WHOI PO
Channing Prend, University of Washington - Variability of submesoscale dynamics in the Southern Ocean seasonal ice zone
| Date |
Time |
Location |
| September 17th, 2024 |
3:05pm-4:05pm |
Clark 507 |
Title: Variability of submesoscale dynamics in the Southern Ocean seasonal ice zone
Abstract: Submesoscale flows are crucial to the vertical transport of heat and tracers in the upper ocean. These flows are energized by instabilities that extract potential energy from lateral buoyancy gradients, which are ubiquitous in the seasonal sea ice zone. Process studies based on observations and numerical simulations have shown that submesoscale flows influence sea ice mechanics and thermodynamics. However, it is unclear whether these small-scale processes have a rectified effect on the large-scale sea ice variability, in part, due to uncertainty in the spatiotemporal distribution of submesoscale fluxes. In this talk, I will discuss preliminary results using hydrographic data from seal-borne sensors to estimate submesoscale buoyancy and heat fluxes across different regions and the full seasonal cycle. This suggests that the Southern Ocean seasonal ice zone can be divided into distinct regimes associated with different controls on submesoscale variability. Furthermore, the distribution of these regimes implies a regional dependence in the importance of submesoscale fluxes to the upper ocean heat and buoyancy budgets.