The mesoscale activities (or mesoscale structures) in the ocean possess huge energy. Such structures (including oceanic fronts and eddies) can induce mesoscale air–sea interaction (MASI) and then greatly impact oceanic circulation. MASI is distinct from large-scale interaction mainly in terms of the atmospheric forcing, and it can be revealed by high-resolution observations and simulations.
"Mesoscale air–sea interaction can not only affect the atmospheric processes in the boundary layer, but also the cloud and precipitation. Additionally, it can affect the western boundary current,” says Dr. LIN Pengfein, an Associate Researcher at the Institute of Atmospheric Physics and first author of a paper recently published in Atmospheric and Oceanic Science Letters.
"Many global coupled models cannot resolve oceanic mesoscale eddies and fronts because the horizontal oceanic resolutions are too coarse. As such, few simulations had been carried out using very-high-resolution global coupled models. Furthermore, the simulation fidelity of mesoscale air–sea interaction had not been explored in detail in these previous studies,” continues Lin.
Read more at Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences