TY - JOUR T1 - The vertical structure of open-ocean submesoscale variability during a full seasonal cycle A1 - Erickson,Zachary K A1 - Thompson,Andrew F A1 - Callies,Jörn A1 - Yu,Xiaolong A1 - Naveira Garabato,Alberto A1 - Klein,Patrice AD - California Institute of Technology, Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, Pasadena, CA, USA AD - Ifremer, Université de Brest, CNRS, IRD, Laboratoire d’Océanographie Physique et Spatiale, IUEM, Brest, France AD - Department of Ocean and Earth Sciences, University of Southampton, UK AD - Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA UR - https://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00592/70388/ DO - 10.1175/JPO-D-19-0030.1 KW - Instability KW - Mixing KW - Small scale processes KW - Buoy observations KW - Profilers KW - oceanic N2 - Submesoscale dynamics are typically intensified at boundaries and assumed to weaken below the mixed layer in the open ocean. Here, we assess both the seasonality and the vertical distribution of submesoscale motions in an open ocean region of the northeast Atlantic. Second-order structure functions, or variance in properties separated by distance, are calculated from submesoscale-resolving ocean glider and mooring observations, as well as a 1/48° numerical ocean model. This data set combines a temporal coverage that extends through a full seasonal cycle, a horizontal resolution that captures spatial scales as small as 1 km, and vertical sampling that provides near-continuous coverage over the upper 1000 m. While kinetic and potential energies undergo a seasonal cycle, being largest during the winter, structure function slopes, influenced by dynamical characteristics, do not exhibit a strong seasonality. Furthermore, structure function slopes show weak vertical variations; there is not a strong change in properties across the base of the mixed layer. Additionally, we compare the observations to output from a high-resolution numerical model. The model does not represent variability associated with superinertial motions and does not capture an observed reduction in submesoscale kinetic energy that occurs throughout the water column in spring. Overall, these results suggest that the transfer of mixed layer submesoscale variability down to depths below the traditionally-defined mixed layer is important throughout the weakly stratified subpolar mode waters. Y1 - 2020/01 PB - American Meteorological Society JF - Journal Of Physical Oceanography SN - 0022-3670 VL - 50 IS - 1 SP - 145 EP - 160 ID - 70388 ER -