To see the other types of publications on this topic, follow the link: Deep ocean circulation.
Journal articles on the topic 'Deep ocean circulation'
Create a spot-on reference in APA, MLA, Chicago, Harvard, and other styles
Consult the top 50 journal articles for your research on the topic 'Deep ocean circulation.'
Next to every source in the list of references, there is an 'Add to bibliography' button. Press on it, and we will generate automatically the bibliographic reference to the chosen work in the citation style you need: APA, MLA, Harvard, Chicago, Vancouver, etc.
You can also download the full text of the academic publication as pdf and read online its abstract whenever available in the metadata.
Browse journal articles on a wide variety of disciplines and organise your bibliography correctly.
1
Ferrari, Raffaele, Louis-Philippe Nadeau, David P. Marshall, Lesley C. Allison, and Helen L. Johnson. "A Model of the Ocean Overturning Circulation with Two Closed Basins and a Reentrant Channel." Journal of Physical Oceanography 47, no. 12 (December 2017): 2887–906. http://dx.doi.org/10.1175/jpo-d-16-0223.1.
Full textAbstract:
AbstractZonally averaged models of the ocean overturning circulation miss important zonal exchanges of waters between the Atlantic and Indo-Pacific Oceans. A two-layer, two-basin model that accounts for these exchanges is introduced and suggests that in the present-day climate the overturning circulation is best described as the combination of three circulations: an adiabatic overturning circulation in the Atlantic Ocean associated with transformation of intermediate to deep waters in the north, a diabatic overturning circulation in the Indo-Pacific Ocean associated with transformation of abyssal to deep waters by mixing, and an interbasin circulation that exchanges waters geostrophically between the two oceans through the Southern Ocean. These results are supported both by theoretical analysis of the two-layer, two-basin model and by numerical simulations of a three-dimensional ocean model.
2
Cunningham, Stuart A. "Southern Ocean circulation." Archives of Natural History 32, no. 2 (October 2005): 265–80. http://dx.doi.org/10.3366/anh.2005.32.2.265.
Full textAbstract:
The Discovery Investigations of the 1930s provided a compelling description of the main elements of the Southern Ocean circulation. Over the intervening years, this has been extended to include ideas on ocean dynamics based on physical principles. In the modern description, the Southern Ocean has two main circulations that are intimately linked: a zonal (west-east) circumpolar circulation and a meridional (north-south) overturning circulation. The Antarctic Circumpolar Current transports around 140 million cubic metres per second west to east around Antarctica. This zonal circulation connects the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans, transferring and blending water masses and properties from one ocean basin to another. For the meridional circulation, a key feature is the ascent of waters from depths of around 2,000 metres north of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current to the surface south of the Current. In so doing, this circulation connects deep ocean layers directly to the atmosphere. The circumpolar zonal currents are not stable: meanders grow and separate, creating eddies and these eddies are critical to the dynamics of the Southern Ocean, linking the zonal circumpolar and meridional circulations. As a result of this connection, a global three-dimensional ocean circulation exists in which the Southern Ocean plays a central role in regulating the Earth's climate.
3
Zahn, Rainer. "Deep ocean circulation puzzle." Nature 356, no. 6372 (April 1992): 744–45. http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/356744a0.
Full text
4
Ladant, Jean-Baptiste, Christopher J. Poulsen, Frédéric Fluteau, Clay R. Tabor, Kenneth G. MacLeod, Ellen E. Martin, Shannon J. Haynes, and Masoud A. Rostami. "Paleogeographic controls on the evolution of Late Cretaceous ocean circulation." Climate of the Past 16, no. 3 (June 9, 2020): 973–1006. http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/cp-16-973-2020.
Full textAbstract:
Abstract. Understanding of the role of ocean circulation on climate during the Late Cretaceous is contingent on the ability to reconstruct its modes and evolution. Geochemical proxies used to infer modes of past circulation provide conflicting interpretations for the reorganization of the ocean circulation through the Late Cretaceous. Here, we present climate model simulations of the Cenomanian (100.5–93.9 Ma) and Maastrichtian (72.1–66.1 Ma) stages of the Cretaceous with the CCSM4 earth system model. We focus on intermediate (500–1500 m) and deep (> 1500 m) ocean circulation and show that while there is continuous deep-water production in the southwestern Pacific, major circulation changes occur between the Cenomanian and Maastrichtian. Opening of the Atlantic and Southern Ocean, in particular, drives a transition from a mostly zonal circulation to enhanced meridional exchange. Using additional experiments to test the effect of deepening of major ocean gateways in the Maastrichtian, we demonstrate that the geometry of these gateways likely had a considerable impact on ocean circulation. We further compare simulated circulation results with compilations of εNd records and show that simulated changes in Late Cretaceous ocean circulation are reasonably consistent with proxy-based inferences. In our simulations, consistency with the geologic history of major ocean gateways and absence of shift in areas of deep-water formation suggest that Late Cretaceous trends in εNd values in the Atlantic and southern Indian oceans were caused by the subsidence of volcanic provinces and opening of the Atlantic and Southern oceans rather than changes in deep-water formation areas and/or reversal of deep-water fluxes. However, the complexity in interpreting Late Cretaceous εNd values underscores the need for new records as well as specific εNd modeling to better discriminate between the various plausible theories of ocean circulation change during this period.
5
CORLISS, BRUCE H., DOUGLAS G. MARTINSON, and THOMAS KEFFER. "Late Quaternary deep-ocean circulation." Geological Society of America Bulletin 97, no. 9 (1986): 1106. http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/0016-7606(1986)97<1106:lqdc>2.0.co;2.
Full text
6
Birchfield, Edward, and Matthew Wyant. "Diverse Limiting Circulations In A Simple Ocean Box Model." Annals of Glaciology 14 (1990): 330. http://dx.doi.org/10.3189/s0260305500008892.
