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- Title
Joint observation–model mixed-layer heat and salt budgets in the eastern tropical Atlantic.
- Authors
Ngakala, Roy Dorgeless; Alory, Gaël; Da-Allada, Casimir Yélognissè; Kom, Olivia Estelle; Jouanno, Julien; Rath, Willi; Baloïtcha, Ezinvi
- Abstract
In this study, we use a joint observation–model approach to investigate the mixed-layer heat and salt annual mean as well as seasonal budgets in the eastern tropical Atlantic. The regional PREFCLIM (PREFACE Climatology) observational climatology provides the budget terms with a relatively low spatial and temporal resolution compared to the online NEMO (Nucleus for European Modeling of the Ocean; Madec, G., 2014) model, and this is later resampled as in PREFCLIM climatology. In addition, advection terms are recomputed offline from the model as PREFCLIM gridded advection computation. In the Senegal, Angola, and Benguela regions, the seasonal cycle of mixed-layer temperature is mainly governed by surface heat fluxes; however, it is essentially driven by vertical heat diffusion in the equatorial region. The seasonal cycle of mixed-layer salinity is largely controlled by freshwater flux in the Senegal and Benguela regions; however, it follows the variability of zonal and meridional salt advection in the equatorial and Angola regions, respectively. Our results show that the time-averaged spatial distribution of NEMO offline heat and salt advection terms compares much better to PREFCLIM horizontal advection terms than the online heat and salt advection terms. However, the seasonal cycle of horizontal advection in selected regions shows that NEMO offline terms do not always compare well with PREFCLIM, sometimes less than online terms. Despite this difference, these results suggest the important role of small-scale variability in mixed-layer heat and salt budgets.
- Subjects
ANGOLA; BENGUELA (Angola); SENEGAL; BUDGET; SALT; ADVECTION; CLIMATOLOGY; HEAT flux
- Publication
Ocean Science, 2023, Vol 19, Issue 3, p535
- ISSN
1812-0784
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.5194/os-19-535-2023