The Contribution of Surface and Submesoscale Processes to Turbulence in the Open Ocean Surface Boundary Layer

The ocean surface boundary layer is a critical interface across which momentum, heat, and trace gases are exchanged between the oceans and atmosphere. Surface processes (winds, waves, and buoyancy forcing) are known to contribute significantly to fluxes within this layer. Recently, studies have suggested that submesoscale processes, which occur at small scales (0.1–10 km, hours to days) and therefore are not yet represented in most ocean models,...