Oceanic Eddy Modulation of Wintertime Air-Sea Coupling and Marine Atmospheric Boundary Layer Winds over the East China Sea

Song, Tangxuan, Hu, Haibo, Bai, Haokun, Yang, Xiu-Qun, Zhai, Xiaoming, Qian, Shengyi and Mao, Kefeng (2026) Oceanic Eddy Modulation of Wintertime Air-Sea Coupling and Marine Atmospheric Boundary Layer Winds over the East China Sea. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres. ISSN 2169-897X (In Press)

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Abstract

This study examined the effects of air-sea coupling and oceanic mesoscale eddies on wintertime low-level wind events within the marine atmospheric boundary layer (MABL) over the Kuroshio front zone in the East China Sea. High-resolution (eddy-resolving, 5 km) and low-resolution (50 km) simulations were conducted, using prescribed sea surface temperature (SST) forcing and air-sea coupled simulations in both resolutions. Among all simulations, the eddy-resolved air-sea coupled (EC) one exhibited the strongest atmosphere-to-SST feedback, closest to reanalysis data. In the EC simulation, complex interactions of numerous oceanic eddies enhanced oceanic front intensity. Compared with uncoupled and low-resolution simulations, it better reproduced wind event statistics from reanalysis. Highly-resolved eddy pairs with positive northwest-to-southeast SST anomalies strengthened SST gradients, altering sea surface heat fluxes and MABL stability, and thereby distinctly modulating wind event durations. Specifically, short-lived events were suppressed while long-lived ones persisted, consistent with reanalysis. These effects are attributed to the influence of numerous oceanic eddy pairs, by enhancing oceanic front intensity, air-sea temperature differences, sea surface heat fluxes, and lower atmospheric stability. Anomalous winds were restrained during initiation but prolonged as events evolved.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	Data Availability Statement: The reanalysis datasets used in our study are the NCEP Climate Forecast System Reanalysis 6-hourly data (https://cfs.ncep.noaa.gov). The observational datasets used in our study are the ESA SST CCI and C3S reprocessed sea surface temperature analyses (https://doi.org/10.48670/moi-00169) and the Cross-Calibrated Multi-Platform wind product (https://www.remss.com/measurements/ccmp).
Uncontrolled Keywords:	kuroshio front,east china sea,air-sea coupling,oceanic eddy pair,mabl,winter sustained wind event
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Science > School of Environmental Sciences
UEA Research Groups:	Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Centre for Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences
Related URLs:	https://ueanorwich-my.sharepoint.com/:b:...
Depositing User:	LivePure Connector
Date Deposited:	27 Feb 2026 10:30
Last Modified:	27 Feb 2026 10:30
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/102088
DOI:	issn:2169-897X

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