Abstract
The South China Sea (SCS) is an eddy-active area. Composite analyses based on 438 mesoscale ocean eddies during 2000–2012 revealed the status of the atmospheric boundary layer is influenced remarkably by such eddies. The results showed cold-core cyclonic (warm-core anticyclonic) eddies tend to cool (warm) the overlying atmosphere and cause surface winds to decelerate (accelerate). More than 5% of the total variance of turbulent heat fluxes, surface wind speed and evaporation rate are induced by mesoscale eddies. Furthermore, mesoscale eddies locally affect the columnar water vapor, cloud liquid water, and rain rate. Dynamical analyses indicated that both variations of atmospheric boundary layer stability and sea level pressure are responsible for atmospheric anomalies over mesoscale eddies. To reveal further details about the mechanisms of atmospheric responses to mesoscale eddies, atmospheric manifestations over a pair of cold and warm eddies in the southwestern SCS were simulated. Eddy-induced heat flux anomalies lead to changes in atmospheric stability. Thus, anomalous turbulence kinetic energy and friction velocity arise over the eddy dipole, which reduce (enhance) the vertical momentum transport over the cold (warm) eddy, resulting in the decrease (increase) of sea surface wind. Diagnoses of the model’s momentum balance suggested that wind speed anomalies directly over the eddy dipole are dominated by vertical mixing terms within the atmospheric boundary layer, while wind anomalies on the edges of eddies are produced by atmospheric pressure gradient forces and atmospheric horizontal advection terms.
摘要
南海内海洋中尺度涡活动频繁, 通过对2000至2012年间438个中尺度涡的合成分析, 可见其对大气边界层状态产生的显著影响. 其中, 气旋式冷涡将冷却其上方的大气, 并伴随着洋面风速的降低. 相反, 反气旋式暖涡则将加热大气并使得其上风速增加. 南海中尺度涡引起的湍流热通量、洋面风速和蒸发率的变化可占到以上各变量自然变率的5%以上. 此外, 中尺度涡也会对局地降水率, 云水含量和整层水汽含量产生影响. 通过动力学分析可见, 中尺度涡可通过改变边界层稳定度和海平面气压这两种方式来影响其上大气. 为了更细致的了解大气对南海中尺度涡的响应机制, 我们模拟了大气对一对位于南海西南部的冷、暖涡的响应. 结果表明, 中尺度涡引起的热通量异常引起了大气稳定度的变化, 表现为在这对由冷、暖涡所组成的偶极子上方出现了相反的湍流动能和摩擦速度异常. 其中, 冷涡(暖涡)上垂直动量输送受到抑制(增强), 从而使得表层风速降低(增加). 进一步对模式输出的各动量守恒项进行诊断分析, 结果表明中尺度涡上方的风速异常主要为垂直混合项引起, 而气压梯度力项和平流项则对中尺度涡边界处的风速异常起主导作用.
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This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 41675043 and 41375050).
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Liu, H., Li, W., Chen, S. et al. Atmospheric Response to Mesoscale Ocean Eddies over the South China Sea. Adv. Atmos. Sci. 35, 1189–1204 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00376-018-7175-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00376-018-7175-x