[A-CG07] Asia-Pacific climate variations on diurnal to secular time scales

[ACG07-07] Testing frontal air-sea interaction dynamics using spectral transfer functions

*Niklas Schneider¹, Masami Nonaka², Bunmei Taguchi², Akira Kuwano-Yoshida², Kazuyoshi Kikuchi¹ (1.International Pacific Research Center, University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2.Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, Yokohama, Japan)

Keywords:atmosphere, air-sea interaction, sea surface temperature

We test a linear model for the response of the atmospheric boundary layer to variations the sea surface temperature associate with the ocean mesoscale. The model includes the impact of sea surface temperature fronts on vertical mixing and on pressure gradients, and includes advection by a background Ekman spiral. Model dynamics are governed by transfer function in wave-number space between sea surface temperature, and frontally boundary layer variables. Using output from the atmospheric general circulation model AFES, we evaluate the spectral transfer functions for frontally induced wind speed and direction. For the Southern Ocean results show encouraging agreements and suggest that the linear model captures the underlying physics. In contrast, the Kuroshio region is more challenging.