1. Introduction
The ocean mixed layer is a gateway for atmosphere–ocean exchange. Some of the deepest mixed layers develop in the Southern Ocean, particularly on the equatorward flank of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC; McCartney 1977). It has been shown that the development of this deep mixed layer tends to occur simultaneously with Subantarctic Mode Water (SAMW) and Antarctic Intermediate Water (AAIW) formation (McCartney 1977; 1982; Hanawa and Talley 2001; Rintoul and England 2002; Sallée et al. 2006; Holte and Talley 2009; Herraiz-Borreguero and Rintoul 2011; Holte et al. 2012; Cerovečki et al. 2013). North of the Subantarctic Front (SAF), the northernmost front within the ACC, the deepest mixed layers are congruent with the subsurface salinity minimum, a signature of SAMW in the southeast Indian Ocean (Sallée et al. 2006) and of AAIW in the southeast Pacific Ocean (Holte and Talley 2009). These water masses play key roles for the oceanic transport of heat, carbon, and nutrients (Sarmiento et al. 2004; Sabine et al. 2004; Sallée et al. 2012; Jones et al. 2016). Therefore, it is important to understand the mechanism of mixed layer formation.
Numerous observation-based studies concluded that air–sea buoyancy loss and Ekman advection of buoyancy are two dominant factors in forming the deep mixed layers in the Southern Ocean (Rintoul and England 2002; Sallée et al. 2006; Dong et al. 2007, 2008; Downes et al. 2011; Holte et al. 2012). Buoyancy forcing in particular has been considered to play the primary role (Sallée et al. 2010; Hogg 2010). Using scaling analysis, Sallée et al. (2010) concluded for the mixed layer north of the ACC that buoyancy forcing is an order of magnitude greater than wind forcing. The Langmuir turbulence associated with the Stokes drift was found to deepen the mixed layer in the Southern Ocean, particularly during the austral summer (Belcher et al. 2012; Wenegrat and McPhaden 2016; Qing Li et al. 2016, 2017).
The results from recent modeling studies suggest that the mixed layer is appreciably more accurate in eddy-permitting or eddy-resolving ocean model simulations than in simulations at coarser resolution where the dynamics is laminar, suggesting that mesoscale eddies also play an important role in determining vertical stratification in the southern Indian Ocean (Lee et al. 2011) and seasonal mixed layer dynamics (Schiller and Ridgway 2013). In addition, the mesoscale eddy fluxes remain important in the mixed layer (Schmitz 1996; Treguier et al. 1997; Phillips and Rintoul 2000; Weller et al. 2004; Kuo et al. 2005). Initial stratification prior to the cooling season may also be important (Dong et al. 2008).
There are two major regions of deep mixed layers in the Southern Ocean, one in the Indo–western Pacific Southern Ocean (IWPSO) and the other in the eastern Pacific Southern Ocean (EPSO; see, e.g., Dong et al. 2008; Cerovečki et al. 2013). The June mixed layer depth (MLD; color) climatology, shown in Fig. 1, reveals that these two regions show different meridional scales and relationships with the ACC jets (contours). In the EPSO, the MLD is relatively broad (more than ~10° latitude wide) and encompasses the entire SAF. In contrast, the MLD in the IWPSO is extremely narrow (less than ~2° latitude) and is located immediately north of the SAF. This stark difference in the MLD structure suggests that there are also differences in driving mechanisms between the two regions. Indeed, Dong et al. (2008) showed that heat loss to the atmosphere is responsible for the development of the mixed layers in the EPSO region, while horizontal Ekman advection is more important in the IWPSO region. However, the meridional scale of the zonal wind stress curl is essentially that of the atmospheric midlatitude westerlies, which is much greater than ~2° latitude. Therefore, at least during the initial development stage of the IWPSO mixed layer (Fig. 1), processes associated with the SAF itself could play an important role. This possibility is in line with the conclusion of the aforementioned eddy-resolving model studies (Lee et al. 2011; Schiller and Ridgway 2013; Morrison et al. 2013) because the IWPSO ACC jets are driven by baroclinic eddy fluxes (Qian Li et al. 2016). In this study, we will present analysis results that support this possibility.
June MLD (color; m) simulated by the POP model. Contours show Gaussian-boxcar-smoothed (2.5° × 2.5°) and depth-averaged (above 1 km) zonal current speed (cm s−1) that exceeds 6 cm s−1 (hatched) and 11 cm s−1 (thick) with an interval of 5 cm s−1. The black box indicates the domain defined as the Indo–western Pacific Southern Ocean (30°–60°S, 50°–190°E) in this study.
Citation: Journal of Physical Oceanography 47, 11; 10.1175/JPO-D-17-0006.1
June MLD (color; m) simulated by the POP model. Contours show Gaussian-boxcar-smoothed (2.5° × 2.5°) and depth-averaged (above 1 km) zonal current speed (cm s−1) that exceeds 6 cm s−1 (hatched) and 11 cm s−1 (thick) with an interval of 5 cm s−1. The black box indicates the domain defined as the Indo–western Pacific Southern Ocean (30°–60°S, 50°–190°E) in this study.
