Bringing physics to life at the submesoscale
By M. Lévy, Raffaele Ferrari, Peter Franks, Adrian P. Martin, P. Rivière. 2012
450 citations recorded by the source corpus.
A common dynamical paradigm is that turbulence in the upper ocean is dominated by three classes of motion: mesoscale geostrophic eddies, internal waves and microscale three‐dimensional turbulence. Close to the ocean surface, however, a fourth class of turbulent motion is important: submesoscale frontal dynamics. These have a horizontal scale of O(1–10) km, a vertical scale of O(100) m, and a time scale of O(1) day. Here we review the physical‐chemical‐biological dynamics of submesoscale features, and discuss strategies for sampling them. Submesoscale fronts arise dynamically through nonlinear instabilities of the mesoscale currents. They are ephemeral, lasting only a few days after they are formed. Strong submesoscale vertical velocities can drive episodic nutrient pulses to the euphotic zone, and subduct organic carbon into the ocean's interior. The reduction of vertical mixing at submesoscale fronts can locally increase the mean time that photosynthetic organisms spend in the well‐lit euphotic layer and promote primary production. Horizontal stirring can create intense patchiness in planktonic species. Submesoscale dynamics therefore can change not only primary and export production, but also the structure and the functioning of the planktonic ecosystem. Because of their short time and space scales, sampling of submesoscale features requires new technologies and approaches. This paper presents a critical overview of current knowledge to focus attention and hopefully interest on the pressing scientific questions concerning these dynamics.
Subfields: Atmospheric Science, Oceanography
View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/ba135bc711bee9e54bfe452c332c1b79ce0322ce
How researchers see this paper
The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.
In Atmospheric Science
In Oceanography
Citations in the corpus
- The trophodynamics of marine top predators: Current knowledge, recent advances and challenges (2015, background): “Mesoscale features (e.g. filaments or eddies) or sub-mesoscale features (Lévy et al., 2012) are often nested in broad-scale features, such as where cool nutrient rich waters meet oligotrophic waters in the transition zone of the north Pacific (Block et al., 2011; Polovina et al., 2001), or in…”
- Open-Ocean Submesoscale Motions: A Full Seasonal Cycle of Mixed Layer Instabilities from Gliders (2016, background): “These gradients may also catalyze instabilities that efficiently transfer energy to smaller scales, which impacts upper-ocean mixing, stratification, ventilation, and ecosystem dynamics (L é vy et al. 2012).”