An optimal definition for ocean mixed layer depth

Kara, A. Birol; Rochford, Peter A.; Hurlburt, Harley E.

doi:10.1029/2000jc900072

Cited by 680 publications

(525 citation statements)

References 38 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

498

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…This shows that haline stratification is within the pycnocline layer and as per TILD07 criteria discussed above. On the basis of Kara et al (2000) formulation the estimated BL was 25 m. The above discussions highlight the validity of Kara formulation to that of TILD07.…”

Section: Criteria For Mld Determinationmentioning

confidence: 69%

“…An appropriate criterion should be chosen in estimating MLD that depends on the problem being investigated. This study adopts this criteria for MLD estimation based on density variation ( σ t ) determined from the corresponding temperature change T (0.8 • C) using the equation of state (Kara et al, 2000). In this criterion a temperature drop of 0.8 • C was optimal to estimate the turbulent mixing penetration.…”

Section: Criteria For Mld Determinationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The vertical extent of isothermal layer can be determined from temperature based criteria, where the temperature decreases to a value of 0.8 • C compared with the surface. The depth of this layer is termed the isothermal layer depth (ILD) (Sprintall and Tomczak, 1992;Kara et al, 2000;Kumar and Narvekar, 2005). During the presence of inversion layers Thadathil et al (2007) as the depth where 'temperature at the base and top of inversion layer is equal'.…”

Section: Criteria For Mld Determinationmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Comparison of mixed layer depth and barrier layer thickness for the Indian Ocean using two different climatologies

2012

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

ABSTRACT:The variability of mixed layer depth (MLD) and barrier layer thickness (BLT) has profound implications on energy exchange processes at the air-sea interface. More important is the role of MLD and BLT in the genesis and intensification of weather systems. The physical and chemical changes that take place within these layers have significance on biological productivity of the oceans. In this study, the monthly evolution of MLD and BLT for Indian Ocean was compared using the state-of-art world ocean atlas (WOA) and a recently developed comprehensive ocean atlas [referred to as new climatology (NC)]. The study area comprises the geographical boundaries encompassing 30 • N to 60 • S and 30 • E to 120 • E. Qualitative skill assessment of these variables demonstrates that NC is in good agreement with recently reported observational and modelling studies. This brings out the fact that MLD and BLT climatology derived from NC is better than that of WOA.KEY WORDS world ocean atlas; new climatology; mixed layer depth; barrier layer thickness; monthly variability

show abstract

Section: Criteria For Mld Determinationmentioning

confidence: 69%

Section: Criteria For Mld Determinationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Criteria For Mld Determinationmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Comparison of mixed layer depth and barrier layer thickness for the Indian Ocean using two different climatologies

2012

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Typical differences are of order 0.5°C for sea surface temperature (SST), 0.2 for sea surface salinity (SSS), 60 m for winter mixed-layer depth (MLD, definition of Kara et al [2000]), and 3 cm s À1 for surface velocity with complicated patterns of negative and positive anomalies seen over most of the Southern Ocean. The largest differences in SST and SSS are found south of the ACC, in the seasonally ice covered zone.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Estimates of the Southern Ocean general circulation improved by animal‐borne instruments

Roquet

Wunsch

Forget

et al. 2013

Geophysical Research Letters

119

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

International audienceOver the last decade, several hundred seals have been equipped with conductivity-temperature-depth sensors in the Southern Ocean for both biological and physical oceanographic studies. A calibrated collection of seal-derived hydrographic data is now available, consisting of more than 165,000 profiles. The value of these hydrographic data within the existing Southern Ocean observing system is demonstrated herein by conducting two state estimation experiments, differing only in the use or not of seal data to constrain the system. Including seal-derived data substantially modifies the estimated surface mixedlayer properties and circulation patterns within and south of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current. Agreement with independent satellite observations of sea ice concentration is improved, especially along the East Antarctic shelf. Instrumented animals efficiently reduce a critical observational gap, and their contribution to monitoring polar climate variability will continue to grow as data accuracy and spatial coverage increase

show abstract

“…This will involve dynamical variables such as zonal wind and 500 hPa geopotential height, which were extracted from the NCEP reanalysis (Kistler et al 2001;Kalnay et al 1996) with a horizontal grid-spacing of 2.5 . Data for the mixed layer depth of the ocean were extracted from the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) Mixed Layer Depth (NMLD) Cli- matology, which is constructed from the 1 monthly-mean temperature and salinity climatologies of the World Ocean Atlas 1994 (Kara et al 2000;. Moreover, the monthly Niñ o3 ENSO index provided by NCEP will be considered in section 5.…”

Section: Data Setsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Interannual Covariance between Japan Summer Precipitation and Western North Pacific SST

Fukutome

Frei

Schär

2003

Journal of the Meteorological Society of Japan

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

A statistical analysis is conducted of the covariance between summer precipitation in Japan and concurrent variations of sea surface temperature (SST) in the Western North Pacific (WNP;. To this end, a singular value decomposition (SVD) is applied to observed monthly anomalies of the two fields for the period 1961-1998 (38 summer seasons).The first coupled mode of the SVD explains as much as 71% of the total cross-covariance between WNP SST and Baiu precipitation. It is characterized by a zonally elongated dipole in the SST anomaly with opposite loadings on either side of about 30 N and a precipitation anomaly with its maximum in southern Japan. The patterns indicate a negative correlation between Japan's summer precipitation and the sea surface temperature in the East China Sea, Japan Sea and Kuroshio-Oyashio extension. Simpler composite analyses confirm the robustness of the coupling. In a linear regression analysis, the score of the WNP SST explains 30% of the domain mean summer precipitation variance, which is larger than the variance accounted for by lagged and concurrent ENSO-indices.Composites related to the mode's precipitation score were found to support both directions of the atmosphere-ocean interaction. On the one hand, the anomalies in radiation and evaporation at the sea surface would be sufficiently large to induce the observed temperature variations in the northern pole of the SST pattern. On the other hand, the possibility for an atmospheric response to the SST is supported by the consistency of anomalies in lower-tropospheric baroclinicity and moisture flux divergence with the underlying SST distribution.

show abstract

An optimal definition for ocean mixed layer depth

Cited by 680 publications

References 38 publications

Comparison of mixed layer depth and barrier layer thickness for the Indian Ocean using two different climatologies

Comparison of mixed layer depth and barrier layer thickness for the Indian Ocean using two different climatologies

Estimates of the Southern Ocean general circulation improved by animal‐borne instruments

Interannual Covariance between Japan Summer Precipitation and Western North Pacific SST

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About