Full textAbstract:
A coupled ocean-atmosphere model is formulated, incorporating an ocean comprised of two surface and one deep-ocean boxes, horizontal and vertical mixing, a thermohaline circulation, and forcing by latitudinal differential surface heating and evaporation. Surface fluxes are determined through coupling with a two-box steady-state atmospheric energy-balance model The hydrological cycle, thermohaline circulation and latitudinal exchange rate in the atmosphere are each controlled by an independent parameter. For a weak hydrological cycle, a cold low-salinity deep-ocean equilibrium exists with deep water produced in high latitudes, resembling the modern ocean; for a strong hydrological cycle, a warm saline deep ocean is found with deep water produced in lower latitudes, similar to proposed models of a Cretaceous ocean. More complex solutions exist for an intermediate range of parameters. These include co-existence of both of the above limiting circulations as stable steady states and an oscillatory solution about the cold deep-ocean limit case. In general for this model, the cold deep-ocean case appears less stable than the warm saline deep-ocean case.
7
Birchfield, Edward, and Matthew Wyant. "Diverse Limiting Circulations In A Simple Ocean Box Model." Annals of Glaciology 14 (1990): 330. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0260305500008892.
Full textAbstract:
A coupled ocean-atmosphere model is formulated, incorporating an ocean comprised of two surface and one deep-ocean boxes, horizontal and vertical mixing, a thermohaline circulation, and forcing by latitudinal differential surface heating and evaporation. Surface fluxes are determined through coupling with a two-box steady-state atmospheric energy-balance model The hydrological cycle, thermohaline circulation and latitudinal exchange rate in the atmosphere are each controlled by an independent parameter. For a weak hydrological cycle, a cold low-salinity deep-ocean equilibrium exists with deep water produced in high latitudes, resembling the modern ocean; for a strong hydrological cycle, a warm saline deep ocean is found with deep water produced in lower latitudes, similar to proposed models of a Cretaceous ocean. More complex solutions exist for an intermediate range of parameters. These include co-existence of both of the above limiting circulations as stable steady states and an oscillatory solution about the cold deep-ocean limit case. In general for this model, the cold deep-ocean case appears less stable than the warm saline deep-ocean case.
8
Boyle, E. A. "Glacial/interglacial deep ocean circulation contrast." Chemical Geology 70, no. 1-2 (August 1988): 108. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0009-2541(88)90504-9.
Full text
9
Hu, Shijian, Janet Sprintall, Cong Guan, Michael J. McPhaden, Fan Wang, Dunxin Hu, and Wenju Cai. "Deep-reaching acceleration of global mean ocean circulation over the past two decades." Science Advances 6, no. 6 (February 2020): eaax7727. http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aax7727.
Full textAbstract:
Ocean circulation redistributes Earth’s energy and water masses and influences global climate. Under historical greenhouse warming, regional ocean currents show diverse tendencies, but whether there is an emerging trend of the global mean ocean circulation system is not yet clear. Here, we show a statistically significant increasing trend in the globally integrated oceanic kinetic energy since the early 1990s, indicating a substantial acceleration of global mean ocean circulation. The increasing trend in kinetic energy is particularly prominent in the global tropical oceans, reaching depths of thousands of meters. The deep-reaching acceleration of the ocean circulation is mainly induced by a planetary intensification of surface winds since the early 1990s. Although possibly influenced by wind changes associated with the onset of a negative Pacific decadal oscillation since the late 1990s, the recent acceleration is far larger than that associated with natural variability, suggesting that it is principally part of a long-term trend.
10
Schmittner, Andreas, Tiago A. M. Silva, Klaus Fraedrich, Edilbert Kirk, and Frank Lunkeit. "Effects of Mountains and Ice Sheets on Global Ocean Circulation*." Journal of Climate 24, no. 11 (June 1, 2011): 2814–29. http://dx.doi.org/10.1175/2010jcli3982.1.
Full textAbstract:
Abstract The impact of mountains and ice sheets on the large-scale circulation of the world’s oceans is investigated in a series of simulations with a new coupled ocean–atmosphere model [Oregon State University–University of Victoria model (OSUVic)], in which the height of orography is scaled from 1.5 times the actual height (at T42 resolution) to 0 (no mountains). The results suggest that the effects of mountains and ice sheets on the buoyancy and momentum transfer from the atmosphere to the surface ocean determine the present pattern of deep ocean circulation. Higher mountains reduce water vapor transport from the Pacific and Indian Oceans into the Atlantic Ocean and contribute to increased (decreased) salinities and enhanced (reduced) deep-water formation and meridional overturning circulation in the Atlantic (Pacific). Orographic effects also lead to the observed interhemispheric asymmetry of midlatitude zonal wind stress. The presence of the Antarctic ice sheet cools winter air temperatures by more than 20°C directly above the ice sheet and sets up a polar meridional overturning cell in the atmosphere. The resulting increased meridional temperature gradient strengthens midlatitude westerlies by ~25% and shifts them poleward by ~10°. This leads to enhanced and poleward-shifted upwelling of deep waters in the Southern Ocean, a stronger Antarctic Circumpolar Current, increased poleward atmospheric moisture transport, and more advection of high-salinity Indian Ocean water into the South Atlantic. Thus, it is the current configuration of mountains and ice sheets on earth that determines the difference in deep-water formation between the Atlantic and the Pacific.
11
Stössel, Achim. "On the impact of sea ice in a global ocean circulation model." Annals of Glaciology 25 (1997): 111–15. http://dx.doi.org/10.3189/s0260305500013884.
