Intensification of Near-Inertial Currents in the Atlantic Ocean Over the Past Two Decades

Zheng, Yuhang ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0004-6369-1627, Zhai, Xiaoming, Stevens, David ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7283-4405, Wu, Wei, Gong, Wenhao and Du, Yan (2026) Intensification of Near-Inertial Currents in the Atlantic Ocean Over the Past Two Decades. Nature Communications. ISSN 2041-1723 (In Press)

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Abstract

Near-inertial currents (NICs) play a key role in surface material redistribution and ocean mixing, yet their long-term variability remains poorly known. Using in situ current measurements from surface drifters, we provide observational evidence for a pronounced intensification of surface NICs in the Atlantic Ocean over the past two decades (2003–2022). Basin–mean NIC strength increases at a rate of 3.8 ± 1.7% per decade, with a spatial pattern characterized by strengthening in the South Atlantic and the high-latitude North Atlantic, and weakening in the low-latitude North Atlantic. We further show that these trends in Atlantic NICs are primarily driven by changes in near-inertial wind forcing, particularly those associated with mesoscale weather systems, while variations in mixed-layer depth playing a minor role. This observed intensification of Atlantic NICs may have important implications for ocean transport and mixing, and needs to be properly represented in the current generation of climate models.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	Data availability: The Global Drifter Program data are provided by Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory, available at www.aoml.noaa.gov/phod/gdp/hourly_data.php. ERA5 wind data is provided by ECMWF, downloaded from https://cds.climate.copernicus.eu/cdsapp#!/dataset/reanalysis-era5-single levels?tab=form. CSFv2 wind data are obtained from the U. S. Global Ocean Data Assimilation Experiment website https://www.hycom.org/dataserver/ncep-cfsr and www.hycom.org/dataserver/ncep-cfsv2. BOA-Argo mixed layer depth data are available at https://argo.ucsd.edu/data/argo-data-products/. HYCOM current data are downloaded from https://www.hycom.org/dataserver/gofs-3pt1/reanalysis and https://www.hycom.org/dataserver/gofs-3pt1/analysis. Land boundaries are obtained from Natural Earth (https://www.naturalearthdata.com/downloads/50m-physical vectors). The processed datasets generated in this study are available from Zenodo at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.18607058.
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Science > School of Environmental Sciences University of East Anglia Research Groups/Centres > Theme - ClimateUEA Faculty of Science > School of Engineering, Mathematics and Physics
UEA Research Groups:	Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Centre for Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Fluids & Structures
Depositing User:	LivePure Connector
Date Deposited:	01 Oct 2026 11:11
Last Modified:	01 Oct 2026 11:11
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/104706
DOI:	issn:2041-1723

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