Citation: Journal of Physical Oceanography 47, 11; 10.1175/JPO-D-17-0006.1
June MLD (color; m) simulated by the POP model. Contours show Gaussian-boxcar-smoothed (2.5° × 2.5°) and depth-averaged (above 1 km) zonal current speed (cm s−1) that exceeds 6 cm s−1 (hatched) and 11 cm s−1 (thick) with an interval of 5 cm s−1. The black box indicates the domain defined as the Indo–western Pacific Southern Ocean (30°–60°S, 50°–190°E) in this study.
Citation: Journal of Physical Oceanography 47, 11; 10.1175/JPO-D-17-0006.1
The remainder of this paper is organized as follows. In section 2, we will describe the model simulation used in this study. The results will be presented in section 3, and the discussion and conclusions will be followed in section 4.
2. Model description and methodology
a. The eddy-resolving ocean model
This study uses the data output from an eddy-resolving simulation of the global ocean circulation carried out with the Los Alamos Parallel Ocean Program (POP) model (Smith et al. 1992). A Mercator grid is employed with a latitudinal grid spacing of 1/10° cos(ϕ), where ϕ is latitude. Over the Southern Ocean, the corresponding horizontal resolution ranges between 4 and 9 km. In the vertical, the POP model has tripole grid and 42 levels with thickness ranging from 5 m at the surface to 250 m at 5500-m depth. The POP model run analyzed here was restarted with an initial spinup period of 15 years between 1979 and 1993, in which the model was found to have reached a quasi-equilibrium state in the upper ocean (Maltrud et al. 2010). The results described in this paper are based on daily output from the subsequent period between 1994 and 2007 of the same model simulation. As such, the model used in this study is identical to that of Maltrud et al. (2010), except that our experiment was driven by synoptic forcing rather than by a repeating monthly climatology.
The atmospheric state was based on the National Centers for Environmental Prediction–National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCEP–NCAR) reanalysis dataset (Kalnay et al. 1996), but these data were adjusted based on comparisons with observations, especially in high latitudes (Large and Yeager 2009). The ocean was forced by the interannually varying atmospheric fluxes from the Co-ordinated Ocean–Ice Reference Experiments version 2.0 (CORE.v2) forcing dataset (Large and Yeager 2009). The shortwave radiation and precipitation fields were taken from the CORE.v2 forcing dataset. Longwave radiation, sensible heat flux, evaporation, and wind stress were calculated online using bulk formulae in terms of the near-surface atmospheric and oceanic states (Large and Yeager 2009). Latent heat flux was derived from evaporation. The online-calculated air–sea heat fluxes output, available for us to use in this study, is from the period of 1995–2003.
The parameterizations in the POP model are described in Maltrud et al. (2010). The K-profile parameterization (KPP; Large et al. 1994) was implemented in the calculation of the vertical tracer diffusion coefficients. The values range from 10−5 m2 s−1 near the surface to 10−4 m2 s−1 at depths. A much larger diffusion coefficient of 0.1 m2 s−1 was used to simulate convection.
b. Definition of the mixed layer depth
In our study region of the IWPSO, because the temperature and salinity variability is density-compensating (Rintoul and England 2002; Sallée et al. 2006), a buoyancy/density-based MLD definition is more appropriate than a temperature-based definition. The POP model–simulated MLD is defined as the shallowest depth at which the local buoyancy gradient equals the maximum buoyancy gradient between the surface and any discrete depth within that water column (Large et al. 1997). This MLD definition was found to be useful in describing a boundary layer and associated transition layer (Ferrari et al. 2008; Danabasoglu et al. 2008).
To test the sensitivity of our main finding to the definition of the MLD, we also consider another density-based definition where the base of the mixed layer is defined as the depth at which the potential density in the layer changes by 0.03 kg m−3 relative to the ocean surface density (Δσ = 0.03 kg m−3). In addition, the Argo-float-based MLD is also examined for comparison. As will be shown, the key MLD structure associated with the SAF (Fig. 1) is evident in all of these different definitions.
c. Depth-dependent buoyancy frequency budget analysis
3. Results
a. Evolution of mixed layer depth in the Indo–western Pacific Southern Ocean
We first examine the monthly evolution of the MLD distribution and assess the key features. Figure 2 displays the May–October MLD and depth-averaged (above 1 km) zonal current speed fields in the IWPSO. Because raw zonal current field is complex, for the purpose of display in Fig. 2, we applied a spatial Gaussian boxcar (2.5° × 2.5°) smoothing (e.g., as in Williams et al. 2007) to the raw data. From May to October, the MLD exhibits a marked seasonal march: the MLD begins to deepen in June (Fig. 2b), reaching its maximum in September (Figs. 2c–e), and then shoals during October (Fig. 2f). The deep MLD develops along the northern flank of the SAF with a meridional width of only ~2° latitude. In particular, the deepest MLD occurs in a small sector of 130°–142°E (the red box shown in Fig. 2), where the jets are especially zonal and persistent. Therefore, we will examine in detail the development of the deep mixed layer in this sector.
