The Energetics of Fine-Scale Air-Sea Interactions

The Earth's oceanic energy cycle is a multiscale system governed by the complex interactions of oceanic, atmospheric, and wave processes. Significant progress has been made in understanding energy exchange at planetary scales. However, challenges remain at the mesoscale and submesoscale levels. Processes such as mesoscale eddies, submesoscale flows, and internal waves drive intricate energy transfers at these scales. These fine-scale interactions influence the oceanic energy budget through two primary feedback mechanisms: thermal feedback and current feedback. Thermal feedback mainly depletes oceanic potential energy, while current feedback induces a sink of kinetic energy, influencing the kinetic energy pathway. Despite recent advancements, the full impacts of these interactions on the ocean, atmosphere, and climate remain poorly understood. This review synthesizes the current understanding of fine-scale air-sea energetics and their associated effects on the ocean, atmosphere, and climate. It also explores the contributions of submesoscale and high-frequency processes and highlights research gaps. We discuss missing pieces of knowledge, particularly regarding wind-wave effects. Finally, we propose future research directions, emphasizing the need for new observational platforms and next-generation modeling frameworks to capture these interactions and their impact on global climate dynamics.