Full textAbstract:
This paper investigates the long-term impact of sea ice on global climate using a global sea-ice–ocean general circulation model (OGCM). The sea-ice component involves state-of-the-art dynamics; the ocean component consists of a 3.5° × 3.5° × 11 layer primitive-equation model. Depending on the physical description of sea ice, significant changes are detected in the convective activity, in the hydrographic properties and in the thermohaline circulation of the ocean model. Most of these changes originate in the Southern Ocean, emphasizing the crucial role of sea ice in this marginally stably stratified region of the world's oceans. Specifically, if the effect of brine release is neglected, the deep layers of the Southern Ocean warm up considerably; this is associated with a weakening of the Southern Hemisphere overturning cell. The removal of the commonly used “salinity enhancement” leads to a similar effect. The deep-ocean salinity is almost unaffected in both experiments. Introducing explicit new-ice thickness growth in partially ice-covered gridcells leads to a substantial increase in convective activity, especially in the Southern Ocean, with a concomitant significant cooling and salinification of the deep ocean. Possible mechanisms for the resulting interactions between sea-ice processes and deep-ocean characteristics are suggested.
12
Stössel, Achim. "On the impact of sea ice in a global ocean circulation model." Annals of Glaciology 25 (1997): 111–15. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0260305500013884.
Full textAbstract:
This paper investigates the long-term impact of sea ice on global climate using a global sea-ice–ocean general circulation model (OGCM). The sea-ice component involves state-of-the-art dynamics; the ocean component consists of a 3.5° × 3.5° × 11 layer primitive-equation model. Depending on the physical description of sea ice, significant changes are detected in the convective activity, in the hydrographic properties and in the thermohaline circulation of the ocean model. Most of these changes originate in the Southern Ocean, emphasizing the crucial role of sea ice in this marginally stably stratified region of the world's oceans. Specifically, if the effect of brine release is neglected, the deep layers of the Southern Ocean warm up considerably; this is associated with a weakening of the Southern Hemisphere overturning cell. The removal of the commonly used “salinity enhancement” leads to a similar effect. The deep-ocean salinity is almost unaffected in both experiments. Introducing explicit new-ice thickness growth in partially ice-covered gridcells leads to a substantial increase in convective activity, especially in the Southern Ocean, with a concomitant significant cooling and salinification of the deep ocean. Possible mechanisms for the resulting interactions between sea-ice processes and deep-ocean characteristics are suggested.
13
Pasquier, Benoît, Mark Holzer, Matthew A. Chamberlain, Richard J. Matear, Nathaniel L. Bindoff, and François W. Primeau. "Optimal parameters for the ocean's nutrient, carbon, and oxygen cycles compensate for circulation biases but replumb the biological pump." Biogeosciences 20, no. 14 (July 26, 2023): 2985–3009. http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-2985-2023.
Full textAbstract:
Abstract. Accurate predictive modeling of the ocean's global carbon and oxygen cycles is challenging because of uncertainties in both biogeochemistry and ocean circulation. Advances over the last decade have made parameter optimization feasible, allowing models to better match observed biogeochemical fields. However, does fitting a biogeochemical model to observed tracers using a circulation with known biases robustly capture the inner workings of the biological pump? Here we embed a mechanistic model of the ocean's coupled nutrient, carbon, and oxygen cycles into two circulations for the current climate. To assess the effects of biases, one circulation (ACCESS-M) is derived from a climate model and the other from data assimilation of observations (OCIM2). We find that parameter optimization compensates for circulation biases at the expense of altering how the biological pump operates. Tracer observations constrain pump strength and regenerated inventories for both circulations, but ACCESS-M export production optimizes to twice that of OCIM2 to compensate for ACCESS-M having lower sequestration efficiencies driven by less efficient particle transfer and shorter residence times. Idealized simulations forcing complete Southern Ocean nutrient utilization show that the response of the optimized system is sensitive to the embedding circulation. In ACCESS-M, Southern Ocean nutrient and dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) trapping is partially short circuited by unrealistically deep mixed layers. For both circulations, intense Southern Ocean production deoxygenates Southern-Ocean-sourced deep waters, muting the imprint of circulation biases on oxygen. Our findings highlight that the biological pump's plumbing needs careful assessment to predict the biogeochemical response to ecological changes, even when optimally matching observations.
14
Scheen, Jeemijn, and Thomas F. Stocker. "Effect of changing ocean circulation on deep ocean temperature in the last millennium." Earth System Dynamics 11, no. 4 (November 3, 2020): 925–51. http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/esd-11-925-2020.
Full textAbstract:
Abstract. Paleoreconstructions and modern observations provide us with anomalies of surface temperature over the past millennium. The history of deep ocean temperatures is much less well-known and was simulated in a recent study for the past 2000 years under forced surface temperature anomalies and fixed ocean circulation. In this study, we simulate the past 800 years with an illustrative forcing scenario in the Bern3D ocean model, which enables us to assess the impact of changes in ocean circulation on deep ocean temperature. We quantify the effect of changing ocean circulation by comparing transient simulations (where the ocean dynamically adjusts to anomalies in surface temperature – hence density) to simulations with fixed ocean circulation. We decompose temperature, ocean heat content and meridional heat transport into the contributions from changing ocean circulation and changing sea surface temperature (SST). In the deep ocean, the contribution from changing ocean circulation is found to be as important as the changing SST signal itself. Firstly, the small changes in ocean circulation amplify the Little Ice Age signal at around 3 km depth by at least a factor of 2, depending on the basin. Secondly, they fasten the arrival of this atmospheric signal in the Pacific and Southern Ocean at all depths, whereas they delay the arrival in the Atlantic between about 2.5 and 3.5 km by two centuries. This delay is explained by an initial competition between the Little Ice Age cooling and a warming due to an increase in relatively warmer North Atlantic Deep Water at the cost of Antarctic Bottom Water. Under the consecutive Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) slowdown, this shift in water masses is inverted and ageing of the water causes a late additional cooling. Our results suggest that small changes in ocean circulation can have a large impact on the amplitude and timing of ocean temperature anomalies below 2 km depth.
