Dexing Wu

Western boundary currents regulated by interaction between ocean eddies and the atmosphere

Current climate models systematically underestimate the strength of oceanic fronts associated with strong western boundary currents, such as the Kuroshio and Gulf Stream Extensions, and have difficulty simulating their positions at the mid-latitude ocean’s western boundaries. Even with an enhanced grid resolution to resolve ocean mesoscale eddies—energetic circulations with horizontal scales of about a hundred kilometres that strongly interact with the fronts and currents—the bias problem can still persist; to improve climate models we need a better understanding of the dynamics governing these oceanic frontal regimes. Yet prevailing theories about the western boundary fronts are based on ocean internal dynamics without taking into consideration the intense air–sea feedbacks in these oceanic frontal regions. Here, by focusing on the Kuroshio Extension Jet east of Japan as the direct continuation of the Kuroshio, we show that feedback between ocean mesoscale eddies and the atmosphere (OME-A) is fundamental to the dynamics and control of these energetic currents. Suppressing OME-A feedback in eddy-resolving coupled climate model simulations results in a 20–40 per cent weakening in the Kuroshio Extension Jet. This is because OME-A feedback dominates eddy potential energy destruction, which dissipates more than 70 per cent of the eddy potential energy extracted from the Kuroshio Extension Jet. The absence of OME-A feedback inevitably leads to a reduction in eddy potential energy production in order to balance the energy budget, which results in a weakened mean current. The finding has important implications for improving climate models’ representation of major oceanic fronts, which are essential components in the simulation and prediction of extratropical storms and other extreme events, as well as in the projection of the effect on these events of climate change.

Observed 3D Structure, Generation, and Dissipation of Oceanic Mesoscale Eddies in the South China Sea.

Oceanic mesoscale eddies with horizontal scales of 50–300 km are the most energetic form of flows in the ocean. They are the oceanic analogues of atmospheric storms and are effective transporters of heat, nutrients, dissolved carbon, and other biochemical materials in the ocean. Although oceanic eddies have been ubiquitously observed in the world oceans since 1960s, our understanding of their three-dimensional (3D) structure, generation, and dissipation remains fragmentary due to lack of systematic full water-depth measurements. To bridge this knowledge gap, we designed and conducted a multi-months field campaign, called the South China Sea Mesoscale Eddy Experiment (S-MEE), in the northern South China Sea in 2013/2014. The S-MEE for the first time captured full-depth 3D structures of an anticyclonic and cyclonic eddy pair, which are characterized by a distinct vertical tilt of their axes. By observing the eddy evolution at an upstream versus downstream location and conducting an eddy energy budget analysis, the authors further proposed that generation of submesoscale motions most likely constitutes the dominant dissipation mechanism for the observed eddies.

Distant Influence of Kuroshio Eddies on North Pacific Weather Patterns

High-resolution satellite measurements of surface winds and sea-surface temperature (SST) reveal strong coupling between meso-scale ocean eddies and near-surface atmospheric flow over eddy-rich oceanic regions, such as the Kuroshio and Gulf Stream, highlighting the importance of meso-scale oceanic features in forcing the atmospheric planetary boundary layer (PBL). Here, we present high-resolution regional climate modeling results, supported by observational analyses, demonstrating that meso-scale SST variability, largely confined in the Kuroshio-Oyashio confluence region (KOCR), can further exert a significant distant influence on winter rainfall variability along the U.S. Northern Pacific coast. The presence of meso-scale SST anomalies enhances the diabatic conversion of latent heat energy to transient eddy energy, intensifying winter cyclogenesis via moist baroclinic instability, which in turn leads to an equivalent barotropic downstream anticyclone anomaly with reduced rainfall. The finding points to the potential of improving forecasts of extratropical winter cyclones and storm systems and projections of their response to future climate change, which are known to have major social and economic impacts, by improving the representation of ocean eddy–atmosphere interaction in forecast and climate models.

