The ocean surface boundary layer mediates air-sea exchange. In the classical paradigm and in current climate models, its turbulence is driven by atmospheric forcing. Observations at a 1-kilometer-wide front within the Kuroshio Current indicate that the rate of energy dissipation within the boundary layer is enhanced by one to two orders of magnitude, suggesting that the front, rather than the a...

The solar radiation dose in the oceanic upper mixed layer (SRD) has recently been identified as the main climatic force driving global dimethylsulfide (DMS) dynamics and seasonality. Because DMS is suggested to exert a cooling effect on the earth radiative budget through its involvement in the formation and optical properties of tropospheric clouds over the ocean, a positive relationship betwee...

The relative importance of atmospheric versus oceanic transport for poly- and perfluorinated alkyl substances (PFASs) reaching the Arctic Ocean is not well understood. Vertical profiles from the Central Arctic Ocean and shelf water, snow and meltwater samples were collected in 2012; 13 PFASs (C6-C12 PFCAs; C6, 8, 10 PFSAs; MeFOSAA and EtFOSAA; and FOSA) were routinely detected (range: <5-343 pg...

We have studied the modification of the near-surface layers of a copper foil under the action of a volume gas discharge, which was generated in air at atmospheric pressure by nanosecond highvoltage pulses of both negative and positive polarity applied between the foil and an electrode with a small radius of curvature. It is established that the surface layer of the discharge-treated copper foil...

The effect of biomass dynamics on the estimation of watercolumn primary production is analyzed, by coupling a primary production model to a simple growth equation for phytoplankton. The production model is formulated with depthand time-resolved biomass, and placed in the context of earlier models, with emphasis on the canonical solution for watercolumn production. A relation between the canonic...

A benchmark calculation is designed to compare the climate and climate sensitivity of atmospheric general circulation models (AGCMs). The experimental setup basically follows that of the aquaplanet experiment (APE) proposed by Neale and Hoskins, but a simple mixed layer ocean is embedded to enable air–sea coupling and the prediction of surface temperature. In calculations with several AGCMs, th...

The authors quantify the relationship between the location of the intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ) and the atmospheric heat transport across the equator (AHTEQ) in climate models and in observations. The observed zonal mean ITCZ location varies from 5.38S in the boreal winter to 7.28N in the boreal summer with an annual mean position of 1.658Nwhile the AHTEQ varies from 2.1 PW northward in...

Most CMIP5 models unrealistically form Antarctic Bottom Water by open ocean deep convection in the Weddell and Ross Seas. To identify the triggering mechanisms leading to Southern Ocean deep convection in models, we perform sensitivity experiments on the ocean model NEMO forced by prescribed atmospheric fluxes. We vary the ver-5 tical velocity scale of the Langmuir turbulence, the fraction of t...

The upper ocean, atmosphere and their interaction over the North Pacific exhibit pronounced decadal to interdecadal variations. A diagnostic equation for analyzing the heat budget for decadal variability in winter sea surface temperature (SST) is derived that can properly account for subsurface geostrophic advection, and strong seasonal cycle in the depth and temperature of the ocean mixed laye...

A coupled nitrogen–iron model is developed from simple mass balance equations to address fundamental controls on new production (NP) and how they relate to nitrate concentrations in high-nitrate-low-chlorophyll environments such as the central and eastern equatorial Pacific. The model demonstrates that a wide range of relationships between NP and mixed-layer nitrate is possible due to partial d...