Recent Advances in Air-Sea Interactions, Climate Variability, and Predictability (2nd Edition)

A special issue of Atmosphere (ISSN 2073-4433). This special issue belongs to the section "Meteorology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 October 2025 | Viewed by 2246

Special Issue Editors

Princeton University and NOAA Global Systems Laboratory, Princeton, NJ 08540, USA
Interests: climate prediction; climate dynamics and modeling; air–sea interaction; extreme weather/climate; machine learning
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Falmouth, MA 02543, USA
Interests: climate data and reconstruction; climate dynamics; air–sea coupling; land–air coupling; machine learning
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
State Key Laboratory of Tropical Oceanography, South China Sea Institute of Oceanography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510301, China
Interests: ocean’s role in climate change; marine heatwaves; coral bleaching
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue is the second volume in a series of publications dedicated to “Recent Advances in Air-Sea Interactions, Climate Variability, and Predictability” (https://www.mdpi.com/journal/atmosphere/special_issues/997E04D253).

Air–sea interaction is an active area of research that is crucial for reducing uncertainties in weather and climate predictions.  Exchanges of momentum, heat, and mass across the marine boundary layer involve a variety of dynamic, thermodynamic, and biogeochemical processes, and hence play an important role in the variability and predictability of weather and climate. Recent studies have shown advances in many respects, including, but not limited to:

(1) Improving air–sea coupling and exchange observations;

(2) Refining the representation of relevant processes in coupled climate models;

(3) Developing statistical representations using data-driven/ machine learning techniques;

(4) Understanding relevant physical processes from the submesoscale to mesoscale to synoptic scales and, further, to large-scale modes of climate variability;

(5) Addressing air–sea interaction in the context of climate change predictions at global and regional scales.

We hope to follow along these lines in this Special Issue. Therefore, we are inviting contributions covering the following topics:

  • Air–sea interaction at the submeso, meso, and synoptic scales from the tropics to high latitudes;
  • Recent advances in the observation and modeling of air–sea coupling and exchange;
  • Large-scale modes of climate variability, such as ENSO, IOD, PDO, NAO, and AMO, and teleconnections;
  • High-resolution modeling of marine boundary layer processes;
  • Global and regional estimates of air–sea fluxes, including, but not limited to: heat, moisture, and momentum;
  • The influence of air–sea coupling on climate variability and predictability, including extreme weather and climate events;
  • Noval techniques involving air–sea interaction and coupling, including data-driven and machine learning approaches;
  • Other topics on air–sea interaction, climate dynamics, and predictability.

Dr. Wei Zhang
Dr. Duo Chan
Dr. Jie Feng
Dr. Yulong Yao
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • air–sea interactions
  • submesoscale and mesoscale processes
  • climate dynamics and modeling
  • climate variability and predictability
  • extreme weather and climate
  • large-scale climate and teleconnections
  • observations and coupled modeling
  • high-resolution modeling
  • machine learning methods

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Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

