Observing the Linkage of Atmospheric and Oceanic Front Using Remote Sensing Observations: A Case Study After the Passage of Tropical Cyclone Asani

Abstract

The Marine Atmospheric Boundary Layer (MABL) is a hub of several important and dynamic phenomena, including eddies, gravity waves, atmospheric fronts, rolls, convective cells, etc. In particular, shear-induced and convective eddies drive the energy transfer from the ocean surface to the atmosphere. This energy transfer, in turn, is one of the key factors orchestrating the atmosphere-ocean dynamics. Using the data from the Earth Observation Satellite (EOS-04), a case study is conducted to examine frontal features in the ocean-atmosphere system. SAR and complementary data (Sentinel-3, GHRSST, and ECMWF) reveal the coeval emergence of oceanic and atmospheric fronts, thereby establishing a strong linkage between them. The concurrent presence of cyclone Asani suggests that the traversal of a cyclonic disturbance in the vicinity could account for this phenomenon. Tropical cyclones frequently generate a pronounced cold wake in the upper ocean; however, concurrent observations of both oceanic and atmospheric frontal boundaries in these environments remain uncommon. This study documents a unique instance of simultaneous air-sea frontal structures following a cyclone. These findings indicate coupled feedback mechanisms in which oceanic thermal gradients influence near-surface winds, while atmospheric forcing contributes to frontogenesis. This concurrent observational evidence highlights the significance of cyclone-induced cold-wake fronts as regions of active air-sea interaction, with potential consequences for regional weather prediction, upper-ocean biogeochemistry, and post-cyclone recovery processes.

Received: 25 July 2025 | Revised: 13 November 2025 | Accepted: 31 December 2025

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest to this work.

Data Availability Statement

The data that support the findings of this study are openly available and are defined in the text.  

Author Contribution Statement

Bipasha Paul Shukla: Conceptualization, Methodology, Software, Validation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Resources, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing, Visualization, Supervision, Project administration. Suchandra Aich Bhowmick: Formal analysis, Data curation, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing, Visualization. Anup Kumar Mandal: Software, Formal analysis, Data curation. Abhisek Chakraborty: Formal analysis, Data curation.