Monthly MLD (color; m) from the POP model simulation for (a)–(f) May–October in the Indo–western Pacific Southern Ocean (30°–60°S, 50°–190°E). Contours show Gaussian-boxcar-smoothed (2.5° × 2.5°) and depth-averaged (above 1 km) zonal current speed (cm s−1) that exceeds 6 cm s−1 (hatched) and 11 cm s−1 (thick) with an interval of 5 cm s−1. The red box indicates the sector (40°–55°S, 130°–142°E) where the current is especially zonal and persistent and the MLD is deepest.
Citation: Journal of Physical Oceanography 47, 11; 10.1175/JPO-D-17-0006.1
Monthly MLD (color; m) from the POP model simulation for (a)–(f) May–October in the Indo–western Pacific Southern Ocean (30°–60°S, 50°–190°E). Contours show Gaussian-boxcar-smoothed (2.5° × 2.5°) and depth-averaged (above 1 km) zonal current speed (cm s−1) that exceeds 6 cm s−1 (hatched) and 11 cm s−1 (thick) with an interval of 5 cm s−1. The red box indicates the sector (40°–55°S, 130°–142°E) where the current is especially zonal and persistent and the MLD is deepest.
Citation: Journal of Physical Oceanography 47, 11; 10.1175/JPO-D-17-0006.1
Monthly MLD (color; m) from the POP model simulation for (a)–(f) May–October in the Indo–western Pacific Southern Ocean (30°–60°S, 50°–190°E). Contours show Gaussian-boxcar-smoothed (2.5° × 2.5°) and depth-averaged (above 1 km) zonal current speed (cm s−1) that exceeds 6 cm s−1 (hatched) and 11 cm s−1 (thick) with an interval of 5 cm s−1. The red box indicates the sector (40°–55°S, 130°–142°E) where the current is especially zonal and persistent and the MLD is deepest.
Citation: Journal of Physical Oceanography 47, 11; 10.1175/JPO-D-17-0006.1
There is evidence that the aforementioned MLD wedge–jet relationship also exists in nature. Figure 3 shows the Argo-float-based MLD estimated using the density threshold method (Holte et al. 2016). Superimposed in this figure is the zonal current speed from the Southern Ocean State Estimate (SOSE), which is considered as an optimal fit to Southern Ocean observations (Mazloff et al. 2010). For display purposes, the zonal current speed field from the SOSE was also subjected to the Gaussian boxcar (2.5° × 2.5°) smoothing. It can be seen that the thickest MLD from Argo occurs along the northern flank of the strong, localized jets. The observed MLD wedge–jet relationship is consistent with that simulated by the POP model (Fig. 2), although it is evident in several different sectors among 90°–150°E, and the observed MLD is relatively shallower than that from the POP. Therefore, we are encouraged to examine the POP model simulation to investigate the mechanism of the MLD development.
Monthly MLD (color; m) based on the density criterion (Δσ = 0.03 kg m−3) from the Argo float data for (a)–(f) May–October in the Indo–western Pacific Southern Ocean (50°–190°E, 30°–60°S). Contours show Gaussian-boxcar-smoothed (2.5° × 2.5°) and depth-averaged (above 1 km) zonal current speed (cm s−1) that exceeds 6 cm s−1 (hatched) and 11 cm s−1 (thick) with an interval of 2.5 cm s−1. The velocity data are from the SOSE.
Citation: Journal of Physical Oceanography 47, 11; 10.1175/JPO-D-17-0006.1
Monthly MLD (color; m) based on the density criterion (Δσ = 0.03 kg m−3) from the Argo float data for (a)–(f) May–October in the Indo–western Pacific Southern Ocean (50°–190°E, 30°–60°S). Contours show Gaussian-boxcar-smoothed (2.5° × 2.5°) and depth-averaged (above 1 km) zonal current speed (cm s−1) that exceeds 6 cm s−1 (hatched) and 11 cm s−1 (thick) with an interval of 2.5 cm s−1. The velocity data are from the SOSE.
Citation: Journal of Physical Oceanography 47, 11; 10.1175/JPO-D-17-0006.1
Monthly MLD (color; m) based on the density criterion (Δσ = 0.03 kg m−3) from the Argo float data for (a)–(f) May–October in the Indo–western Pacific Southern Ocean (50°–190°E, 30°–60°S). Contours show Gaussian-boxcar-smoothed (2.5° × 2.5°) and depth-averaged (above 1 km) zonal current speed (cm s−1) that exceeds 6 cm s−1 (hatched) and 11 cm s−1 (thick) with an interval of 2.5 cm s−1. The velocity data are from the SOSE.
Citation: Journal of Physical Oceanography 47, 11; 10.1175/JPO-D-17-0006.1
The vertical cross section of the MLD and the zonal current speed reveal additional details that are not evident in the horizontal distribution. Figures 4a–d show the annual evolution of the zonal current speed and MLD zonally averaged over the sector (130°–142°E). The primary jet centered at the latitude of ~48.7°S is the SAF. The SAF core is indicated by the vertical dashed line. It can be seen that the mixed layer is very shallow during the austral summer and fall (Figs. 4a,b) and that it starts to develop in June (Fig. 4c) and persists until October (Fig. 4d). As one expects from the horizontal structure (Figs. 2a–e), during this period of austral winter and spring (Figs. 4c,d), the deepest MLD occurs on the equatorward flank of the SAF core. The meridional MLD profile further reveals that during June and July the deepening first occurs very close to the north of the SAF core, and over a limited meridional extent of only ~2° latitude. This initial mixed layer is much narrower than the fully developed mixed layer (~6° latitude wide) that occurs during August and September.
