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Author(s): Hell, Momme C; Gille, Sarah T; Cornuelle, Bruce D; Miller, Arthur J; Bromirski, Peter D; Crawford, Alex D

Surface waves are crucial for the dynamics of the upper ocean not only because they mediate exchanges of momentum, heat, energy, and gases between the ocean and the atmosphere, but also because they determine the sea state. The surface wave field in a given region is set by the combination of local and remote forcing. The present work characterizes the seasonal variability of the deep water surface wave field in the California Current region, as retrieved from over two decades of satellite altimetry data combined with wave buoys and wave model hindcast (WaveWatch III). In particular, the extent to which the local wind modulates the variability of the significant wave height, peak period, and peak direction is assessed. During spring/summer, regional-scale wind events of up to 10 m/s are the dominant forcing for waves off the California coast, leading to relatively short-period waves (8–10 s) that come predominantly from the north-northwest. The wave climatology throughout the California Current region shows average significant wave heights exceeding 2 m during most of the year, which may have implications for the planning and retrieval methods of the Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) satellite mission.

The short-term (less than 20 days) response of surface circulation to wind has been determined in waters of the southeastern Bay of Biscay, using wind impulse response (time domain) and transfer (frequency domain) functions relating high-frequency radar currents and reanalysis winds. The response of surface currents is amplified at the near-inertial frequency and the low-frequency and it varies spatially. The analysis indicates that the response of the ocean to the wind is slightly anisotropic, likely due to pressure gradients and friction induced by the bottom and coastline boundaries in this region. Thus, the transfer function at the near-inertial frequency decreases onshore due to the coastline inhibition of circularly polarized near-inertial motion. In contrast, the low-frequency transfer function is enhanced toward the coast as a result of the geostrophic balance between the cross-shore pressure gradient and the Coriolis forces. The transfer functions also vary with season. In summer, the current response to wind is expected to be stronger but shallower due to stratification; in winter, the larger mixed layer depth results in a weaker but deeper response. The results obtained are consistent with the theoretical description of wind-driven circulation and can be used to develop a statistical model with a broad range of applications including accurate oceanic forecasting and understanding of the coupled atmosphere-ocean influence on marine ecosystems.

[1] The network comprising 61 high-frequency radar systems along the U.S. West Coast (USWC) provides a unique, high resolution, and broad scale view of ocean surface circulation. Subinertial alongshore surface currents show poleward propagating signals with phase speeds of O(10) and O(100–300) km d −1 that are consistent with historical in situ observations off the USWC and that can be possibly interpreted as coastally trapped waves (CTWs). The propagating signals in the slow mode are partly observed in southern California, which may result from scattering and reflection of higher-mode CTWs due to curvature of shoreline and bathymetry near Point Conception, California. On the other hand, considering the order of the phase speed in the slow mode, the poleward propagating signals may be attributed to alongshore advection or pressure-driven flows. A statistical regression of coastal winds at National Data Buoy Center buoys on the observed surface currents partitions locally and remotely wind-forced components, isolates footprints of the equatorward propagating storm events in winter off the USWC, and shows the poleward propagating signals year round.

[1] An ocean state estimate has been developed for the Gulf of Mexico (GoM) using the MIT general circulation model and its adjoint. The estimate has been tested by forecasting loop current (LC) evolution and eddy shedding in the GoM. The adjoint (or four-dimensional variational) method was used to match the model evolution to observations by adjusting model temperature and salinity initial conditions, open boundary conditions, and atmospheric forcing fields. The model was fit to satellite-derived along-track sea surface height, separated into temporal mean and anomalies, and gridded sea surface temperature for 2 month periods. The optimized state at the end of the assimilation period was used to initialize the forecast for 2 months. Forecasts explore practical LC predictability and provide a cross-validation test of the state estimate by comparing it to independent future observations. The model forecast was tested for several LC eddy separation events, including Eddy Franklin in May 2010 during the deepwater horizon oil spill disaster in the GoM. The forecast used monthly climatological open boundary conditions, atmospheric forcing, and run-off fluxes. The model performance was evaluated by computing model-observation root-mean-square difference (rmsd) during both the hindcast and forecast periods. The rmsd metrics for the forecast generally outperformed persistence (keeping the initial state fixed) and reference (forecast initialized using assimilated Hybrid Coordinate Ocean Model 1/12° global analysis) model simulations during LC eddy separation events for a period of 12 months.

