- July 24, 2026
- By Jason P. Dinh
The temperature of the ocean can change by several degrees Celsius over a distance as short as a soccer field. And according to a new study led by University of Maryland scientists, those tiny temperature fronts can reshape the wind and air above them.
The research, published Monday in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, provides the first observations of such small-scale interactions between the atmosphere and the ocean, which the paper’s authors argue could be important for fine-tuning weather forecasting and climate models.
“What we have done is proven that there is tight coupling between the ocean and atmosphere, even at these very small scales not represented by climate and most weather models,” said study co-author and UMD Atmospheric and Oceanic Science Associate Professor Jacob Wenegrat. “I think there are reasons to expect that some of these very fine-scale interactions may have an upscale impact to affect larger-scale weather patterns.”
This study focused on fronts and eddies spanning 0.1-10 kilometers—so-called sub-mesoscale processes that are ubiquitous in the world’s oceans. The importance of sub-mesoscale processes has only been known for a few decades. They’re challenging to study because they evolve rapidly and are too small for many satellites to resolve. Computer modeling studies suggest that these small ocean circulation patterns can affect the atmosphere, weather and precipitation, as larger ocean processes do. But observations and data confirming that effect have been impossible to gather—until now.
Off the California coast in November 2022, the research team, including lead author Igor Uchoa, a UMD atmospheric and oceanic doctoral student, piloted a ship across one such sub-mesoscale ocean temperature front 63 times.
The researchers discovered that warm ocean water warms the air above it, causing atmospheric turbulence. That drags fast-moving, high-altitude air down toward the ocean, speeding up the wind near the surface and slowing it down higher in the atmosphere. Previously published computer models predicted this pattern, but Wenegrat was surprised that the atmosphere’s response was so pronounced—just about as strong as the models predicted—given the volatility of the natural world.