Cargando…

Surface cooling caused by rare but intense near-inertial wave induced mixing in the tropical Atlantic

The direct response of the tropical mixed layer to near-inertial waves (NIWs) has only rarely been observed. Here, we present upper-ocean turbulence data that provide evidence for a strongly elevated vertical diffusive heat flux across the base of the mixed layer in the presence of a NIW, thereby co...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Hummels, Rebecca, Dengler, Marcus, Rath, Willi, Foltz, Gregory R., Schütte, Florian, Fischer, Tim, Brandt, Peter
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Nature Publishing Group UK 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7395095/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32737290
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-17601-x
_version_ 1783565334975873024
author Hummels, Rebecca
Dengler, Marcus
Rath, Willi
Foltz, Gregory R.
Schütte, Florian
Fischer, Tim
Brandt, Peter
author_facet Hummels, Rebecca
Dengler, Marcus
Rath, Willi
Foltz, Gregory R.
Schütte, Florian
Fischer, Tim
Brandt, Peter
author_sort Hummels, Rebecca
collection PubMed
description The direct response of the tropical mixed layer to near-inertial waves (NIWs) has only rarely been observed. Here, we present upper-ocean turbulence data that provide evidence for a strongly elevated vertical diffusive heat flux across the base of the mixed layer in the presence of a NIW, thereby cooling the mixed layer at a rate of 244 W m(−2) over the 20 h of continuous measurements. We investigate the seasonal cycle of strong NIW events and find that despite their local intermittent nature, they occur preferentially during boreal summer, presumably associated with the passage of atmospheric African Easterly Waves. We illustrate the impact of these rare but intense NIW induced mixing events on the mixed layer heat balance, highlight their contribution to the seasonal evolution of sea surface temperature, and discuss their potential impact on biological productivity in the tropical North Atlantic.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-7395095
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2020
publisher Nature Publishing Group UK
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-73950952020-08-18 Surface cooling caused by rare but intense near-inertial wave induced mixing in the tropical Atlantic Hummels, Rebecca Dengler, Marcus Rath, Willi Foltz, Gregory R. Schütte, Florian Fischer, Tim Brandt, Peter Nat Commun Article The direct response of the tropical mixed layer to near-inertial waves (NIWs) has only rarely been observed. Here, we present upper-ocean turbulence data that provide evidence for a strongly elevated vertical diffusive heat flux across the base of the mixed layer in the presence of a NIW, thereby cooling the mixed layer at a rate of 244 W m(−2) over the 20 h of continuous measurements. We investigate the seasonal cycle of strong NIW events and find that despite their local intermittent nature, they occur preferentially during boreal summer, presumably associated with the passage of atmospheric African Easterly Waves. We illustrate the impact of these rare but intense NIW induced mixing events on the mixed layer heat balance, highlight their contribution to the seasonal evolution of sea surface temperature, and discuss their potential impact on biological productivity in the tropical North Atlantic. Nature Publishing Group UK 2020-07-31 /pmc/articles/PMC7395095/ /pubmed/32737290 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-17601-x Text en © The Author(s) 2020 Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
spellingShingle Article
Hummels, Rebecca
Dengler, Marcus
Rath, Willi
Foltz, Gregory R.
Schütte, Florian
Fischer, Tim
Brandt, Peter
Surface cooling caused by rare but intense near-inertial wave induced mixing in the tropical Atlantic
title Surface cooling caused by rare but intense near-inertial wave induced mixing in the tropical Atlantic
title_full Surface cooling caused by rare but intense near-inertial wave induced mixing in the tropical Atlantic
title_fullStr Surface cooling caused by rare but intense near-inertial wave induced mixing in the tropical Atlantic
title_full_unstemmed Surface cooling caused by rare but intense near-inertial wave induced mixing in the tropical Atlantic
title_short Surface cooling caused by rare but intense near-inertial wave induced mixing in the tropical Atlantic
title_sort surface cooling caused by rare but intense near-inertial wave induced mixing in the tropical atlantic
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7395095/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32737290
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-17601-x
work_keys_str_mv AT hummelsrebecca surfacecoolingcausedbyrarebutintensenearinertialwaveinducedmixinginthetropicalatlantic
AT denglermarcus surfacecoolingcausedbyrarebutintensenearinertialwaveinducedmixinginthetropicalatlantic
AT rathwilli surfacecoolingcausedbyrarebutintensenearinertialwaveinducedmixinginthetropicalatlantic
AT foltzgregoryr surfacecoolingcausedbyrarebutintensenearinertialwaveinducedmixinginthetropicalatlantic
AT schutteflorian surfacecoolingcausedbyrarebutintensenearinertialwaveinducedmixinginthetropicalatlantic
AT fischertim surfacecoolingcausedbyrarebutintensenearinertialwaveinducedmixinginthetropicalatlantic
AT brandtpeter surfacecoolingcausedbyrarebutintensenearinertialwaveinducedmixinginthetropicalatlantic