1. Diagnosis of Frontal Instabilities over the Southern Ocean.
- Author
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Patoux, Jérôme, Hakim, Gregory J., and Brown, Robert A.
- Subjects
- *
FRONTS (Meteorology) , *WEATHER , *METEOROLOGY , *EARTH sciences , *ENVIRONMENTAL sciences , *PHYSICAL sciences - Abstract
The development of three fronts over the Southern Ocean is described using SeaWinds-on-QuikSCAT scatterometer surface winds and an attribution technique to partition the wind field in three components: nondivergent and irrotational components at the scale of the front, and the remaining harmonic component (or environmental flow) induced by the synoptic-scale flow. The front and the environment in which the front is embedded are analyzed separately. A frontal wave is shown to develop out of the first front when the large-scale alongfront stretching decreases, the environmental flow becomes frontolytic, and a connection with the upper levels is established. In the second case, the stretching remains relatively strong and no frontal wave develops. The third front exhibits a developing wave but is not in a favorable configuration with the upper levels; the frontal wave does not deepen significantly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2005
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