More recent studies have pointed out the importance of understanding synoptic-scale wind changes and corresponding changes in surface heat fluxes for an understanding of the climatological mean field of surface heat flux 3, 4. Because these events are irregularly distributed throughout the year and can have asymmetric and complex responses, understanding these patterns is critical for understanding seasonal and longer variations. The characteristics described from a large number of atmospheric events provide information as a baseline against which responses to individual atmospheric events can be compared. In this study, we analyze the characteristics and patterns of surface heat flux associated with these synoptic-scale atmospheric disturbances, their seasonality, and the ocean responses to these atmospheric disturbances. The focus of this study is identifying surface heat flux response associated with synoptic-scale atmospheric events at a time scale with several days. At shorter (i.e., sub-monthly) time scales, surface heat fluxes have large variations associated with synoptic-scale atmospheric disturbances 1, 2. By contrast, weak heat input from the atmosphere to the ocean occurs in spring–summer. Surface heat release from the ocean to the atmosphere dominates in winter. The Kuroshio Extension (KE) region is such a "hot spot" for the North Pacific (Fig. As a consequence, western boundary currents, as they extend into the ocean interior, are “hot spots” for air-sea interaction. Western boundary currents are strong, warm currents that transport heat from the tropics to higher latitudes, where the warm surface water makes contact with cool and dry air, generating large surface heat fluxes during wintertime that warm the atmospheric boundary layer. The results of this study suggest that sub-monthly air-sea interactions may affect seasonal variability and potentially climate change over longer timescales. A large and significant ocean response of − 0.28 to − 0.46 K (p-value < 0.05) in SST was confirmed only for northerly events in spring–summer at the northern site, while smaller changes were found at the southern site. The resulting anomalous surface heat loss was asymmetric, with larger changes in northerly events compared to the southerly events. Northerly wind events tended to be accompanied by lowered air-temperature, while southerly events tended to have elevated air-temperature relative to the previous three days. Both types of wind events were observed throughout the year, with a minimum during June-July–August. Although each synoptic-scale wind event generally impacted both sites, the composite surface heat flux was larger at the northern site, especially for northerly events. In particular, northerly and southerly wind events associated with atmospheric disturbances were analyzed using high-temporal resolution time-series data from two moored buoys (JKEO: 2007–2010 and KEO: 2004–2019) north and south of the Kuroshio Extension current. This study aims to identify patterns of surface heat fluxes, and corresponding surface ocean responses, associated with synoptic-scale atmospheric events and their modulation on seasonal time scales.
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