Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: Submesoscale flows, occurring at scales of about 1-10 km, are crucial to the vertical transport of heat and other 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 have shown that submesoscale flows influence sea ice mechanics and thermodynamics. However, it is necessary to quantify the spatiotemporal distribution of submesoscale fluxes in order to upscale their impact. Here, we utilize hydrographic data from seal-borne sensors to demonstrate that the Southern Ocean seasonal ice zone can be separated into three regimes of submesoscale flux variability, which are associated with distinct dominant drivers. Furthermore, the magnitude and sign of the mean heat fluxes in these regimes differs, which dictates their influence on the upper-ocean heat budget, mixed-layer depth, and sea ice properties.
Source: Nature Communications
Language: English
Subfield: Oceanography
Field: Earth and Planetary Sciences
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $6,990
Awards: Southern Ocean Carbon and Heat Impact on Climate, Collaborative Research: Characteristics and Origins of Eddies beneath Antarctic Sea Ice, G233732508, G434337789, Small-scale ocean processes in the Antarctic Marginal Ice Zone – a key to refining the global heat and carbon budget?, G4997551560, Collaborative Research: Initiation of the Antarctic Slope Front in West Antarctica, G8284927108, Collaborative Research: Characteristics and Origins of Eddies beneath Antarctic Sea Ice
OpenAlex ID: W4414518846