15
Nikurashin, Maxim, and Geoffrey Vallis. "A Theory of the Interhemispheric Meridional Overturning Circulation and Associated Stratification." Journal of Physical Oceanography 42, no. 10 (May 19, 2012): 1652–67. http://dx.doi.org/10.1175/jpo-d-11-0189.1.
Full textAbstract:
Abstract A quantitative theoretical model of the meridional overturning circulation and associated deep stratification in an interhemispheric, single-basin ocean with a circumpolar channel is presented. The theory includes the effects of wind, eddies, and diapycnal mixing and predicts the deep stratification and overturning streamfunction in terms of the surface forcing and other parameters of the problem. It relies on a matching among three regions: the circumpolar channel at high southern latitudes, a region of isopycnal outcrop at high northern latitudes, and the ocean basin between. The theory describes both the middepth and abyssal cells of a circulation representing North Atlantic Deep Water and Antarctic Bottom Water. It suggests that, although the strength of the middepth overturning cell is primarily set by the wind stress in the circumpolar channel, middepth stratification results from a balance between the wind-driven upwelling in the channel and deep-water formation at high northern latitudes. Diapycnal mixing in the ocean interior can lead to warming and upwelling of deep waters. However, for parameters most representative of the present ocean mixing seems to play a minor role for the middepth cell. In contrast, the abyssal cell is intrinsically diabatic and controlled by a balance between the deep mixing-driven upwelling and the residual of the wind-driven and eddy-induced circulations in the Southern Ocean. The theory makes explicit predictions about how the stratification and overturning circulation vary with the wind strength, diapycnal diffusivity, and mesoscale eddy effects. The predictions compare well with numerical results from a coarse-resolution general circulation model.
16
Corfield, Richard M., and Richard D. Norris. "Deep water circulation in the Paleocene Ocean." Geological Society, London, Special Publications 101, no. 1 (1996): 443–56. http://dx.doi.org/10.1144/gsl.sp.1996.101.01.21.
Full text
17
Smith, H. Jesse. "A brief hiccup in deep ocean circulation." Science 346, no. 6216 (December 18, 2014): 1476.4–1476. http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.346.6216.1476-d.
Full text
18
Warren, B. A. "Deep ocean circulation: Physical and chemical aspects." Dynamics of Atmospheres and Oceans 21, no. 2-3 (December 1994): 214–15. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0377-0265(94)90010-8.
Full text
19
Kumar, Mohi. "Constraining deep‐ocean circulation during glacial times." Eos, Transactions American Geophysical Union 92, no. 30 (July 26, 2011): 256. http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2011eo300010.
Full text
20
Gouriou, Y., C. Andrié, B. Bourlès, S. Freudenthal, S. Arnault, A. Aman, G. Eldin, et al. "Deep circulation in the equatorial Atlantic Ocean." Geophysical Research Letters 28, no. 5 (March 1, 2001): 819–22. http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2000gl012326.
Full text
21
Mix, Alan C., and Richard G. Fairbanks. "North Atlantic surface-ocean control of Pleistocene deep-ocean circulation." Earth and Planetary Science Letters 73, no. 2-4 (May 1985): 231–43. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0012-821x(85)90072-x.
Full text
22
Cullum, Jodie, David P. Stevens, and Manoj M. Joshi. "Importance of ocean salinity for climate and habitability." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 113, no. 16 (April 4, 2016): 4278–83. http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1522034113.
Full textAbstract:
Modeling studies of terrestrial extrasolar planetary climates are now including the effects of ocean circulation due to a recognition of the importance of oceans for climate; indeed, the peak equator-pole ocean heat transport on Earth peaks at almost half that of the atmosphere. However, such studies have made the assumption that fundamental oceanic properties, such as salinity, temperature, and depth, are similar to Earth. This assumption results in Earth-like circulations: a meridional overturning with warm water moving poleward at the surface, being cooled, sinking at high latitudes, and traveling equatorward at depth. Here it is shown that an exoplanetary ocean with a different salinity can circulate in the opposite direction: an equatorward flow of polar water at the surface, sinking in the tropics, and filling the deep ocean with warm water. This alternative flow regime results in a dramatic warming in the polar regions, demonstrated here using both a conceptual model and an ocean general circulation model. These results highlight the importance of ocean salinity for exoplanetary climate and consequent habitability and the need for its consideration in future studies.
23
Kriest, Iris, Paul Kähler, Wolfgang Koeve, Karin Kvale, Volkmar Sauerland, and Andreas Oschlies. "One size fits all? Calibrating an ocean biogeochemistry model for different circulations." Biogeosciences 17, no. 12 (June 18, 2020): 3057–82. http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/bg-17-3057-2020.
Full textAbstract:
Abstract. Global biogeochemical ocean models are often tuned to match the observed distributions and fluxes of inorganic and organic quantities. This tuning is typically carried out “by hand”. However, this rather subjective approach might not yield the best fit to observations, is closely linked to the circulation employed and is thus influenced by its specific features and even its faults. We here investigate the effect of model tuning, via objective optimisation, of one biogeochemical model of intermediate complexity when simulated in five different offline circulations. For each circulation, three of six model parameters have been adjusted to characteristic features of the respective circulation. The values of these three parameters – namely, the oxygen utilisation of remineralisation, the particle flux parameter and potential nitrogen fixation rate – correlate significantly with deep mixing and ideal age of North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW) and the outcrop area of Antarctic Intermediate Waters (AAIW) and Subantarctic Mode Water (SAMW) in the Southern Ocean. The clear relationship between these parameters and circulation characteristics, which can be easily diagnosed from global models, can provide guidance when tuning global biogeochemistry within any new circulation model. The results from 20 global cross-validation experiments show that parameter sets optimised for a specific circulation can be transferred between similar circulations without losing too much of the model's fit to observed quantities. When compared to model intercomparisons of subjectively tuned, global coupled biogeochemistry–circulation models, each with different circulation and/or biogeochemistry, our results show a much lower range of oxygen inventory, oxygen minimum zone (OMZ) volume and global biogeochemical fluxes. Export production depends to a large extent on the circulation applied, while deep particle flux is mostly determined by the particle flux parameter. Oxygen inventory, OMZ volume, primary production and fixed-nitrogen turnover depend more or less equally on both factors, with OMZ volume showing the highest sensitivity, and residual variability. These results show a beneficial effect of optimisation, even when a biogeochemical model is first optimised in a relatively coarse circulation and then transferred to a different finer-resolution circulation model.
