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Cited by 416Oceanographic and Atmospheric ProcessesOcean Waves and Remote SensingMeteorological Phenomena and Simulations

Coupled ocean-atmosphere interaction at oceanic mesoscales.

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Chelton, Dudley, Xie, Shang-Ping·2010·Oceanography
DOI 10.5670/oceanog.2010.05
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Abstract

Satellite observations have revealed a remarkably strong positive correlation between sea surface temperature (SST) and surface winds on oceanic mesoscales of 10–1000 km. Although SST influence on the atmosphere had previously been identified from several in situ observational studies, its widespread existence in regions of strong SST gradients throughout the world’s ocean and the detailed structure of the surface wind response to SST have only become evident over the past decade from simultaneous satellite measurements of SST and surface winds. This has stimulated considerable scientific interest in the implications of this air-sea interaction to large-scale and mesoscale circulation of the atmosphere and ocean. Convergence and divergence of surface winds in regions of spatially varying SST generate vertical motion that can penetrate deep into the atmosphere. Spatial variability of the SST field also results in a curl of the wind stress and associated upwelling and downwelling that feeds back on the ocean and alters SST itself. Significant progress has been made toward understanding the two-way coupling between the ocean and atmosphere but many exciting research opportunities remain. In addition to regional and global modeling, future research on coupled ocean-atmosphere interaction will continue to be guided by satellite observations. In particular, high-resolution measurements in the vicinity of narrow, intense SST fronts and immediately adjacent to land provided by the next-generation scatterometer will open up new areas of research that cannot be addressed from presently available data sets.

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  • There is evidence that mesoscale ocean dynamics significantly affect the tropical Atlantic Ocean and overlying atmospheric variability across a large range of time scales from daily to interannual and interdecadal.

    “Moreover, there is evidence that mesoscale ocean dynamics significantly affect the tropical Atlantic Ocean and overlying atmospheric variability across a large range of time scales from daily to interannual and interdecadal (Seo et al., 2007;Chelton and Xie, 2010).”

    From The tropical atlantic observing system (2019) · cites this paper as Chelton and Xie, 2010

    The paper’s opening section (p. 52) describes mesoscale sea-surface-temperature effects on winds and feedback on ocean temperature, and its Summary and Conclusions includes Atlantic tropical-instability-wave regions. It does not establish the claimed daily-to-interannual-and-interdecadal range for tropical Atlantic oceanic and atmospheric variability; the Introduction instead describes wind responses most clearly seen over weeks and persisting for a month or longer. (LLM, conf=0.84)

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Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Chelton, D., & Xie, S.-P.
ORCID
Xie, Shang-Ping
Venue
Oceanography
Publisher
The Oceanography Society
Published
2010-12-01
Volume
23
Issue
4
Pages
52-69
ISSN
1042-8275 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.5670/oceanog.2010.05
OpenAlex
W2138301110
Cited by
416
References
0
Citations by year
2026: 19 · 2025: 27 · 2024: 21 · 2023: 26 · 2022: 37 · 2021: 42 · 2020: 46 · 2019: 44 · 2018: 32 · 2017: 16 · 2016: 25 · 2015: 19 · 2014: 17 · 2013: 24 · 2012: 14
FWCI
10.62
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
cc-by
Locations
  • Oceanography (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
Funders
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Topics
  • Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Oceanography › Oceanographic and Atmospheric Processes
  • Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Oceanography › Ocean Waves and Remote Sensing
  • Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Atmospheric Science › Meteorological Phenomena and Simulations
Keywords
ocean-atmosphere interaction, sea surface temperature, surface winds, SST fronts, wind stress curl, upwelling and downwelling, vertical motion, ocean circulation, atmospheric circulation

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