BUOYANCY FLUX AS A METRIC FOR OCEAN–ATMOSPHERE INTERACTION ANALYSES ON DIFFERENT TIME SCALES

The article provides a comprehensive review of publications, both in journals and monographs, devoted to the metric of ocean–atmosphere interaction – the buoyancy flux. This method of assessing the tendency to vertical mixing in the ocean, derived theoretically in the second half of the XX century, is currently used. The buoyancy flux allows not only a qualitative but also a quantitative assessment of ocean-atmosphere interaction through heat, moisture, and radiative fluxes on different time scales. It can be used to account for the contribution of different components of the ocean-atmosphere interaction to the dynamics of the upper mixed layer of the ocean: radiative fluxes, heat fluxes, and freshwater fluxes. To assess the ability of land bodies to absorb or emit CO2 as a function of synoptic atmospheric dynamics, and even to estimate the variability of upwelling that affects the socio-economic situation in coastal areas. The review summarises scientific papers using buoyancy flux for various purposes, presents the first paper to introduce the metric, and summarises methodologies that offer promise in this line of research based on current ocean and atmospheric data. Forty-two English-language papers and 5 publications by Russian researchers have been analysed.