A simple coupled model is used in a zonally symmetric aquaplanet configuration to investigate the effect of ocean–atmosphere coupling on the Asian monsoon intraseasonal oscillation. The model consists of a linear atmospheric model of intermediate complexity based on quasi-equilibrium theory coupled to a simple, linear model of the upper ocean. This model has one unstable eigenmode with a period...

[1] This paper reports the first depth profile measurements of methyl, ethyl, isopropyl and n-propyl nitrates in the tropical Pacific Ocean. Depth profile measurements were made at 22 stations during the Project Halocarbon Air Sea Exchange cruise, in warm pool, equatorial, subequatorial, and gyre waters. The highest concentrations, up to several hundred pM of methyl nitrate, were observed in th...

ne Radarsat-1 SAR image acquired on 31 July 1998 was used to study internal wave characteristics off the northeastern coast of the United States. The image showed several trains of internal waves, with several wave packets in each train. By assuming that the local semidiurnal tide period is the generating source for these waves, and by measuring the distance between the wave packets, we were ab...

[1] Observations, from the Oregon continental shelf, describe the slumping of a coastal upwelling front in response to a reversal of winds from upwellingto downwellingfavorable. Initially, the front outcropped in a surface mixed layer of depth 10–20 m with a pronounced cross-shelf density gradient. Following wind reversal, both the unbalanced cross-shelf pressure gradient and wind-driven Ekman ...

The Critical Depth Hypothesis formalized by Sverdrup in 1953 posits that vernal phytoplankton blooms occur when surface mixing shoals to a depth shallower than a critical depth horizon defining the point where phytoplankton growth exceeds losses. This hypothesis has since served as a cornerstone in plankton ecology and reflects the very common assumption that blooms are caused by enhanced growt...

Mixed-layer depth (MLD) has been widely linked to phytoplankton dynamics in Antarctica’s coastal regions; however, inconsistent definitions have made intercomparisons among region-specific studies difficult. Using a data set with over 20,000 water column profiles corresponding to 32 Slocum glider deployments in three coastal Antarctic regions (Ross Sea, Amundsen Sea, and West Antarctic Peninsul...

[1] Mixed-layer depth (MLD) is often used in a mixed-layer heat budget to relate air-sea exchange to changes in the near-surface ocean temperature. In this study, reanalysis heat flux products and profiles from a 15 year time series of high-resolution, near-repeat expendable bathythermograph/expendable conductivity-temperature-depth (XBT/XCTD) sampling in Drake Passage are used to examine the n...

The ice–ocean system is investigated on inertial to monthly time scales using winter 2009–10 observations from the first ice-tethered profiler (ITP) equipped with a velocity sensor (ITP-V). Fluctuations in surface winds, ice velocity, and ocean velocity at 7-m depth were correlated. Observed ocean velocity was primarily directed to the right of the ice velocity and spiraled clockwise while deca...

In aquatic ecosystems, primary production (the transformation of inorganic materials and light into living matter by photosynthesis) is operated mainly by small, unicellular algae that float freely in the upper layers of oceans and lakes and are collectively called phytoplankton, see for an illustration the phytoplankters depicted in figure 1. Since phytoplankton need light, they are confined t...

By using the depth selective imaging method, we studied the UV induced change in a photomobile liquid crystalline polymer film. With 1 μm depth resolution, each slice inside the film was selectively observed. A network-like structure mixed with the ordered and disordered regions of molecules in the middle of the film, and a rubbed polymer layer at the bottom of the film were observed. In each s...