24
Wu, Yang, Xiaoming Zhai, and Zhaomin Wang. "Impact of Synoptic Atmospheric Forcing on the Mean Ocean Circulation." Journal of Climate 29, no. 16 (July 27, 2016): 5709–24. http://dx.doi.org/10.1175/jcli-d-15-0819.1.
Full textAbstract:
Abstract The impact of synoptic atmospheric forcing on the mean ocean circulation is investigated by comparing simulations of a global eddy-permitting ocean–sea ice model forced with and without synoptic atmospheric phenomena. Consistent with previous studies, transient atmospheric motions such as weather systems are found to contribute significantly to the time-mean wind stress and surface heat loss at mid- and high latitudes owing to the nonlinear nature of air–sea turbulent fluxes. Including synoptic atmospheric forcing in the model has led to a number of significant changes. For example, wind power input to the ocean increases by about 50%, which subsequently leads to a similar percentage increase in global eddy kinetic energy. The wind-driven subtropical gyre circulations are strengthened by about 10%–15%, whereas even greater increases in gyre strength are found in the subpolar oceans. Deep convection in the northern North Atlantic becomes significantly more vigorous, which in turn leads to an increase in the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) by as much as 55%. As a result of the strengthened horizontal gyre circulations and the AMOC, the maximum global northward heat transport increases by almost 50%. Results from this study show that synoptic atmospheric phenomena such as weather systems play a vital role in driving the global ocean circulation and heat transport, and therefore should be properly accounted for in paleo- and future climate studies.
25
Jones, C. S., and Ryan P. Abernathey. "Modeling Water-Mass Distributions in the Modern and LGM Ocean: Circulation Change and Isopycnal and Diapycnal Mixing." Journal of Physical Oceanography 51, no. 5 (May 2021): 1523–38. http://dx.doi.org/10.1175/jpo-d-20-0204.1.
Full textAbstract:
AbstractPaleoproxy observations suggest that deep-ocean water-mass distributions were different at the Last Glacial Maximum than they are today. However, even modern deep-ocean water-mass distributions are not completely explained by observations of the modern ocean circulation. This paper investigates two processes that influence deep-ocean water-mass distributions: 1) interior downwelling caused by vertical mixing that increases in the downward direction and 2) isopycnal mixing. Passive tracers are used to assess how changes in the circulation and in the isopycnal-mixing coefficient impact deep-ocean water-mass distributions in an idealized two-basin model. We compare two circulations, one in which the upper cell of the overturning reaches to 4000-m depth and one in which it shoals to 2500-m depth. Previous work suggests that in the latter case the upper cell and the abyssal cell of the overturning are separate structures. Nonetheless, high concentrations of North Atlantic Water (NAW) are found in our model’s abyssal cell: these tracers are advected into the abyssal cell by interior downwelling caused by our vertical mixing profile, which increases in the downward direction. Further experiments suggest that the NAW concentration in the deep South Atlantic Ocean and in the deep Pacific Ocean is influenced by the isopycnal-mixing coefficient in the top 2000 m of the Southern Ocean. Both the strength and the vertical profile of isopycnal mixing are important for setting deep-ocean tracer concentrations. A 1D advection–diffusion model elucidates how NAW concentration depends on advective and diffusive processes.
26
Kawase, Mitsuhiro. "Establishment of Deep Ocean Circulation Driven by Deep-Water Production." Journal of Physical Oceanography 17, no. 12 (December 1987): 2294–317. http://dx.doi.org/10.1175/1520-0485(1987)017<2294:eodocd>2.0.co;2.
Full text
27
Haertel, Patrick, and Alexey Fedorov. "The Ventilated Ocean." Journal of Physical Oceanography 42, no. 1 (January 1, 2012): 141–64. http://dx.doi.org/10.1175/2011jpo4590.1.
Full textAbstract:
Abstract Adiabatic theories of ocean circulation and density structure have a long tradition, from the concept of the ventilated thermocline to the notion that deep ocean ventilation is controlled by westerly winds over the Southern Ocean. This study explores these ideas using a recently developed Lagrangian ocean model (LOM), which simulates ocean motions by computing trajectories of water parcels. A unique feature of the LOM is its capacity to model ocean circulations in the adiabatic limit, in which water parcels exactly conserve their densities when they are not in contact with the ocean surface. The authors take advantage of this property of the LOM and consider the circulation and stratification that develop in an ocean with a fully adiabatic interior (with both isopycnal and diapycnal diffusivities set to zero). The ocean basin in the study mimics that of the Atlantic Ocean and includes a circumpolar channel. The model is forced by zonal wind stress and a density restoring at the surface. Despite the idealized geometry, the relatively coarse model resolution, and the lack of atmospheric coupling, the nondiffusive ocean maintains a density structure and meridional overturning that are broadly in line with those observed in the Atlantic Ocean. These are generated by just a handful of key water pathways, including shallow tropical cells described by ventilated thermocline theory; a deep overturning cell in which sinking North Atlantic Deep Water eventually upwells in the Southern Ocean before returning northward as Antarctic Intermediate Water; a Deacon cell that results from a topographically steered and corkscrewing circumpolar current; and weakly overturning Antarctic Bottom Water, which is effectively ventilated only in the Southern Hemisphere. The main conclusion of this study is that the adiabatic limit for the ocean interior provides the leading-order solution for ocean overturning and density structure, with tracer diffusion contributing first-order perturbations. Comparing nondiffusive and diffusive experiments helps to quantify the changes in stratification and circulation that result from adding a moderate amount of tracer diffusion in the ocean model, and these include an increase in the amplitude of the deep meridional overturning cell of several Sverdrups, a 10%–20% increase in Northern Hemispheric northward heat transport, a stronger stratification just below the main thermocline, and a more realistic bottom overturning cell.