9 pages, 3305 KiB  
Article
Impact of East Pacific La Niña on Caribbean Climate
by Mark R. Jury
Atmosphere 2025, 16(4), 485; https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos16040485 - 21 Apr 2025
Viewed by 172
Abstract
Statistical cluster analysis applied to monthly 1–100 m ocean temperatures reveals El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) dipole patterns with a leading mode having opposing centers of action across the dateline and tropical east Pacific. We focus on the La Niña cold phase and study [...] Read more.
Statistical cluster analysis applied to monthly 1–100 m ocean temperatures reveals El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) dipole patterns with a leading mode having opposing centers of action across the dateline and tropical east Pacific. We focus on the La Niña cold phase and study its impact on the Caribbean climate over the period of 1980–2024. East dipole time scores are used to identify composite years, and anomaly patterns are calculated for Jan-Jun and Jul-Dec. Convective responses over the Caribbean exhibit seasonal contrasts: dry winter–spring and wet summer–autumn. Trade winds and currents across the southern Caribbean weaken and lead to anomalous warming of upper ocean temperatures. Sustained coastal upwelling off Peru and Ecuador during east La Niña is teleconnected with easterly wind shear and tropical cyclogenesis over the Caribbean during summer, leading to costly impacts. This ocean–atmosphere coupling is quite different from the more common central Pacific ENSO dipole. Full article
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20 pages, 2702 KiB  
Article
Imbalance Term in the TKE Budget over Waves
by Linta Vonta, Denis Bourras, Saïd Benjeddou, Christopher Luneau, Julien Touboul, Philippe Fraunié, Alexei Sentchev and Antoine Villefer
Atmosphere 2025, 16(4), 412; https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos16040412 - 31 Mar 2025
Viewed by 225
Abstract
In an attempt to reconciliate air-sea momentum flux estimates derived from open sea observations, from large eddy simulation output fields, and from wind-wave tank measurements, a series of dedicated experiments were conducted in the wind-wave tank of the Large Air-Sea Facility of Marseille, [...] Read more.
In an attempt to reconciliate air-sea momentum flux estimates derived from open sea observations, from large eddy simulation output fields, and from wind-wave tank measurements, a series of dedicated experiments were conducted in the wind-wave tank of the Large Air-Sea Facility of Marseille, France. The turbulent friction velocity, upon which the momentum flux depends, was estimated from wind measurements by applying four classical methods including the eddy-covariance method and the inertial-dissipation method. The collected data were used to investigate some characteristics of the wave-influenced boundary layer that were predicted by previous simulations, and to quantify a wave-dependent term of the turbulent kinetic energy equation, the so-called imbalance term ϕimb. Our results show that the turbulent stress decreases toward lower heights where the effect of waves is large, as in the simulations, and that ϕimb is in the range 0.3 to 0.7, which is comparable to the value found with open sea data (0.4). These preliminary results have to be confirmed with wave-following probes, because the estimated eddy-covariance flux slightly varied with height, thus it could not be strictly considered to be equal to a constant total flux. Full article
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21 pages, 12701 KiB  
Article
An Overview of Air-Sea Heat Flux Products and CMIP6 HighResMIP Models in the Southern Ocean
by Regiane Moura, Fernanda Casagrande and Ronald Buss de Souza
Atmosphere 2025, 16(4), 402; https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos16040402 - 30 Mar 2025
Viewed by 341
Abstract
The Southern Ocean (SO) is crucial for global climate regulation by absorbing excess heat and anthropogenic CO2. However, representing air-sea heat fluxes in climate models remains a challenge, particularly in regions characterised by strong ocean–atmosphere–sea ice interactions. This study analysed air–sea [...] Read more.
The Southern Ocean (SO) is crucial for global climate regulation by absorbing excess heat and anthropogenic CO2. However, representing air-sea heat fluxes in climate models remains a challenge, particularly in regions characterised by strong ocean–atmosphere–sea ice interactions. This study analysed air–sea heat fluxes over the SO using four products and seven CMIP6 HighResMIP pairs, comparing the mean state and trends (1985–2014) of sensible and latent heat fluxes (SHF and LHF, respectively) and the impact of grid resolution refinement on their estimation. Our results revealed significant discrepancies across datasets and SO sectors, with LHF showing more consistent seasonal performance than SHF. High-resolution models better capture air–sea heat flux variability, particularly in eddy-rich regions, with climatological mean differences reaching ±20 W.m−2 and air–sea exchange variations spreading up to 30%. Most refined models exhibited enhanced spatial detail, amplifying trend magnitudes by 30–50%, with even higher values observed in some regions. Furthermore, the trend analysis showed significant regional differences, particularly in the Pacific sector, where air–sea heat fluxes showed heightened variability. Despite modelling advances, discrepancies between datasets revealed uncertainties in climate simulations, highlighting the critical need for continued improvements in climate modelling and observational strategies to accurately represent SO air–sea heat fluxes. Full article
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19 pages, 12447 KiB  
Article
Characteristics of Strong Cooling Events in Winter of Northeast China and Their Association with 10–20 d Atmosphere Low-Frequency Oscillation
by Qianhao Wang and Liping Li
Atmosphere 2024, 15(12), 1486; https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos15121486 (registering DOI) - 12 Dec 2024
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 930
Abstract
In the past 42 years from 1980 to 2021, 103 regional strong cooling events (RSCEs) occurred in winter in Northeast China, and the frequency has increased significantly in the past 10 years, averaging 2.45 per year. The longest (shortest) duration is 10 (2) [...] Read more.
In the past 42 years from 1980 to 2021, 103 regional strong cooling events (RSCEs) occurred in winter in Northeast China, and the frequency has increased significantly in the past 10 years, averaging 2.45 per year. The longest (shortest) duration is 10 (2) days. The minimum temperature series in 60 events exists in 10–20 d of significant low-frequency (LF) periods. The key LF circulation systems affecting RSCEs include the Lake Balkhash–Baikal ridge, the East Asian trough (EAT), the robust Siberian high (SH) and the weaker (stronger) East Asian temperate (subtropical) jet, with the related anomaly centers moving from northwest to southeast and developing into a nearly north–south orientation. The LF wave energy of the northern branch from the Atlantic Ocean disperses to Northeast China, which excites the downstream disturbance wave train. The corresponding LF positive vorticity enhances and moves eastward, leading to the formation of deep EAT. The enhanced subsidence motion behind the EAT leads to SH strengthening. The cold advection related to the northeast cold vortex is the main thermal factor causing the local temperature to decrease. The Scandinavian Peninsula is the primary cold air source, and the Laptev Sea is the secondary one, with cold air from the former along northwest path via the West Siberian Plain and Lake Baikal, and from the latter along the northern path via the Central Siberian Plateau, both converging towards Northeast China. Full article
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