An Improved Bio-Physical Parameterization for Ocean Radiant Heating in Conditions of Near-Surface Stratification

Abstract

Solar heating of the upper ocean is a primary energy input to the ocean-atmosphere system, and the vertical heating profile is modified by the concentration of phytoplankton in the water, with consequences for sea surface temperature and upper ocean dynamics. Despite the development of increasingly complex modeling approaches for radiative transfer in the atmosphere and upper ocean, the simple parameterizations of radiant heating used in most ocean models can be significantly improved in cases of near-surface stratification. There remains a need for a parameterization that is accurate in the upper meters and contains an explicitly spectral dependence on the concentration of biogenic material, while maintaining the computational simplicity of the parameterizations currently in use. Here, we assemble observationally-validated physical modeling tools for the key controls on ocean radiant heating, and simplify them into a parameterization that fulfills this need. We then use observations from 64 spectroradiometer depth casts across 6 cruises in diverse water bodies, 13 surface hyperspectral radiometer deployments, and broadband albedo from 2 UAV flights to probe the accuracy and uncertainty associated with the new parameterization. A novel case study using the parameterization demonstrates the impact of chlorophyll concentration on the structure of diurnal warm layers. The parameterization presented in this work will allow for better modeling of global patterns of sea surface temperature, diurnal warming, and freshwater lenses, without a prohibitive increase in complexity.