28
Fučkar, Neven S., Shang-Ping Xie, Riccardo Farneti, Elizabeth A. Maroon, and Dargan M. W. Frierson. "Influence of the Extratropical Ocean Circulation on the Intertropical Convergence Zone in an Idealized Coupled General Circulation Model." Journal of Climate 26, no. 13 (July 1, 2013): 4612–29. http://dx.doi.org/10.1175/jcli-d-12-00294.1.
Full textAbstract:
Abstract The authors present coupled model simulations in which the ocean's meridional overturning circulation (MOC) sets the zonal mean location of the intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ) in the hemisphere with deep-water production. They use a coarse-resolution single-basin sector coupled general circulation model (CGCM) with simplified atmospheric physics and two idealized land–sea distributions. In an equatorially symmetric closed-basin setting, unforced climate asymmetry develops because of the advective circulation–salinity feedback that amplifies the asymmetry of the deep-MOC cell and the upper-ocean meridional salinity transport. It confines the deep-water production and the dominant extratropical ocean heat release to a randomly selected hemisphere. The resultant ocean heat transport (OHT) toward the hemisphere with the deep-water source is partially compensated by the atmospheric heat transport (AHT) across the equator via an asymmetric Hadley circulation, setting the ITCZ in the hemisphere warmed by the ocean. When a circumpolar channel is open at subpolar latitudes, the circumpolar current disrupts the poleward transport of the upper-ocean saline water and suppresses deep-water formation poleward of the channel. The MOC adjusts by lowering the main pycnocline and shifting the deep-water production into the opposite hemisphere from the channel, and the ITCZ location follows the deep-water source again because of the Hadley circulation adjustment to cross-equatorial OHT. The climate response is sensitive to the sill depth of the channel but becomes saturated when the sill is deeper than the main pycnocline depth in subtropics. In simulations with a circumpolar channel, the ITCZ is in the Northern Hemisphere (NH) because of the Southern Hemisphere (SH) circumpolar flow that forces northward OHT.
29
Jansen, Malte F. "Glacial ocean circulation and stratification explained by reduced atmospheric temperature." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 114, no. 1 (December 19, 2016): 45–50. http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1610438113.
Full textAbstract:
Earth’s climate has undergone dramatic shifts between glacial and interglacial time periods, with high-latitude temperature changes on the order of 5–10 °C. These climatic shifts have been associated with major rearrangements in the deep ocean circulation and stratification, which have likely played an important role in the observed atmospheric carbon dioxide swings by affecting the partitioning of carbon between the atmosphere and the ocean. The mechanisms by which the deep ocean circulation changed, however, are still unclear and represent a major challenge to our understanding of glacial climates. This study shows that various inferred changes in the deep ocean circulation and stratification between glacial and interglacial climates can be interpreted as a direct consequence of atmospheric temperature differences. Colder atmospheric temperatures lead to increased sea ice cover and formation rate around Antarctica. The associated enhanced brine rejection leads to a strongly increased deep ocean stratification, consistent with high abyssal salinities inferred for the last glacial maximum. The increased stratification goes together with a weakening and shoaling of the interhemispheric overturning circulation, again consistent with proxy evidence for the last glacial. The shallower interhemispheric overturning circulation makes room for slowly moving water of Antarctic origin, which explains the observed middepth radiocarbon age maximum and may play an important role in ocean carbon storage.
30
Mikhalevsky, Peter N., Ganesh Gopalakrishnan, and Bruce D. Cornuelle. "Deep ocean long range underwater navigation with ocean circulation model corrections." Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 153, no. 1 (January 2023): 548–59. http://dx.doi.org/10.1121/10.0016890.
Full textAbstract:
An underwater navigation algorithm that provides a “cold start” (CSA) geographic position, geo-position, underwater while submerged using travel times measured from a constellation of acoustic sources is described in Mikhalevsky, Sperry, Woolfe, Dzieciuch, and Worcester [J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 147(4), 2365 – 2382 (2020)]. The CSA geo-position is used as the receive position in the ocean for acoustic modeling runs using an ocean general circulation model (GCM). A different geo-position is calculated using adjusted ranges from the travel time offsets between the data and modeled arrival times for each source. Because the CSA geo-position is close to the true position, the source to CSA position propagation model path and the source to true vehicle position data path of the acoustic arrivals are nearly coincident, enabling accurate measurement of travel time offsets. The cold start with model (CSAM) processing reduced the CSA geo-position errors from a mean of 58 to 25 m. A simulation is developed to estimate CSA and CSAM performances as a function of group speed variability between the source paths. The CSAM geolocation accuracy can be calculated from and is controlled by the accuracy of the GCM.
31
Hogg, Nelson G., and Norman L. Guinasso. "Deep ocean circulation and its relation to topography." Eos, Transactions American Geophysical Union 67, no. 40 (1986): 765. http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/eo067i040p00765.
Full text
32
Faure, Vincent, and Kevin Speer. "Deep Circulation in the Eastern South Pacific Ocean." Journal of Marine Research 70, no. 5 (September 1, 2012): 748–78. http://dx.doi.org/10.1357/002224012806290714.
Full text
33
Warren, Bruce A., and Kevin G. Speer. "Deep circulation in the eastern South Atlantic Ocean." Deep Sea Research Part A. Oceanographic Research Papers 38 (1991): S281—S322. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/s0198-0149(12)80014-8.
