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(Reference retrieved automatically from Web of Science through information on FAPESP grant and its corresponding number as mentioned in the publication by the authors.)

The signature of mesoscale eddies on the air-sea turbulent heat fluxes in the South Atlantic Ocean

Full text
Author(s):
Villas Boas, A. B. [1] ; Sato, O. T. [1] ; Chaigneau, A. [2, 3] ; Castelao, G. P. [1]
Total Authors: 4
Affiliation:
[1] Univ Sao Paulo, Oceanog Inst, Sao Paulo - Brazil
[2] Inst Rech Dev, Toulouse - France
[3] Univ Toulouse 3, CNRS, Lab Etud Geophys & Oceanog Spatiale, UMR, CNES, IRD, F-31062 Toulouse - France
Total Affiliations: 3
Document type: Journal article
Source: Geophysical Research Letters; v. 42, n. 6, p. 1856-1862, MAR 28 2015.
Web of Science Citations: 26
Abstract

By collocating 10 years (1999-2009) of remotely sensed surface turbulent heat fluxes with satellite altimetry data, we investigate the impact of oceanic mesoscale eddies on the latent and sensible heat fluxes in the South Atlantic Ocean. In strongly energetic regions, such as the Brazil-Malvinas confluence and the Agulhas Current Retroflection, eddies explain up to 20% of the total variance in the surface turbulent heat fluxes with averaged anomalies of (10-20) W/m(2). Cyclonic (anticyclonic, respectively) eddies are associated with negative (positive) heat flux anomalies that tend to cool (warm) the marine atmospheric boundary layer. A composite analysis of the turbulent heat flux anomalies inside the eddies reveals a direct relationship between eddy amplitude and the intensity of such anomalies. In addition, these anomalies are stronger near the eddy center, decaying radially to reach minimum values outside the eddies. (AU)

FAPESP's process: 12/21243-6 - The contribution of mesoscale eddies to the surface heat budget in the South Atlantic
Grantee:Ana Beatriz de Figueiredo Melo Villas Boas
Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
FAPESP's process: 13/11825-0 - The Upper Branch of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation modulated by the Tropical Atlantic Dynamics
Grantee:Guilherme Pimenta Castelão
Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
FAPESP's process: 13/02355-0 - The methods of identifying mesoscale eddies from satellite altimetry data
Grantee:Ana Beatriz de Figueiredo Melo Villas Boas
Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Master's degree
FAPESP's process: 08/58101-9 - Impact of the Southwestern Atlantic Ocean on South American climate for the 20th and 21st centuries
Grantee:Tercio Ambrizzi
Support Opportunities: Research Program on Global Climate Change - Thematic Grants