(a)–(d) Vertical cross sections of sector-zonal-mean (130°–142°E) zonal current speed (color; cm s−1) and MLD (lines; m) from POP for austral summer (DJF) through austral spring (SON). (e),(f) As in (c),(d) but for zonal current speed from SOSE and MLD from Argo. The vertical black dashed (dashed–dotted) line indicates the latitude of the SAF core from POP (SOSE).
Citation: Journal of Physical Oceanography 47, 11; 10.1175/JPO-D-17-0006.1
(a)–(d) Vertical cross sections of sector-zonal-mean (130°–142°E) zonal current speed (color; cm s−1) and MLD (lines; m) from POP for austral summer (DJF) through austral spring (SON). (e),(f) As in (c),(d) but for zonal current speed from SOSE and MLD from Argo. The vertical black dashed (dashed–dotted) line indicates the latitude of the SAF core from POP (SOSE).
Citation: Journal of Physical Oceanography 47, 11; 10.1175/JPO-D-17-0006.1
(a)–(d) Vertical cross sections of sector-zonal-mean (130°–142°E) zonal current speed (color; cm s−1) and MLD (lines; m) from POP for austral summer (DJF) through austral spring (SON). (e),(f) As in (c),(d) but for zonal current speed from SOSE and MLD from Argo. The vertical black dashed (dashed–dotted) line indicates the latitude of the SAF core from POP (SOSE).
Citation: Journal of Physical Oceanography 47, 11; 10.1175/JPO-D-17-0006.1
The austral winter and spring MLD characteristics just described are also evident in the Argo-float-based MLD and SOSE-based zonal current speed (Figs. 4e,f). The SOSE-based SAF core is indicated by the vertical dash–dotted line. Once again, the Argo-float-based MLD also exhibits a wedge-like shape only ~2° latitude north of the SAF core. Compared with the POP-simulated SAF, the SOSE-based SAF is relatively weak and located farther to the south. In addition, there is a slight meridional shift with seasons in the SOSE-based SAF, which is centered at ~49.7°S in austral winter and ~50.4°S in austral spring. In spite of these differences, the observed wedge is even more persistent than that in the POP and lasts from June to November. This finding shows that the MLD wedge–jet relationship in nature and is neither an artifact of the POP model simulation nor sensitive to the definition of the MLD.
b. Evolution of the stratification
To further explore key processes that contribute to the MLD development, we first diagnose the vertical stratification in our study sector. By definition, a mixed layer is characterized by a weak stratification, and as a measure of the stratification we use N2 in (2). In general, the climatological N2 is positive, meaning that the water column is stable. The vertical cross sections of the monthly N2 are presented in Fig. 5. During the warming period of November–February (NDJF), the surface layer becomes increasingly stable, resulting in a thin but strongly stratified layer (above 100 m). This layer lies on top of the less stratified water column (between 100 and 500 m). When the surface starts to cool during the cooling period from May through August, the surface layer becomes less stable. Figure 5 shows that a break of this thin stable layer first appears in June immediately north of the SAF core and over a limited meridional extent of only ~2° latitude. This location coincides with the MLD wedge that was described earlier. Therefore, it is likely that the process that causes the destratification at this particular location is also responsible for the formation of the MLD wedge.
Monthly vertical cross sections of sector-zonal-mean (130°–142°E) buoyancy frequency N2 (color; 10−5 s−2). The white solid line shows the MLD (m) for each month. The vertical black dashed line indicates the latitude of the SAF core (~48.7°S).
Citation: Journal of Physical Oceanography 47, 11; 10.1175/JPO-D-17-0006.1
Monthly vertical cross sections of sector-zonal-mean (130°–142°E) buoyancy frequency N2 (color; 10−5 s−2). The white solid line shows the MLD (m) for each month. The vertical black dashed line indicates the latitude of the SAF core (~48.7°S).
Citation: Journal of Physical Oceanography 47, 11; 10.1175/JPO-D-17-0006.1
Monthly vertical cross sections of sector-zonal-mean (130°–142°E) buoyancy frequency N2 (color; 10−5 s−2). The white solid line shows the MLD (m) for each month. The vertical black dashed line indicates the latitude of the SAF core (~48.7°S).
Citation: Journal of Physical Oceanography 47, 11; 10.1175/JPO-D-17-0006.1
To investigate why the destratification first occurs immediately north of the SAF, we next examine the vertical distributions of the monthly N2 tendency (∂N2/∂t). As expected, Fig. 6 shows that the N2 tendency undergoes a marked seasonal change with negative values within the deepening mixed layer. The May N2 tendency is uniformly negative above ~125 m, presumably due to surface cooling. The surface layer N2 tendency becomes positive during September and October as spring warming ensues. During the intermediate months, Fig. 6 reveals a rich spatial structure, especially on the equatorward flank of the SAF core. During June and July, the strongest negative N2 tendency occurs in a narrow latitudinal band (~46°–48°S) immediately north of the SAF core. This destratification during the early winter is crucial in the development of the deep mixed layer because a weakly stratified water column is conducive to vertical mixing. In fact, it is noteworthy that the narrow region of negative N2 tendency coincides with the narrow wedge of a developing mixed layer. What drives the destratification in the first place? To answer this question, we next examine destratification caused by buoyancy advection.
