Oceanic advection Controls Mesoscale Mixed Layer Heat Budget and Air-sea Heat Exchange in the Southern Ocean

We analyze the role of mesoscale heat advection in the Southern Ocean mixed layer (ML) heat budget using a regional high-resolution coupled model, with realistic atmospheric forcing and an idealized ocean component. In order to test if the overall current speed affect our conclusion, the simulations are carried out in two distinct cases: one with overall strong current (SC case) and the other with overall weak current (WC case). Mesoscale currents are defined with two different spatial filters to explore the scale dependence of mesoscale air-sea coupling: the departure from 300-km running average represents small-mesoscale, while the departure from zonal-mean anomalies represents large-mesoscale. The data in this collection is based on numerical simulations in Regional Ocean–Atmosphere Model (ROAM, Perlin et al 2020, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ocemod.2020.101660.)

Key words: Southern Ocean; Ocean Mixed layer; heat budget; Mesoscale; air-sea interaction