The sensitivity of British weather to ocean tides

Arnold, Alex K.; Lewis, Huw W.; Hyder, Patrick; Siddorn, John ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3848-8868; O’Dea, Enda. 2021 The sensitivity of British weather to ocean tides. Geophysical Research Letters, 48 (3), e2020GL090732. 10.1029/2020GL090732

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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2020GL090732

Abstract/Summary

Tides in shelf seas greatly impact ocean mixing and temperature structure. Using a regional‐coupled ocean–atmosphere prediction system, at ocean coastal process and atmosphere convection permitting scales, we assess the influence of tides on British weather by comparing simulations with and without tides. In summer, when seasonal stratification is particularly sensitive to tides, the sea‐surface temperature is up to 6 K cooler in simulations with tidal mixing. Tides cool the air temperature over the sea by up to 3 K, and nearby land by up to 1.4 K. The mean air temperature across Great Britain land areas cools by 0.3 K with tides. Changes in near‐surface stability result in decreases in summer mean wind speeds over the ocean. A 6% reduction in summer precipitation is found with tides, consistent with cooler temperatures. This study has implications for climate projections since global‐coupled models typically do not include tides.

Item Type:	Publication - Article
Digital Object Identifier (DOI):	10.1029/2020GL090732
ISSN:	0094-8276
Date made live:	20 Apr 2021 09:45 +0 (UTC)
URI:	https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/530088

Item Type:

Publication - Article

Digital Object Identifier (DOI):

10.1029/2020GL090732

ISSN:

0094-8276

Date made live:

20 Apr 2021 09:45 +0 (UTC)

URI:

https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/530088