Monthly vertical cross sections of sector-zonal-mean (130°–142°E) tendency of buoyancy frequency ∂N2/∂t (color; 10−6 s−2 month−1). The white solid line shows the MLD (m) for each month. The vertical black dashed line indicates the latitude of the SAF core (~48.7°S).
Citation: Journal of Physical Oceanography 47, 11; 10.1175/JPO-D-17-0006.1
Monthly vertical cross sections of sector-zonal-mean (130°–142°E) tendency of buoyancy frequency ∂N2/∂t (color; 10−6 s−2 month−1). The white solid line shows the MLD (m) for each month. The vertical black dashed line indicates the latitude of the SAF core (~48.7°S).
Citation: Journal of Physical Oceanography 47, 11; 10.1175/JPO-D-17-0006.1
Monthly vertical cross sections of sector-zonal-mean (130°–142°E) tendency of buoyancy frequency ∂N2/∂t (color; 10−6 s−2 month−1). The white solid line shows the MLD (m) for each month. The vertical black dashed line indicates the latitude of the SAF core (~48.7°S).
Citation: Journal of Physical Oceanography 47, 11; 10.1175/JPO-D-17-0006.1
c. Destratification and preconditioning by a jet-scale overturning circulation
Our hypothesis is that the initial destratification is driven by the jet-scale overturning circulation (JSOC), which was first described by Qian Li et al. (2016). The concept of the JSOC is illustrated in Fig. 7a: at least in the present POP model simulation, the Indo–western Pacific ACC jets are driven by eddy momentum flux convergence (Qian Li et al. 2016). As indicated by the red arrows in Fig. 7a, the meridional flux of zonal momentum by the eddies converges toward the core latitude of the SAF. This convergence increases with height and thus exerts an eastward acceleration that increases with height. In this manner, the action of the eddy momentum flux generates a positive vertical shear of the zonal current, which helps to account for the jet structure. Since the leading force balances in the ocean are hydrostatic in the vertical direction and geostrophic in the horizontal direction (which combine to form the thermal wind balance), the density field must adjust to the vertical shear of the zonal current. The thermally indirect1 JSOC can be understood as being a manifestation of this adjustment process. In the ocean, this indirect circulation brings down relatively more buoyant water from the surface on the equatorward jet flank and brings up heavier water on the poleward jet flank. These actions result in an increase in the meridional buoyancy gradient, which indeed achieves thermal wind balance with the positive vertical shear of the zonal current. Unlike the buoyancy-flux-driven portion of the Eulerian Ferrel cell (Kuo 1956; Pfeffer 1981), the momentum-driven portion of the indirect cell remains even in the transformed Eulerian mean (TEM) circulation (Robinson 2006).
(a) Schematic diagram of eddy momentum flux–driven jet (
Citation: Journal of Physical Oceanography 47, 11; 10.1175/JPO-D-17-0006.1
(a) Schematic diagram of eddy momentum flux–driven jet (
Citation: Journal of Physical Oceanography 47, 11; 10.1175/JPO-D-17-0006.1
(a) Schematic diagram of eddy momentum flux–driven jet (
Citation: Journal of Physical Oceanography 47, 11; 10.1175/JPO-D-17-0006.1
The vertical buoyancy advection induced by the JSOC can be expressed as 
As in Fig. 6, but for the tendency of buoyancy frequency ∂N2/∂t contributed from the JSOC.
Citation: Journal of Physical Oceanography 47, 11; 10.1175/JPO-D-17-0006.1
As in Fig. 6, but for the tendency of buoyancy frequency ∂N2/∂t contributed from the JSOC.
Citation: Journal of Physical Oceanography 47, 11; 10.1175/JPO-D-17-0006.1
As in Fig. 6, but for the tendency of buoyancy frequency ∂N2/∂t contributed from the JSOC.
Citation: Journal of Physical Oceanography 47, 11; 10.1175/JPO-D-17-0006.1
The effect of the JSOC is noticeable in the climatological density field. As shown with the contours in Fig. 7b, the climatological potential density has a local minimum at the latitudes of the JSOC’s descending branch. To evaluate if the local minimum is caused by the JSOC, we computed the change in potential density caused by the vertical advection. An examination of potential density cross sections indicates that the equatorward density gradient develops during the warm months, starting in November and reaching its maximum in April. Therefore, the change in potential density caused by vertical advection can be estimated by computing 
d. Destratification by the eddy buoyancy flux
Monthly vertical cross sections of sector-zonal-mean (130°–142°E) tendency of buoyancy frequency ∂N2/∂t (color; 10−6 s−2 mon−1) contributed from the eddy flux and vertical cross sections of potential density (contours; kg m−3) with an interval of 0.05 kg m−3. The vertical black dashed line indicates the latitude of the SAF core (~48.7°S).
