Effect of wind stress forcing on ocean dynamics at Air-Sea Interface

International audienceSurface currents in air-sea interaction are of crucial importance because they transport heat from low to high latitudes. At first order, oceanic currents are generated by the balance of Coriolis and pressure gradient (geostrophic current) and the balance of Coriolis and the frictional force dominated by wind stress in the surface ocean (Ekman current). The GEKCO product is a daily 1/4 degree resolution product which permits the computation of two kinds of vector fields: geostrophy with and without wind stress forcing. We aim at studying the difference in term of turbulent hydrodynamics carried by the wind forcing at the air-sea interface. We explore the statistical properties of singularity spectra computed from velocity norms and vorticity data, notably in relation with kurtosis information to underline differences in the turbulent regimes associated with both kinds of velocity fields. This study is conducted over 1 year of daily data and demonstrates the differences in terms of turbulent property of wind forcing