Submesoscale
Eddy
Contribution
to
Ocean
Vertical
Heat
Flux
Diagnosed
From
Airborne
Observations
Hector
S.
Torres
1
,
Alexander
Wineteer
1
,
Ernesto
Rodriguez
1
,
Patrice
Klein
1,2,3
,
Andrew
F.
Thompson
2
,
Dragana
Perkovic‐Martin
1
,
Jeroen
Molemaker
4
,
Delphine
Hypolite
4
,
Jöern
Callies
2
,
J.
Thomas
Farrar
5
,
Eric
D’Asaro
6
,
and
Mara
A.
Freilich
7
1
Jet
Propulsion
Laboratory,
California
Institute
of
Technology,
Pasadena,
CA,
USA,
2
Environmental
Science
and
Engineering,
California
Institute
of
Technology,
Pasadena,
CA,
USA,
3
LMD‐IPSL,
ENS,
PSL
Université,
Ecole
Polytechnique,
Sorbonne
Université,
CNRS,
Paris,
France,
4
Atmospheric
and
Oceanic
Sciences,
University
of
California
Los
Angeles,
Los
Angeles,
CA,
USA,
5
Woods
Hole
Oceanographic
Institution,
Woods
Hole,
MA,
USA,
6
Applied
Physics
Laboratory,
University
of
Washington,
Seattle,
WA,
USA,
7
Department
of
Earth,
Environmental
and
Planetary
Sciences
and
Division
of
Applied
Mathematics,
University
of
Brown,
Providence,
RI,
USA
Abstract
Submesoscale
eddies
(those
smaller
than
50
km)
are
ubiquitous
throughout
the
ocean,
as
revealed
by
satellite
infrared
images.
Diagnosing
their
impact
on
ocean
energetics
from
observations
remains
a
challenge.
This
study
analyzes
a
turbulent
field
of
submesoscale
eddies
using
airborne
observations
of
surface
currents
and
sea
surface
temperature,
with
high
spatial
resolution,
collected
during
the
S‐MODE
experiment
in
October
2022.
Assuming
surface
current
divergence
and
temperature
are
homogeneous
down
to
30
m
depth,
we
show
that
more
than
80%
of
the
upward
vertical
heat
fluxes,
reaching
∼
227
W
m