OCEAN MIXED LAYER RESPONSE TO GAP WINDS SENARIOS
LT Nikolaos Konstantinou H.N. (Dec 06, cur 372)
Advisors: Qing Wang, Roland W. Garwood
High resolution COAMPS was used to
characterize momentum, sensible heat, and
latent heat exchange at the ocean surface in
gap wind conditions.
COAMPS forcing was used to drive an ocean
mixed layer model at every grid point of
COAMPS inner-most domain.
Sensitivity test shows the dominant effects of
surface heat flux (dominantly latent heat flux)
in generating upper ocean mixing. In
contrast, mechanical forcing by the strong
wind of the gap outflow is not as important.
Sensitivity tests also suggest that the
thermocline structure is the most important
factor in determining the magnitude of the
ocean response to the gap wind events.
Variations in sst are not sensitive to upwelling.