Citation: Journal of Physical Oceanography 47, 11; 10.1175/JPO-D-17-0006.1
Monthly vertical cross sections of sector-zonal-mean (130°–142°E) tendency of buoyancy frequency ∂N2/∂t (color; 10−6 s−2 mon−1) contributed from the eddy flux and vertical cross sections of potential density (contours; kg m−3) with an interval of 0.05 kg m−3. The vertical black dashed line indicates the latitude of the SAF core (~48.7°S).
Citation: Journal of Physical Oceanography 47, 11; 10.1175/JPO-D-17-0006.1
Monthly vertical cross sections of sector-zonal-mean (130°–142°E) tendency of buoyancy frequency ∂N2/∂t (color; 10−6 s−2 mon−1) contributed from the eddy flux and vertical cross sections of potential density (contours; kg m−3) with an interval of 0.05 kg m−3. The vertical black dashed line indicates the latitude of the SAF core (~48.7°S).
Citation: Journal of Physical Oceanography 47, 11; 10.1175/JPO-D-17-0006.1
e. Destratification by other processes
In addition to the buoyancy advection by the JSOC and the eddies, other processes, such as air–sea exchange of heat and salinity and subgrid-scale processes, could have contributed to the preconditioning. As was described in section 2c, the sum of these terms was estimated using (6) by subtracting the resolved advection term from the left-hand side. The contribution to the N2 tendency by this residual term is shown in Fig. 10. During April–September, the destratification caused by the residual term is significant mostly within the mixed layer, and it is noticeably smaller underneath the mixed layer. Therefore, we conclude that the processes represented by the residual term are not responsible for the preconditioning.
As in Fig. 6, but for the tendency of buoyancy frequency ∂N2/∂t contributed from the residual.
Citation: Journal of Physical Oceanography 47, 11; 10.1175/JPO-D-17-0006.1
As in Fig. 6, but for the tendency of buoyancy frequency ∂N2/∂t contributed from the residual.
Citation: Journal of Physical Oceanography 47, 11; 10.1175/JPO-D-17-0006.1
As in Fig. 6, but for the tendency of buoyancy frequency ∂N2/∂t contributed from the residual.
Citation: Journal of Physical Oceanography 47, 11; 10.1175/JPO-D-17-0006.1
Since previous studies have shown that net air–sea heat flux and Ekman advection are two important drivers of MLD variability in the Southern Ocean, we further explore their roles.
1) Role of air–sea fluxes
During austral fall and winter, cold, dense water forms near the surface. The resulting destratification deepens the mixed layer by driving convection (Sallée et al. 2006; Dong et al. 2008; Badin et al. 2013). We examined the online-computed Qnet as expressed in (3) and ε0 from our POP simulation. Consistent with the aforementioned density compensation in the IWPSO region (Rintoul and England 2002), the buoyancy forcing driven by Qnet tends to negate that by ε0. Because the latter plays a relatively negligible role in our study sector (not shown), we will only consider the role of Qnet in the subsequent analysis.
Figure 11 shows the monthly MLD and the online-computed Qnet during the austral winter of June–August (JJA). As was mentioned earlier, the MLD wedge develops immediately north of the SAF core (Fig. 11a). In the winter season, the ocean surface loses heat to the atmosphere. Accordingly, Qnet is negative and acts to weaken the stratification. Interestingly, the most negative Qnet in JJA occurs right on the MLD wedge (Fig. 11b). This wedge-like Qnet profile is persistent throughout the entire JJA, although the meridional gradient of Qnet in a broad latitudinal band (~42°–48°S) slightly increases over time. We infer that this wedge-like Qnet structure is caused by mesoscale ocean dynamics simulated by the POP model because it barely exists in the Qnet profiles of the NCEP–NCAR reanalysis (Fig. 11c). As shown in Fig. 11c, with the coarser resolution (1.875°), the meridional gradient of Qnet in the same latitudinal band is nearly zero during June and July, but it increases significantly in August.
(a) Monthly MLD (m) and net air–sea heat flux (Qnet; W m−2) from the (b) POP and (c) NCEP–NCAR reanalysis for the sector (130°–142°E) during austral winter (JJA). Positive fluxes in (b) and (c) are directed into the ocean. The sector-zonal-mean (130°–142°E) and JJA-mean zonal current speed (cm s−1; gray line) at 918 m are overlaid to show the location of the SAF. The vertical black dashed line represents the latitude of the SAF core (~48.7°S). The location of the MLD wedge is highlighted by the pink shading.
Citation: Journal of Physical Oceanography 47, 11; 10.1175/JPO-D-17-0006.1
(a) Monthly MLD (m) and net air–sea heat flux (Qnet; W m−2) from the (b) POP and (c) NCEP–NCAR reanalysis for the sector (130°–142°E) during austral winter (JJA). Positive fluxes in (b) and (c) are directed into the ocean. The sector-zonal-mean (130°–142°E) and JJA-mean zonal current speed (cm s−1; gray line) at 918 m are overlaid to show the location of the SAF. The vertical black dashed line represents the latitude of the SAF core (~48.7°S). The location of the MLD wedge is highlighted by the pink shading.
