 80% of the total ocean kinetic energy. Recent studies have pointed out the unexpected role of smaller oceanic structures (with 1–50 km scales) in generating and sustaining these eddies. The interpretation proposed so far invokes the internal instability resulting from the large-scale interaction between upper and interior oceanic layers. Here we show, using a new high-resolution simulation of the realistic North Pacific Ocean, that ocean eddies are instead sustained by a different process that involves small-scale mixed-layer instabilities set up by large-scale atmospheric forcing in winter. This leads to a seasonal evolution of the eddy kinetic energy in a very large part of this ocean, with an amplitude varying by a factor almost equal to 2. Perspectives in terms of the impacts on climate dynamics and future satellite observational systems are briefly discussed.

          Abstract

          Oceanic mesoscale eddies are thought to derive from internal ocean instability. Here, the authors present a high-resolution simulation of the North Pacific Ocean and show that mesoscale eddies are instead sustained by small-scale mixed-layer instabilities triggered by atmospheric forcing in winter.

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          Seasonal Mesoscale and Submesoscale Eddy Variability along the North Pacific Subtropical Countercurrent

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            Ocean science. A frontal challenge for climate models.

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              Author and article information

              Journal
              Nat Commun
              Nat Commun
              Nature Communications
              Nature Pub. Group
              2041-1723
              15 December 2014
              : 5
              : 5636
              Affiliations
              [1 ]Application Laboratory, JAMSTEC , 3173-25 Showa-machi, Kanazawa-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa 236-0001, Japan
              [2 ]Laboratoire de Physique des Oceans, IFREMER-CNRS-UBO-IRD , Plouzane 29280, France
              [3 ]Department of Oceanography, University of Hawaii at Manoa , 1000 Pope Road, Honolulu, Hawaii 96822, USA
              [4 ]Research and Development Center for Global Change, JAMSTEC , 3173-25 Showa-machi, Kanazawa-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa 236-0001, Japan
              Author notes
              Article
              ncomms6636
              10.1038/ncomms6636
              4275589
              25501039
              f6eb6886-48cf-40c5-a635-707833e0862f
              Copyright © 2014, Nature Publishing Group, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited. All Rights Reserved.

              This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in the credit line; if the material is not included under the Creative Commons license, users will need to obtain permission from the license holder to reproduce the material. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

              History
              : 04 April 2014
              : 22 October 2014
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