Seasonal mixed layer heat budget of the tropical Atlantic Ocean
Abstract
This paper addresses the atmospheric and oceanic causes of the seasonal cycle of sea surface temperature (SST) in the tropical Atlantic on the basis of direct observations. Data sets include up to 4 years (September 1997 to February 2002) of measurements from moored buoys of the Pilot Research Array in the Tropical Atlantic (PIRATA), near‐surface drifting buoys, and a blended satellite in situ SST product. We analyze the mixed layer heat balance at eight PIRATA mooring locations and find that the seasonal cycles of latent heat loss and absorbed shortwave radiation are responsible for seasonal SST variability in the northwest basin (8°N–15°N along 38°W). Along the equator (10°W–35°W), contributions from latent heat loss are diminished, while horizontal temperature advection and vertical entrainment contribute significantly. Zonal temperature advection is especially important during boreal summer near the western edge of the cold tongue, while horizontal eddy temperature advection, which most likely results from tropical instability waves, opposes temperature advection by the mean flow. The dominant balance in the southeast (6°S–10°S along 10°W) is similar to that in the northwest, with both latent heat loss and absorbed solar radiation playing important roles.
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The sea surface temperature, thermocline depth and zonal current fluctuations exhibit quite different relationships in the Atlantic and Pacific, as does the seasonal heat budget of the mixed layer.
“The SST, thermocline depth and zonal current fluctuations also exhibit quite different relationships in the Atlantic and Pacific, as are the seasonal heat budget of the mixed layer [e.g., Wang and McPhaden, 1999;Foltz et al., 2003].”
From Seasonal cycle in the upper equatorial Atlantic Ocean (2009) · cites this paper as Foltz et al., 2003
Observational and modeling studies of the equatorial mixed layer heat balance have demonstrated the importance of vertical turbulent mixing for generating seasonal cooling of SST in the equatorial Atlantic.
“Observational and modeling studies of the equatorial mixed layer heat balance have demonstrated the importance of vertical turbulent mixing for generating seasonal cooling of SST in the equatorial Atlantic (Foltz et al., 2003;Peter et al., 2006).”
From The tropical atlantic observing system (2019) · cites this paper as Foltz et al., 2003
These waves significantly contribute to the upper-ocean heat and freshwater budgets through their influence on horizontal and vertical mixing and provide energy to EDJs via downward propagating Yanai beams.
“These waves significantly contribute to the upper-ocean heat and freshwater budgets through their influence on horizontal and vertical mixing (Foltz et al., 2003;Jochum et al., 2004;Hummels et al., 2013) and provide energy to EDJs via downward propagating Yanai beams (Tuchen et al., 2018).”
From The tropical atlantic observing system (2019) · cites this paper as Foltz et al., 2003
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The tropical atlantic observing system
Foltz, G. R., Brandt, P., Richter, I., Rodríguez-Fonseca, B., Hernandez, F., Dengler, M., Rodrigues, R. R., Schmidt, J. O., Yu, L., Lefevre, N., et al. (2019) · Frontiers in Marine Science · doi:10.3389/fmars.2019.00206 · Cited by 150 · see citing works
Self-citationSeasonal cycle in the upper equatorial Atlantic Ocean
Ding, H., Keenlyside, N. S., & Latif, M. (2009) · Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans · doi:10.1029/2009jc005418 · Cited by 80 · see citing works
Estimates of net heat fluxes over the Atlantic Ocean.
Pinker, R. T., Bentamy, A., Katsaros, K. B., Ma, Y., & Li, C. (2014) · Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans · doi:10.1002/2013jc009386 · Cited by 41 · see citing works
- Authors
- Foltz, G. R., Grodsky, S. A., Carton, J. A., & McPhaden, M. J.
- Affiliations
- University of Maryland, College Park (US)
- NOAA Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory (US)
- Venue
- Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans
- Publisher
- American Geophysical Union (AGU)
- Published
- 2003-05
- Volume
- 108
- Issue
- C5
- ISSN
- 0148-0227 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W1985896755
- Cited by
- 189
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 8 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 14 · 2023: 8 · 2022: 18 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 13 · 2019: 11 · 2018: 8 · 2017: 5 · 2016: 8 · 2015: 4 · 2014: 8 · 2013: 8 · 2012: 8
- FWCI
- 6.11
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Geophysical Research Atmospheres (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Oceanography › Oceanographic and Atmospheric Processes
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Global and Planetary Change › Climate variability and models
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Atmospheric Science › Meteorological Phenomena and Simulations
- Keywords
- mixed layer heat budget, tropical Atlantic, latent heat loss, horizontal temperature advection, vertical entrainment, tropical instability waves, cold tongue
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