Modes and mechanisms of sea surface temperature low‐frequency variations over the coastal China seas

[1] In this paper, low-frequency variability of annual-mean sea surface temperature in the coastal China seas is studied based on ocean and atmosphere reanalysis products. There are two distinct low-frequency modes: a basin mode and a north-south dipole mode. The former is characterized by a uniform warming over the entire coastal oceans, while the latter is characterized by a seesaw pattern over the shelf seas and the South China Sea. The basin mode is associated with global warming, but it is primarily attributed to oceanic advection, with surface heat flux playing a damping effect due to intensification of the latent heat loss. The dipole mode varies coherently with the Pacific Decadal Oscillation. In contrast to the basin mode, the dipole mode is broadly associated with the surface heat flux, with oceanic advection acting to damp sea surface temperature (SST) in the shelf seas but sustain SST in the South China Sea. A further analysis indicates that the basin mode and the dipole mode derived from the annual-mean SST remain robust in winter and summer, despite some differences in the governing processes. It is found that the summer dipole mode is associated with the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation. Therefore, SST over the coastal China seas may be used as a potential indictor of these global-scale climate changes.

M2 tidal dynamics in Bohai and Yellow Seas: a hybrid data assimilative modeling study

A high-resolution hybrid data assimilative (DA) modeling system is adapted to study the M2 barotropic tidal characteristics and dynamics in the Bohai and Yellow Seas. In situ data include tidal harmonics extracted from both coastal sea level and bottom pressure observations. The hybrid DA system consists of both forward and inverse models. The former is three-dimensional, finite-difference, nonlinear Regional Ocean Modeling System (ROMS). The latter is a three-dimensional, linearized, frequency-domain, finite-element model TRUXTON. The DA system assimilates in situ observations via the inversion of the barotropic tidal open boundary conditions (OBCs). Model skill is evaluated by comparing misfits between the observed and modeled tidal harmonics. The assimilation scheme is found effective and efficient in correcting the tidal OBCs, which in turn improves ROMS tidal solutions. Up to 50% reduction of model/data misfits is achieved after data assimilation. M2 co-tidal maps constructed from the posterior (data assimilative) ROMS solutions agree well with observational analysis of (Fang et al. 2004). Detailed analyses on tidal mixing, residual current, energy flux, dissipation, and momentum term balance dynamics are performed for M2 constituent, revealing complex M2 tidal characteristics in the study region and the important role of coastal geometry and topography in affecting regional tidal dynamics.

Model-based estimate of the heat budget in the East China Sea

Using a global ocean model with regionally focused high resolution (1/10°) in the East China Sea (ECS), we studied the oceanic heat budget in the ECS. The modeled sea surface height variability and eddy kinetic energy are consistent with those derived from satellite altimetry. Significant levels of eddy kinetic energy are found east of the Ryukyu Islands and east of Taiwan, where the short-term variability is spawned by active mesoscale eddies coalescing with the circulation. Furthermore, the simulated vertical cross-stream structure of the Kuroshio (along the Pollution Nagasaki line) and the volume transport through each channel in the ECS are in good agreement with the observational estimates. The time-averaged temperature fluxes across the Taiwan Strait (TWS), Tsushima Strait (TSS), and the 200 m isobath between Taiwan and Japan are 0.20 PW, 0.21 PW, and 0.05 PW, respectively. The residual heat flux of 0.04 PW into the ECS is balanced by the surface heat loss. The eddy temperature flux across the 200 m isobath is 0.005 PW, which accounts for 11.2% of the total temperature flux. The Kuroshio onshore temperature flux has two major sources: the Kuroshio intrusion northeast of Taiwan and southwest of Kyushu. The Ekman temperature flux induced by the wind stress in the ECS shows the same seasonal cycle and amplitude as the onshore temperature flux, with a maximum in autumn and a minimum in summer. We conclude that the Ekman temperature flux dominates the seasonal cycle of Kuroshio onshore flux.

