Modeling vertical motion at ocean fronts: Are nonhydrostatic effects relevant at submesoscales?

Through a suite of three-dimensional, high-resolution numerical modeling experiments, we examine the role of nonhydrostatic effects on O(1 km) submesoscale processes at ocean fronts, with particular focus on the vertical velocity field. Several differences between nonhydrostatic and hydrostatic models are pointed out using a framework that enables precise comparison, but it is difficult to identify categorical differences between the model solutions at the grid resolutions afforded. The instantaneous vertical velocity structure is sensitive to the model choice and, even more so, to grid resolution, but the average vertical flux is similar in both hydrostatic and nonhydrostatic cases. frontal region with horizontal density gradients is perturbed by wind, a profusion of submesoscale, O(1 km), secondary circulation features develops in the upper 50 m. Narrow, elongated cells of intense up- and down-welling are found to occur close to the surface, overlying broader regions of weaker up- and down-welling associated with the mesoscale meanders of the baroclinically unstable front. The submesoscale down-welling is considerably stronger than up-welling and is concentrated in 1–2 km width filaments within which velocities can attain magnitudes as high as 200 m day−1. The submesoscale features are found to be robust at horizontal grid resolutions varying between 1 and 0.25 km and exist even in the hydrostatic model. Submesoscale circulation is difficult to observe or resolve in coarser resolution circulation models, but is likely to play a significant role in the exchange of energy and properties between the surface ocean and thermocline. Possible mechanisms for the generation of these features are investigated in a follow-on paper.