Full text
34
Hogg, Nelson G., and Norman L. Guinasso. "Deep Ocean Circulation and its Relation to Topography." Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society 67, no. 12 (December 1, 1986): 1507. http://dx.doi.org/10.1175/1520-0477-67.12.1507.
Full text
35
Knorr, Gregor, Stephen Barker, Xu Zhang, Gerrit Lohmann, Xun Gong, Paul Gierz, Christian Stepanek, and Lennert B. Stap. "A salty deep ocean as a prerequisite for glacial termination." Nature Geoscience 14, no. 12 (December 2021): 930–36. http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41561-021-00857-3.
Full textAbstract:
AbstractDeglacial transitions of the middle to late Pleistocene (terminations) are linked to gradual changes in insolation accompanied by abrupt shifts in ocean circulation. However, the reason these deglacial abrupt events are so special compared with their sub-glacial-maximum analogues, in particular with respect to the exaggerated warming observed across Antarctica, remains unclear. Here we show that an increase in the relative importance of salt versus temperature stratification in the glacial deep South Atlantic decreases the potential cooling effect of waters that may be upwelled in response to abrupt perturbations in ocean circulation, as compared with sub-glacial-maximum conditions. Using a comprehensive coupled atmosphere–ocean general circulation model, we then demonstrate that an increase in deep-ocean salinity stratification stabilizes relatively warm waters in the glacial deep ocean, which amplifies the high southern latitude surface ocean temperature response to an abrupt weakening of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation during deglaciation. The mechanism can produce a doubling in the net rate of warming across Antarctica on a multicentennial timescale when starting from full glacial conditions (as compared with interglacial or subglacial conditions) and therefore helps to explain the large magnitude and rapidity of glacial terminations during the late Quaternary.
36
Prins, M. A., S. R. Troelstra, R. W. Kruk, K. van der Borg, A. F. M. de Jong, and G. J. Weltje. "The Late Quaternary Sedimentary Record of Reykjanes Ridge, North Atlantic." Radiocarbon 43, no. 2B (2001): 939–47. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0033822200041606.
Full textAbstract:
Variability in surface and deep ocean circulation in the North Atlantic is inferred from grain-size characteristics and the composition of terrigenous sediments from a deep-sea core taken on Reykjanes Ridge, south of Iceland. End-member modeling of grain size data shows that deep-ocean circulation in this area decreased significantly during periods of maximum iceberg discharge. The episodes of reduced circulation correlate with the cold and abrupt warming phases of the Dansgaard-Oeschger cycles as recognized in the Greenland ice cores.
37
de Boer, A. M., J. R. Toggweiler, and D. M. Sigman. "Atlantic Dominance of the Meridional Overturning Circulation." Journal of Physical Oceanography 38, no. 2 (February 1, 2008): 435–50. http://dx.doi.org/10.1175/2007jpo3731.1.
Full textAbstract:
Abstract North Atlantic (NA) deep-water formation and the resulting Atlantic meridional overturning cell is generally regarded as the primary feature of the global overturning circulation and is believed to be a result of the geometry of the continents. Here, instead, the overturning is viewed as a global energy–driven system and the robustness of NA dominance is investigated within this framework. Using an idealized geometry ocean general circulation model coupled to an energy moisture balance model, various climatic forcings are tested for their effect on the strength and structure of the overturning circulation. Without winds or a high vertical diffusivity, the ocean does not support deep convection. A supply of mechanical energy through winds or mixing (purposefully included or due to numerical diffusion) starts the deep-water formation. Once deep convection and overturning set in, the distribution of convection centers is determined by the relative strength of the thermal and haline buoyancy forcing. In the most thermally dominant state (i.e., negligible salinity gradients), strong convection is shared among the NA, North Pacific (NP), and Southern Ocean (SO), while near the haline limit, convection is restricted to the NA. The effect of a more vigorous hydrological cycle is to produce stronger salinity gradients, favoring the haline state of NA dominance. In contrast, a higher mean ocean temperature will increase the importance of temperature gradients because the thermal expansion coefficient is higher in a warm ocean, leading to the thermally dominated state. An increase in SO winds or global winds tends to weaken the salinity gradients, also pushing the ocean to the thermal state. Paleoobservations of more distributed sinking in warmer climates in the past suggest that mean ocean temperature and winds play a more important role than the hydrological cycle in the overturning circulation over long time scales.
38
Saenko, O. A., and W. J. Merryfield. "On the Effect of Topographically Enhanced Mixing on the Global Ocean Circulation." Journal of Physical Oceanography 35, no. 5 (May 1, 2005): 826–34. http://dx.doi.org/10.1175/jpo2722.1.
Full textAbstract:
Abstract The strong influence of enhanced diapycnal mixing over rough topography on bottom-water circulation is illustrated using results from two global ocean model experiments. In the first, diapycnal diffusivity is set to the observed background level of 10−5 m2 s−1 in regions not subject to shear instability, convection, or surface-driven mixing. In the second experiment, mixing is enhanced above rough bottom topography to represent the dissipation of internal tides. Three important results are obtained. First, without the enhanced mixing in the abyssal ocean, the deep North Pacific Ocean becomes essentially a stagnant basin, with little bottom-water circulation and very weak deep stratification. Allowing for the enhanced diapycnal mixing above rough bottom topography leads to increased bottom-water circulation and deep stratification and a potential vorticity distribution in the North Pacific that is much more realistic. Second, the enhanced diapycnal mixing above rough topography results in a significant intensification and deepening of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, as well as in stronger bottom-water formation around Antarctica. Last, our experiments suggest that dissipation of internal tides and the associated enhanced diapycnal mixing in the abyssal ocean play no part in the circulation of deep water forming in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the associated transport of heat in the ocean.
39
Nikurashin, Maxim, and Geoffrey Vallis. "A Theory of Deep Stratification and Overturning Circulation in the Ocean." Journal of Physical Oceanography 41, no. 3 (March 1, 2011): 485–502. http://dx.doi.org/10.1175/2010jpo4529.1.