Importance of Resolving Kuroshio Front and Eddy Influence in Simulating the North Pacific Storm Track

AbstractLocal and remote atmospheric responses to mesoscale SST anomalies associated with the oceanic front and eddies in the Kuroshio Extension region (KER) are studied using high- (27 km) and low-resolution (162 km) regional climate model simulations in the North Pacific. In the high-resolution simulations, removal of mesoscale SST anomalies in the KER leads to not only a local reduction in cyclogenesis but also a remote large-scale equivalent barotropic response with a southward shift of the downstream storm track and jet stream in the eastern North Pacific. In the low-resolution simulations, no such significant remote response is found when mesoscale SST anomalies are removed. The difference between the high- and low-resolution model simulated atmospheric responses is attributed to the effect of mesoscale SST variability on cyclogenesis through moist baroclinic instability. It is only when the model has sufficient resolution to resolve small-scale diabatic heating that the full effect of mesoscale SST...

Seasonal variations of air-sea heat fluxes and sea surface temperature in the northwestern Pacific marginal seas

Using a net surface heat flux (Qnet) product obtained from the objectively analyzed air-sea fluxes (OAFlux) project and the international satellite cloud climatology project (ISCCP), and temperature from the simple ocean data assimilation (SODA), the seasonal variations of the air-sea heat fluxes in the northwestern Pacific marginal seas (NPMS) and their roles in sea surface temperature (SST) seasonality are studied. The seasonal variations of Qnet, which is generally determined by the seasonal cycle of latent heat flux (LH), are in response to the advection-induced changes of SST over the Kuroshio and its extension. Two dynamic regimes are identified in the NPMS: one is the area along the Kuroshio and its extension, and the other is the area outside the Kuroshio. The oceanic thermal advection dominates the variations of SST and hence the sea-air humidity plays a primary role and explains the maximum heat losing along the Kuroshio. The heat transported by the Kuroshio leads to a longer period of heat losing over the Kuroshio and its Extension. Positive anomaly of heat content corresponds with the maximum heat loss along the Kuroshio. The oceanic advection controls the variations of heat content and hence the surface heat flux. This study will help us understand the mechanism controlling variations of the coupled ocean-atmosphere system in the NPMS. In the Kuroshio region, the ocean current controls the ocean temperature along the main stream of the Kuroshio, and at the same time, forces the air-sea fluxes.

The preliminary study of the high chlorophyll in the central Bohai Sea in summer

In the central Bohai Sea, both historical data and in situ observations show that the distribution of high chlorophyll concentration is consistent with warm water. The previous studies confirm that the warm water is caused by a joint effect of wave and tidal mixing. In this paper, the authors have coupled the Princeton ocean model (POM) with a biochemical model to further investigate the formation of the high chlorophyll concentration. When the wave mixing is excluded, the water temperature is lower and the chlorophyll concentration is also lower than the observation. However, if the wave mixing is included, strong wave mixing in the upper layer brings the warm water downward and nutrients upward so that both temperature and nutrients tend to be uniformly high from the surface to the bottom. This provides an environment which is favorable for the growth of the phytoplankton. Therefore the chlorophyll concentration, as a symbol of phytoplankton, shows high value in the central Bohai Sea. In conclusion, the wave mixing plays an important role in the formation of high chlorophyll concentration in the central Bohai Sea.

ENSO indices and analyses

New ENSO indices were developed and the spatial variability and temporal evolution of ENSO were analyzed based on the new indices and modeling experiments, as well as multiple data resources. The new indices, after being defined, were validated with their good diagnostic characteristics and correlation with wind and SST. In the analysis after the definition and validation of the new indices, ENSO feedbacks from wind, heat fluxes, and precipitation were spatially and temporally examined in order to understand ENSO variability and evolution with some emphasized points such as the interaction among the feedbacks, the role of westerly wind bursts and the transformation between zonal and meridional circulations in an ENSO cycle, and the typical pattern of modern ENSO.