[1] Adjoint model sensitivity analyses were applied for the loop current (LC) and its eddy shedding in the Gulf of Mexico (GoM) using the MIT general circulation model (MITgcm). The circulation in the GoM is mainly driven by the energetic LC and subsequent LC eddy separation. In order to understand which ocean regions and features control the evolution of the LC, including anticyclonic warm-core eddy shedding in the GoM, forward and adjoint sensitivities with respect to previous model state and atmospheric forcing were computed using the MITgcm and its adjoint. Since the validity of the adjoint model sensitivities depends on the capability of the forward model to simulate the real LC system and the eddy shedding processes, a 5 year (2004–2008) forward model simulation was performed for the GoM using realistic atmospheric forcing, initial, and boundary conditions. This forward model simulation was compared to satellite measurements of sea-surface height (SSH) and sea-surface temperature (SST), and observed transport variability. Despite realistic mean state, standard deviations, and LC eddy shedding period, the simulated LC extension shows less variability and more regularity than the observations. However, the model is suitable for studying the LC system and can be utilized for examining the ocean influences leading to a simple, and hopefully generic LC eddy separation in the GoM. The adjoint sensitivities of the LC show influences from the Yucatan Channel (YC) flow and Loop Current Frontal Eddy (LCFE) on both LC extension and eddy separation, as suggested by earlier work. Some of the processes that control LC extension after eddy separation differ from those controlling eddy shedding, but include YC through-flow. The sensitivity remains stable for more than 30 days and moves generally upstream, entering the Caribbean Sea. The sensitivities of the LC for SST generally remain closer to the surface and move at speeds consistent with advection by the high-speed core of the current, while sensitivities to SSH generally extend to deeper layers and propagate more slowly. The adjoint sensitivity to relative vorticity deduced from the sensitivities to velocity fields suggests that advection of cyclonic (positive) relative vorticity anomalies from the YC or the LCFEs accelerate the LC eddy separation. Forward model perturbation experiments were performed to complement and check the adjoint sensitivity analysis as well as sampling the predictability and nonlinearity of the LC evolution. The model and its adjoint can be used in four-dimensional variational assimilation (4D-VAR) to produce dynamically consistent ocean state estimates for analysis and forecasts of the circulation of the GoM.

Ocean heat transport near the tropical/subtropical boundary of the North Pacific during 1993–1999 is described, including its mean and time variability. Twenty-eight trans-Pacific high-resolution expendable bathythermograph (XBT)/expendable conductivity-temperature-depth (XCTD) transects are used together with directly measured and operational wind estimates to calculate the geostrophic and Ekman transports. The mean heat transport across the XBT transect was 0.83±0.12 pW during the 7 year period. The large number of transects enables a stable estimate of the mean field to be made, with error bars based on the known variability. The North Pacific heat engine is a shallow meridional overturning circulation that includes warm Ekman and western boundary current components flowing northward, balanced by a southward flow of cool thermocline waters (including Subtropical Mode Waters). A near-balance of geostrophic and Ekman transports holds in an interannual sense as well as for the time mean. Interannual variability in geostrophic transport is strikingly similar to the pattern of central North Pacific sea level pressure variability (the North Pacific Index). The interannual range in heat transport was more than 0.4 pW during 1993–1999, with maximum northward values about 1 pW in early 1994 and early 1997. The ocean heat transport time series is similar to that of European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts air-sea heat flux integrated over the Pacific north of the XBT line. The repeating nature of the XBT/XCTD transects, with direct wind measurements, allows a substantial improvement over previous heat transport estimates based on one-time transects. A global system is envisioned for observing the time-varying ocean heat transport and its role in the Earth's heat budget and climate system.

A deep, nonlinear warm eddy advecting water that was also anomalously saltier, lower in oxygen, and higher in nutrients relative to surrounding waters was observed in moored current and temperature measurements and in hydrographic data obtained at a site ∼400 km off the coast of northern California. The eddy was reproduced using a nonlinear quasi-geostrophic model, initialized by an iterative procedure using time series of 2-day averaged moored current measurements. The procedure demonstrates how a data assimilative technique synthesizes and enhances the resolution of a relatively sparse data set by incorporating time-dependence and model physics. The model forecast showed significant skill above persistence or climatology for 40 days. Our hypothesis, that the eddy was generated at the coast in winter and subsequently moved 400 km offshore by May, is consistent with the eddy movement diagnosed by the model and with the observations and coastal climatology. The model evolution significantly underpredicted the temperature anomaly in the eddy owing in part to unmodeled salinity compensation in trapped California Undercurrent water. Together, observations and model results show a stable nonlinear eddy in the California Current System that transported water and properties southwestward through the energetic eastern boundary region. Coherent features such as this one may be a mechanism for property transfer between the eddy-rich coastal zone and the eddy desert of the eastern North Pacific Ocean.