Citation: Journal of Physical Oceanography 47, 11; 10.1175/JPO-D-17-0006.1
(a) Monthly MLD (m) and net air–sea heat flux (Qnet; W m−2) from the (b) POP and (c) NCEP–NCAR reanalysis for the sector (130°–142°E) during austral winter (JJA). Positive fluxes in (b) and (c) are directed into the ocean. The sector-zonal-mean (130°–142°E) and JJA-mean zonal current speed (cm s−1; gray line) at 918 m are overlaid to show the location of the SAF. The vertical black dashed line represents the latitude of the SAF core (~48.7°S). The location of the MLD wedge is highlighted by the pink shading.
Citation: Journal of Physical Oceanography 47, 11; 10.1175/JPO-D-17-0006.1
To explore the relationship between Qnet and the upper-ocean structure, we examine the monthly Qnet (Fig. 12; top) and vertical distributions of potential temperature and vertical velocity (Fig. 12; bottom) for the study sector. At depths between ~100 and 500 m, there is a narrow warm tongue isolated within only ~2° latitude on the equatorward flank of the SAF core throughout the entire year. This warm tongue is collocated with the downwelling branch of the JSOC, which transports down warm buoyant water during the warming period of NDJF (Figs. 12a,b,k,l). As the fall season begins (starting in March) the surface cools and the temperature in the top layer (0–100 m) becomes lower than that of the water below. Therefore, the vertical potential temperature gradient can become negative (temperature inversion). This causes heat to flux upward to the surface layer where it is lost to the atmosphere. Figure 12 shows that within this narrow latitudinal band, due to the JSOC-driven warm tongue, the inversion is stronger than the surrounding regions (Figs. 12c–e). We computed the 
(top half) Monthly net air–sea heat flux (Qnet;W m−2) from the POP for the sector (130°–142°E). (bottom half) Vertical cross sections of sector-zonal-mean (130°–142°E) monthly potential temperature (color; °C) and vertical velocity (vectors; 10−3 cm s−1). Green (white) vectors indicate the downwelling (upwelling). The vertical black dashed line indicates the latitude of the SAF core (~48.7°S).
Citation: Journal of Physical Oceanography 47, 11; 10.1175/JPO-D-17-0006.1
(top half) Monthly net air–sea heat flux (Qnet;W m−2) from the POP for the sector (130°–142°E). (bottom half) Vertical cross sections of sector-zonal-mean (130°–142°E) monthly potential temperature (color; °C) and vertical velocity (vectors; 10−3 cm s−1). Green (white) vectors indicate the downwelling (upwelling). The vertical black dashed line indicates the latitude of the SAF core (~48.7°S).
Citation: Journal of Physical Oceanography 47, 11; 10.1175/JPO-D-17-0006.1
(top half) Monthly net air–sea heat flux (Qnet;W m−2) from the POP for the sector (130°–142°E). (bottom half) Vertical cross sections of sector-zonal-mean (130°–142°E) monthly potential temperature (color; °C) and vertical velocity (vectors; 10−3 cm s−1). Green (white) vectors indicate the downwelling (upwelling). The vertical black dashed line indicates the latitude of the SAF core (~48.7°S).
Citation: Journal of Physical Oceanography 47, 11; 10.1175/JPO-D-17-0006.1
It is worth noting that in the observational study of mixed layer heat balance, Dong et al. (2007) found that there are substantial imbalances north of the SAF. They attributed these imbalances to uncertainty in Qnet. In that study, NCEP–NCAR reanalysis Qnet was used. As we showed here, the finescale Qnet wedge (Fig. 11b), caused by the eddy-driven jet-scale circulation, is almost absent in the coarser resolution Qnet (Fig. 11c). The Qnet wedge occurs north of the SAF core where the heat budget imbalance is severe. Therefore, it is probable that the heat imbalance reported by Dong et al. (2007) is caused by the fact that the mesoscale JSOC effect is unaccounted for in the Qnet data that they used.
2) Role of Ekman transport
The wind stress in the Indo–western Pacific Southern Ocean is much stronger than that in the eastern Pacific Southern Ocean (EPSO), where the MLD is also very deep (Dong et al. 2008). Eastward wind stress drives equatorward Ekman transport, which advects cold surface water from high to low latitudes. This advection can help destratify the water column. Therefore, advection has been regarded as the key player in the development of the deep IWPSO mixed layers (Ribbe 1999; Rintoul and England 2002; Dong et al. 2008). Therefore, it is possible that the Ekman transport may also contribute to the development of the MLD wedge. To test this possibility, we computed Ekman meridional advection of potential density (
Monthly (a) Ekman meridional velocity (cm s−1), (b) depth-averaged (above 100 m) potential density (kg m−3), and (c) Ekman meridional potential density advection (10−2 kg m−3 month−1) for the sector (130°–142°E) during austral winter (JJA). The sector-zonal-mean (130°–142°E) and JJA-mean zonal current speed (cm s−1; gray line) at 918 m is overlaid to show the location of the SAF. The vertical thick dashed line indicates the latitude of the SAF core (~48.7°S).
Citation: Journal of Physical Oceanography 47, 11; 10.1175/JPO-D-17-0006.1
Monthly (a) Ekman meridional velocity (cm s−1), (b) depth-averaged (above 100 m) potential density (kg m−3), and (c) Ekman meridional potential density advection (10−2 kg m−3 month−1) for the sector (130°–142°E) during austral winter (JJA). The sector-zonal-mean (130°–142°E) and JJA-mean zonal current speed (cm s−1; gray line) at 918 m is overlaid to show the location of the SAF. The vertical thick dashed line indicates the latitude of the SAF core (~48.7°S).
