A Numerical Investigation of Resonant Inertial Response of the Ocean to Wind Forcing

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Abstract
A one-dimensional model of upper-ocean vertical mixing is used to investigate the ocean's response to idealized atmospheric storms over short (1–2 day) timescales. Initial ocean conditions are based on observations from the northeast Pacific. When the wind rotation is resonant at the inertial frequency, the surface input of kinetic energy to the currents, KE0, is maximized, as are the net changes in inertial kinetic energy, potential energy, and sea surface temperature. The KE0 is a key air–sea interaction parameter because of its strong dependence on the time histories of the wind forcing and surface current, and because some of this kinetic energy input can go to increasing potential energy when dissipated in regions of large buoyancy gradients below the mixed layer. Energy input and the ocean response are rapidly reduced for less inertial winds, indicating that the upper ocean has highly tuned inertial resonant responses. The degree of tuning is highest for the inertial kinetic energy response... Abstract A one-dimensional model of upper-ocean vertical mixing is used to investigate the ocean's response to idealized atmospheric storms over short (1–2 day) timescales. Initial ocean conditions are based on observations from the northeast Pacific. When the wind rotation is resonant at the inertial frequency, the surface input of kinetic energy to the currents, KE0, is maximized, as are the net changes in inertial kinetic energy, potential energy, and sea surface temperature. The KE0 is a key air–sea interaction parameter because of its strong dependence on the time histories of the wind forcing and surface current, and because some of this kinetic energy input can go to increasing potential energy when dissipated in regions of large buoyancy gradients below the mixed layer. Energy input and the ocean response are rapidly reduced for less inertial winds, indicating that the upper ocean has highly tuned inertial resonant responses. The degree of tuning is highest for the inertial kinetic energy response...

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