Significant atmospheric boundary layer change observed above an Agulhas current warm cored Eddy

Messager, C; Swart, S

Significant atmospheric boundary layer change observed above an Agulhas current warm cored Eddy

Journal Article

2016

Journal Title

Advances in Meteorology

Link to Journal

https://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2016/3659657

Department

Department of Oceanography

Faculty

Faculty of Science

Abstract

The air-sea impact of a warm cored eddy ejected from the Agulhas Retroflection region south of Africa was assessed through both ocean and atmospheric profiling measurements during the austral summer. The presence of the eddy causes dramatic atmospheric boundary layer deepening, exceeding what was measured previously over such a feature in the region. This deepening seems mainly due to the turbulent heat flux anomaly above the warm eddy inducing extensive deep and persistent changes in the atmospheric boundary layer thermodynamics. The loss of heat by turbulent processes suggests that this kind of oceanic feature is an important and persistent source of heat for the atmosphere.