Citation: Journal of Physical Oceanography 47, 11; 10.1175/JPO-D-17-0006.1
Monthly (a) Ekman meridional velocity (cm s−1), (b) depth-averaged (above 100 m) potential density (kg m−3), and (c) Ekman meridional potential density advection (10−2 kg m−3 month−1) for the sector (130°–142°E) during austral winter (JJA). The sector-zonal-mean (130°–142°E) and JJA-mean zonal current speed (cm s−1; gray line) at 918 m is overlaid to show the location of the SAF. The vertical thick dashed line indicates the latitude of the SAF core (~48.7°S).
Citation: Journal of Physical Oceanography 47, 11; 10.1175/JPO-D-17-0006.1
4. Summary and discussion
We examined the POP-simulated MLD in the Indo–western Pacific Southern Ocean, where the ACC jets are relatively strong, zonal, and persistent. In our study sector (130°–142°E) where the vertical structures and dynamics of the jets are examined (Qian Li et al. 2016), the mixed layer in early winter is remarkably narrow and occurs immediately north of the SAF, the primary and northernmost ACC jet. The meridional extent of the early winter mixed layer wedge is only about 2° latitude wide. Our analysis suggests that initially the weak stratification associated with the narrow mixed layer is due to the downward transport of buoyant surface water driven by the descending branch of the JSOC. This buoyancy transport also generates equatorward potential density gradient north of the SAF. It turns out that eddy buoyancy flux contributes to the destratification in the same region. Figure 14 shows monthly potential density and meridional eddy buoyancy flux 
Monthly vertical cross sections of sector-zonal-mean (130°–142°E) monthly meridional eddy buoyancy flux 
Citation: Journal of Physical Oceanography 47, 11; 10.1175/JPO-D-17-0006.1
Monthly vertical cross sections of sector-zonal-mean (130°–142°E) monthly meridional eddy buoyancy flux
Citation: Journal of Physical Oceanography 47, 11; 10.1175/JPO-D-17-0006.1
Monthly vertical cross sections of sector-zonal-mean (130°–142°E) monthly meridional eddy buoyancy flux
Citation: Journal of Physical Oceanography 47, 11; 10.1175/JPO-D-17-0006.1
Schematic diagram of the processes that contribute to the Southern Ocean mixed layer destratification during austral winter (JJA): net air–sea heat flux (Qnet), meridional Ekman advection, eddy buoyancy flux, and downward branch of the JSOC.
Citation: Journal of Physical Oceanography 47, 11; 10.1175/JPO-D-17-0006.1
Schematic diagram of the processes that contribute to the Southern Ocean mixed layer destratification during austral winter (JJA): net air–sea heat flux (Qnet), meridional Ekman advection, eddy buoyancy flux, and downward branch of the JSOC.
Citation: Journal of Physical Oceanography 47, 11; 10.1175/JPO-D-17-0006.1
Schematic diagram of the processes that contribute to the Southern Ocean mixed layer destratification during austral winter (JJA): net air–sea heat flux (Qnet), meridional Ekman advection, eddy buoyancy flux, and downward branch of the JSOC.
Citation: Journal of Physical Oceanography 47, 11; 10.1175/JPO-D-17-0006.1
Our examination of the monthly evolution of the net air–sea heat flux reveals that while it contributes to the deepening of the mixed layer, the net heat flux itself is substantially modified by the downwelling action of the JSOC. Consistent with previous studies, Ekman advection indeed contributes to the formation of the deep mixed layer. However, its contribution occurs farther to the north of the SAF and hence does not help to explain the formation of the deepest mixed layer wedge immediately north of the SAF. In nature, it is plausible that small-scale processes such as the Stokes drift could contribute to the destratification in our study area (Wenegrat and McPhaden 2016). However, because Stokes drift is not explicitly simulated by the POP model, at least in the model, the key MLD structure considered in this study cannot be attributed to the Stokes drift effect.
We conclude that in the region where the mixed layer is deepest, SAF dynamics is an integral part of the mixed layer formation process because the thermally indirect JSOC is a response to eddy momentum flux convergence that drives the SAF in this particular sector (Qian Li et al. 2016). Since the eddy momentum flux–driven JSOC cannot be simulated at coarser resolution, we believe that the findings of this study provide additional insight into why mixed layers are appreciably more accurate in an eddy-permitting or eddy-resolving ocean model simulation than in simulations at coarser resolution.
Acknowledgments
We thank Alexa Griesel for providing the detailed information about the POP model experiment, and we also thank Matthew Mazloff for his comments on using the SOSE. Q.L. and S.L. were supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant ATM-1139970. An allocation of advanced computing resources OCE960914 provided by the National Science Foundation was instrumental in performing this research. The computations were performed on Kraken at the National Institute for Computational Sciences (http://www.nics.tennessee.edu/).
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Thermally indirect circulation is defined as a circulation by which kinetic energy is converted to potential and/or internal energy (American Meteorological Society 2017).
