Articles | Volume 22, issue 2
https://doi.org/10.5194/os-22-1085-2026
https://doi.org/10.5194/os-22-1085-2026
Research article
 | 
30 Mar 2026
Research article |  | 30 Mar 2026

Polarity and direction dependence of energetic cross-frontal eddy transport in the Southern Ocean's Pacific sector

Huimin Wang, Lingqiao Cheng, Erik Behrens, Zhuang Chen, Jennifer Devine, and Guoping Zhu

Related authors

Southern Hemisphere tree rings as proxies to reconstruct Southern Ocean upwelling
Christian Lewis, Rachel Corran, Sara E. Mikaloff-Fletcher, Erik Behrens, Rowena Moss, Gordon Brailsford, Andrew Lorrey, Margaret Norris, and Jocelyn Turnbull
Biogeosciences, 22, 4187–4201, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-4187-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-4187-2025, 2025
Short summary
Moana Ocean Future Climate V1.0: High Resolution Marine Climate Futures For The New Zealand Region
Christopher J. Roach, Joao Marcos A. C. de Souza, Erik Behrens, and Stephen J. Stuart
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-1962,https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-1962, 2024
Preprint archived
Short summary
The sensitivity of Southern Ocean atmospheric dimethyl sulfide (DMS) to modeled oceanic DMS concentrations and emissions
Yusuf A. Bhatti, Laura E. Revell, Alex J. Schuddeboom, Adrian J. McDonald, Alex T. Archibald, Jonny Williams, Abhijith U. Venugopal, Catherine Hardacre, and Erik Behrens
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 15181–15196, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-15181-2023,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-15181-2023, 2023
Short summary
Coupled atmosphere-ocean simulations of contemporary and future South Pacific tropical cyclones
Jonny Williams, Erik Behrens, Olaf Morgenstern, Peter Gibson, and Joao Teixeira
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-1694,https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-1694, 2023
Preprint withdrawn
Short summary
Amplified surface warming in the south-west Pacific during the mid-Pliocene (3.3–3.0 Ma) and future implications
Georgia R. Grant, Jonny H. T. Williams, Sebastian Naeher, Osamu Seki, Erin L. McClymont, Molly O. Patterson, Alan M. Haywood, Erik Behrens, Masanobu Yamamoto, and Katelyn Johnson
Clim. Past, 19, 1359–1381, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-19-1359-2023,https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-19-1359-2023, 2023
Short summary

Cited articles

Aoki, S., Kitade, Y., Shimada, K., Ohshima, K. I., Tamura, T., Bajish, C. C., Moteki, M., and Rintoul, S. R.: Widespread freshening in the Seasonal Ice Zone near 140° E off the Adélie Land Coast, Antarctica, from 1994 to 2012, J. Geophys. Res. Oceans, 118, 6046–6063, https://doi.org/10.1002/2013JC009009, 2013. 
Auger, M., Morrow, R., Kestenare, E., Sallée, J.-B., and Cowley, R.: Southern Ocean in-situ temperature trends over 25 years emerge from interannual variability, Nat. Commun., 12, 1840, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-20781-1, 2021. 
Barthel, A., McC. Hogg, A., Waterman, S., and Keating, S.: Jet–Topography Interactions Affect Energy Pathways to the Deep Southern Ocean, J. Phys. Oceanogr., 47, 1799–1816, https://doi.org/10.1175/JPO-D-16-0220.1, 2017. 
Behrens, E. and Bostock, H.: The Response of the Subtropical Front to Changes in the Southern Hemisphere Westerly Winds – Evidence From Models and Observations, J. Geophys. Res. Oceans, 128, e2022JC019139, https://doi.org/10.1029/2022JC019139, 2023. 
Belkin, I. M. and Gordon, A. L.: Southern Ocean fronts from the Greenwich meridian to Tasmania, J. Geophys. Res., 101, 3675–3696, https://doi.org/10.1029/95JC02750, 1996. 
Download
Short summary
This study focused on the cross-frontal eddies (CFEs) in the Pacific sector. By analyzing 23 years of satellite and Argo float data, we found that the behaviors of these CFEs vary according to their polarity and direction. These powerful CFEs play a key role in transporting heat and nutrients meridionally, and helping to counteract the effects of strengthening winds and inhomogeneous warming.
Share