This colloquium aims to advance our collective understanding of submesoscale processes, their mechanistic functioning, relevance, and implications across a range of oceanic disciplines. Discussions will include observational, modeling and theoretical approaches for elucidating submesoscale phenomena. Topics that will be addressed include: - Dynamics of frontal and mixed-layer instabilities (forced and unforced) and their implications.
- Impact of winds and surface forcing on the mixed layer and submesoscale instabilities.
- Surface boundary layer turbulence and submesoscale instabilities, large-eddy simulation and observations of surface waves, Langmuir circulations. Their implications for air-sea coupling.
- Surface signatures of submesoscale dynamics from remotely sensed surface topography, roughness, and ocean color.
- Mesoscale-submesoscale interactions, energy cascades, impact of submesoscales on larger/smaller scales.
- Physical-biological interactions — implications for biogeochemistry, productivity, export, ecosystem structure and diversity.
- Freshwater in the oceans — implications of submesoscale processes for sea ice, river plumes and freshwater dispersal.
- Coastal submesoscale dynamics — interaction with topography and the bottom boundary.
- Wave-front/eddy interactions Interaction of internal waves and submesoscale fronts/ eddies.
- Modelling issues related to multi-scale and multi-physics nature of the processes and in particular model nesting, unstructured grids and developments of new discretization schemes.
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