Diapycnal material transport driven by submesoscale frontogenesis

Abstract

Submesoscale fronts, occurring at intermediate scales between mesoscale eddies and boundary layer turbulence, play a crucial role in driving vertical transport from the ocean surface into the interior. Their dynamics involve complex interactions between submesoscale currents and turbulence. However, the mechanisms by which these multiscale processes combine to transport tracers such as pollutants or nutrients remain less well understood. This study uses large-eddy simulation to investigate passive tracer transport associated with submesoscale fronts. Intense turbulence develops during frontogenesis, leading to strong diapycnal tracer transport into the ocean interior. While part of this transport arises from the direct turbulent flux, represented by the covariance between turbulent velocity and tracer concentration fluctuations, a substantial portion is due to an advective diapycnal flux driven by the mean diapycnal velocity. The mean diapycnal velocity results from the evolving secondary circulation in the presence of turbulent density mixing. These findings reveal an underexplored diapycnal transport pathway in submesoscale frontal zones, with implications for improved representation of vertical exchange in ocean models.