《A numerical estimation of the impact of Stokes drift on upper ocean temperature》.pdfVIP

Acta Oceanol. Sin., 2014, Vol. 33, No. 7, P. 48–55 DOI: 10.1007/s13131-014-0507-5 E-mail: hyxbe@263.net A numerical estimation of the impact of Stokes drift on upper ocean temperature 1 2 3 2 1 1 ZHANG Xiaoshuang , WANG Zhifeng , WANG Bin , WU Kejian *, HAN Guijun , LI Wei 1 Key Laboratory of Marine Environmental Information Technology, National Marine Data and Information Service, State Oceanic Administration, Tianjin 300171, China 2 Ocean University of China, Qingdao 266100, China 3 National Ocean Technology Center, State Oceanic Administration, Tianjin 300112, China Received 26 June 2013; accepted 17 January 2014 ©The Chinese Society of Oceanography and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2014 Abstract The impact of Stokes drift on the mixed layer temperature variation was estimated by taking into account an advective heat transport term induced by the Stokes drift in the equation of mixed layer temperature and using the oceanic and wave parameters from a global ocean circulation model (HYCOM) and a wave model (Wave Watch III). The dimensional analysis and quantitative estimation method were conducted to assess the importance of the effect induced by the Stokes drift and to analyze its spatial distribution and seasonal variation characteristics. Results show that the contribution of the Stokes drift to the mixed layer tempera- ture variation at mid-to-high latitudes is comparable with that of the mean current, and a substantial part of mixed layer temperature change is induced by taking the Stokes drift effect into account. Although the advection heat transport induced by the Stokes drift is not the leading term for the mixed layer temperature equation, it cannot be neglected and even becomes critical in some regions for the simulation of the upper- ocean temperature. Key words: sea surface waves, Stokes drift, mixed layer