Environmental Science and Engineering Seminar

Fronts in the ocean are important for modulating the exchange of heat, energy, and other properties between the ocean and atmosphere, and have a wide range of impacts from climate to biology. Despite their significance, it has been previously challenging to observe how fronts at the narrower end of the spectrum vary over long space and timescales. I will focus on submesoscale fronts between 1.5-30 km wide, using ship and satellite-based observations of over 250,000 fronts to show that the globally-varying oceanic background characteristics alter key frontal properties. Additionally, I will examine the spatial variability and drivers of the seasonal cycle of these submesoscale fronts in the North Atlantic. Finally, I will discuss lingering questions and potential avenues for future work.