TOPEX/Poseidon altimetric height is compared with 20 transpacific eddy-resolving realizations of steric height. The latter are calculated from temperature (expendable bathythermograph (XBT)) and salinity (expendable conductivity and temperature profiler (XCTD)) profiles along a precisely repeating ship track over a period of 5 years. The overall difference between steric height and altimetric height is 5.2 cm RMS. On long wavelengths (λ 500 km), containing 17% of the steric height variance, the 3.0 cm RMS difference and lowered coherence are due to the sparse distribution of altimeter ground tracks along the XBT section. The 2.4 cm RMS difference in the basin-wide spatial mean appears to be due to fluctuations in bottom pressure. Differences between steric height and altimetric height increase near the western boundary, but data variance increases even more, and so the signal-to-noise ratio is highest in the western quarter of the transect. Basin-wide integrals of surface geostrophic transport from steric height and altimetric height are in reasonable agreement. The 1.9×104 m2 s−1 RMS difference is mainly because the interpolated altimetric height lacks spatial resolution across the narrow western boundary current. A linear regression is used to demonstrate the estimation of subsurface temperature from altimetric data. Errors diminish from 0.8°C at 200 m to 0.3°C at 400 m. Geostrophic volume transport, 0–800 m, shows agreement that is similar to surface transport, with 4.8 Sverdrup (Sv) (106 m3 s−1) RMS difference. The combination of altimetric height with subsurface temperature and salinity profiling is a powerful tool for observing variability in circulation and transport of the upper ocean. The continuing need for appropriate subsurface data for verification and for statistical estimation is emphasized. This includes salinity measurements, which significantly reduce errors in specific volume and steric height.

Tomographic data obtained during early 1989 in the Greenland Sea have been analyzed at 4–8 hour resolution to give the range-averaged vertical temperature evolution in the upper 500m for a 106km path. The tomographic inversions used both ray travel time data and normal mode group velocity data in order to maximize near-surface resolution. Two major events are apparent in the results. The first is the warming of a cold (−1.9°C) 100m thick surface layer, and the second, 10 days later, is the cooling of a relatively warm (−0.9°C) subsurface layer between 300m and 500m depth. This warm subsurface layer is a critical source of salinity and buoyancy for deep convection. The surface layer warming is consistent with a mixed layer deepening over a portion of the path, bringing up water from below. Special Sensor Microwave Imager (SSM/I) ice data indicate that the local ice field disappears 3–4 days after the surface warming. The cooling of the warm 300m to 500m layer is also consistent with a vertical process. There is no ice cover at this time, and so surface heat fluxes are large. A northerly wind event occurs at the onset of the cooling of the 300–500 m layer, suggesting that wind-induced mixing may have played a role in initiating the process. There is evidence of southward flow advecting warm water into the area both before and after the two events studied in detail here.

[1] The wind impulse response function and transfer function for high-frequency radar-derived surface currents off southern San Diego are calculated using several local wind observations. The spatial map of the transfer function reflects the influence of the coast on wind-current dynamics. Near the coast (within 20 km from the shoreline), the amplitudes of the transfer function at inertial and diurnal frequencies are reduced due to effects of coastline and bottom bathymetry. Meanwhile, the amplitude of low-frequency currents increases near the coast, which is attributed to the local geostrophic balance between cross-shore pressure gradients against the coast and currents. Locally wind-driven surface currents are estimated from the data-derived response function, and their power spectrum shows a strong diurnal peak superposed on a red spectrum, similar to the spectra of observed winds. Current magnitudes and veering angles to a quasi-steady wind are typically 2–5% of the wind speed and vary 50°–90° to the right of the wind, respectively. A wind skill map is introduced to present the fractional variance of surface currents explained by local winds as a verification tool for wind data quality and relevance. Moreover, the transfer functions in summer and winter are presented to examine the seasonal variation in ocean surface current response to the wind associated with stratification change.

[1] Surface current observations from a high-frequency radar network deployed in southern San Diego are decomposed according to their driving forces: pure tides and their neighboring off-band energy, local winds, and low frequency. Several superposed ocean responses are present as a result of the complicated bottom topography and relatively weak winds off southern San Diego, as opposed to coastal regions where circulation can be explained by a dominant forcing mechanism. This necessitates an application of a statistical decomposition approach. Surface currents coherent with pure tides are calculated using harmonic analysis. Locally wind-driven surface currents are estimated by regression of observed winds on observed surface currents. The dewinded and detided surface currents are filtered by weighted least-squares fitting assuming white noise and three colored signal bands: low-frequency band (less than 0.4 cycles per day) and near-tidal peaks at the diurnal (K1) and semidiurnal (M2) frequencies. The spatial and temporal variability of each part of the decomposed surface currents is investigated in terms of ocean response to the driving forces. In addition, the spatial correlations of individual components exhibit Gaussian and exponential shapes with varying decorrelation length scales.