Premium
Surface eddy diffusivity for heat in a model of the northwest Atlantic Ocean
Author(s) -
Zhai Xiaoming,
Greatbatch Richard J.
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2006gl028712
Subject(s) - eddy , thermal diffusivity , heat flux , geology , eddy diffusion , mesoscale meteorology , flux (metallurgy) , heat transfer , thermal , gulf stream , turbulence , surface (topology) , surface layer , geophysics , climatology , atmospheric sciences , meteorology , mechanics , thermodynamics , materials science , layer (electronics) , physics , geometry , metallurgy , composite material , mathematics
Eddies influence the surface heat budget both by modifying the surface heat flux and by the lateral transfer of heat within the surface mixed layer. It is shown that the presence of eddies modifies the surface heat flux in a model of the northwest Atlantic Ocean by more than 100 W m −2 over the Gulf Stream system. The diffusive effect of eddies is then illustrated by comparing two model runs, in the second of which the surface heat flux acts only on large spatial scales and interaction with the mesoscale eddies is suppressed. This second run exhibits finer‐scale structure and tighter thermal fronts than in the fully interactive run. Finally, we estimate the surface eddy diffusivity associated with surface thermal damping from the fully interactive run. The estimated diffusivity takes large values (more than 10 3 m 2 s −1 ) south of the Gulf Stream and smaller values elsewhere.