Articles | Volume 21, issue 6
https://doi.org/10.5194/os-21-2787-2025
https://doi.org/10.5194/os-21-2787-2025
Research article
 | 
05 Nov 2025
Research article |  | 05 Nov 2025

Atmospheric cold pools abruptly reverse thermohaline features in the ocean skin layer

Lisa Gassen, Samuel M. Ayim, Leonie Jaeger, Jens Meyerjürgens, Mariana Ribas-Ribas, and Oliver Wurl

Related authors

Filamentogenesis and Filamentolysis of a Light Filament: Dynamic Processes in the Near-Surface Ocean Under Tidal Forcing
Michelle Albinus, Thomas H. Badewien, Lisa Gassen, Oliver Wurl, and Jens Meyerjürgens
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-4953,https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-4953, 2025
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Ocean Science (OS).
Short summary
Biogeochemical Dynamics of the Sea-Surface Microlayer in a Multidisciplinary Mesocosm Study
Riaz Bibi, Mariana Ribas-Ribas, Leonie Jaeger, Carola Lehners, Lisa Gassen, Edgar Cortés, Jochen Wollschläger, Claudia Thölen, Hannelore Waska, Jasper Zöbelein, Thorsten Brinkhoff, Isha Athale, Rüdiger Röttgers, Michael Novak, Anja Engel, Theresa Barthelmeß, Josefine Karnatz, Thomas Reinthaler, Dmytro Spriahailo, Gernot Friedrichs, Falko Schäfer, and Oliver Wurl
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1773,https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1773, 2025
Short summary

Cited articles

Allen, M. R. and Ingram, W. J.: Constraints on future changes in climate and the hydrologic cycle, Nature, 419, 224–232, https://doi.org/10.1038/nature01092, 2002. 
Asher, W. E., Jessup, A. T., Branch, R., and Clark, D.: Observations of rain-induced near-surface salinity anomalies, J. Geophys. Res. Oceans, 119, 5483-5500, https://doi.org/10.1002/2014jc009954, 2014. 
Ashton, I. G., Shutler, J. D., Land, P. E., Woolf, D. K., and Quartly, G. D.: A sensitivity analysis of the impact of rain on regional and global sea-air fluxes of CO2, PloS one, 11, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0161105, 2016. 
Börner, R., Haerter, J. O., and Fiévet, R.: DiuSST: a conceptual model of diurnal warm layers for idealized atmospheric simulations with interactive sea surface temperature, Geosci. Model Dev., 18, 1333–1356, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-18-1333-2025, 2025. 
Boutin, J., Martin, N., Reverdin, G., Morisset, S., Yin, X., Centurioni, L., and Reul, N.: Sea surface salinity under rain cells: SMOS satellite and in situ drifters observations, J. Geophys. Res. Oceans, 119, 5533–5545, 2014. 
Download
Short summary
This study investigates how abrupt weather changes, such as shifts in air temperature, wind speed and precipitation, impact temperature and salinity in the ocean’s skin layer (upper first millimetre). Two events in the harbour of Bremerhaven and one event in the North Sea revealed that the skin layer reacts instantly, with greater temperature changes than those at a depth of 100 cm, underscoring its key role in air-sea interactions and climate dynamics.
Share