Full textAbstract:
Abstract A simple theoretical model of the deep stratification and meridional overturning circulation in an idealized single-basin ocean with a circumpolar channel is presented. The theory includes the effects of wind, eddies, and diapycnal mixing; predicts the deep stratification in terms of the surface forcing and other problem parameters; makes no assumption of zero residual circulation; and consistently accounts for the interaction between the circumpolar channel and the rest of the ocean. The theory shows that dynamics of the overturning circulation can be characterized by two limiting regimes, corresponding to weak and strong diapycnal mixing. The transition between the two regimes is described by a nondimensional number characterizing the strength of the diffusion-driven compared to the wind-driven overturning circulation. In the limit of weak diapycnal mixing, deep stratification throughout the ocean is produced by the effects of wind and eddies in a circumpolar channel and maintained even in the limit of vanishing diapycnal diffusivity and in a flat-bottomed ocean. The overturning circulation across the deep stratification is driven by the diapycnal mixing in the basin away from the channel but is sensitive, through changes in stratification, to the wind and eddies in the channel. In the limit of strong diapycnal mixing, deep stratification is primarily set by eddies in the channel and diapycnal mixing in the basin away from the channel, with the wind over the circumpolar channel playing a secondary role. Analytical solutions for the deep stratification and overturning circulation in the limit of weak diapycnal mixing and numerical solutions that span the regimes of weak to strong diapycnal mixing are presented. The theory is tested with a coarse-resolution ocean general circulation model configured in an idealized geometry. A series of experiments performed to examine the sensitivity of the deep stratification and the overturning circulation to variations in wind stress and diapycnal mixing compare well with predictions from the theory.
40
Jansen, Malte F., and Louis-Philippe Nadeau. "The Effect of Southern Ocean Surface Buoyancy Loss on the Deep-Ocean Circulation and Stratification." Journal of Physical Oceanography 46, no. 11 (November 2016): 3455–70. http://dx.doi.org/10.1175/jpo-d-16-0084.1.
Full textAbstract:
AbstractThe deep-ocean circulation and stratification have likely undergone major changes during past climates, which may have played an important role in the modulation of atmospheric CO2 concentrations. The mechanisms by which the deep-ocean circulation changed, however, are still poorly understood and represent a major challenge to the understanding of past and future climates. This study highlights the importance of the integrated buoyancy loss rate around Antarctica in modulating the abyssal circulation and stratification. Theoretical arguments and idealized numerical simulations suggest that enhanced buoyancy loss around Antarctica leads to a strong increase in the abyssal stratification, consistent with proxy observations for the last glacial maximum. Enhanced buoyancy loss moreover leads to a contraction of the middepth overturning cell and thus upward shift of North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW). The abyssal overturning cell initially expands to fill the void. However, if the buoyancy loss rate further increases, the abyssal cell also contracts, leaving a “dead zone” with vanishing meridional flow at middepth.
41
Wang, Guihua, Rui Xin Huang, Jilan Su, and Dake Chen. "The Effects of Thermohaline Circulation on Wind-Driven Circulation in the South China Sea." Journal of Physical Oceanography 42, no. 12 (December 1, 2012): 2283–96. http://dx.doi.org/10.1175/jpo-d-11-0227.1.
Full textAbstract:
Abstract The dynamic influence of thermohaline circulation on wind-driven circulation in the South China Sea (SCS) is studied using a simple reduced gravity model, in which the upwelling driven by mixing in the abyssal ocean is treated in terms of an upward pumping distributed at the base of the upper layer. Because of the strong upwelling of deep water, the cyclonic gyre in the northern SCS is weakened, but the anticyclonic gyre in the southern SCS is intensified in summer, while cyclonic gyres in both the southern and northern SCS are weakened in winter. For all seasons, the dynamic influence of thermohaline circulation on wind-driven circulation is larger in the northern SCS than in the southern SCS. Analysis suggests that the upwelling associated with the thermohaline circulation in the deep ocean plays a crucial role in regulating the wind-driven circulation in the upper ocean.
42
Nadeau, Louis-Philippe, and Malte F. Jansen. "Overturning Circulation Pathways in a Two-Basin Ocean Model." Journal of Physical Oceanography 50, no. 8 (August 1, 2020): 2105–22. http://dx.doi.org/10.1175/jpo-d-20-0034.1.
Full textAbstract:
AbstractA toy model for the deep ocean overturning circulation in multiple basins is presented and applied to study the role of buoyancy forcing and basin geometry in the ocean’s global overturning. The model reproduces the results from idealized general circulation model simulations and provides theoretical insights into the mechanisms that govern the structure of the overturning circulation. The results highlight the importance of the diabatic component of the meridional overturning circulation (MOC) for the depth of North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW) and for the interbasin exchange of deep ocean water masses. This diabatic component, which extends the upper cell in the Atlantic below the depth of adiabatic upwelling in the Southern Ocean, is shown to be sensitive to the global area-integrated diapycnal mixing rate and the density contrast between NADW and Antarctic Bottom Water (AABW). The model also shows that the zonally averaged global overturning circulation is to zeroth-order independent of whether the ocean consists of one or multiple connected basins, but depends on the total length of the southern reentrant channel region (representing the Southern Ocean) and the global ocean area integrated diapycnal mixing. Common biases in single-basin simulations can thus be understood as a direct result of the reduced domain size.
43
Drijfhout, Sybren S., and Alberto C. Naveira Garabato. "The Zonal Dimension of the Indian Ocean Meridional Overturning Circulation." Journal of Physical Oceanography 38, no. 2 (February 1, 2008): 359–79. http://dx.doi.org/10.1175/2007jpo3640.1.
Full textAbstract:
Abstract The three-dimensional structure of the meridional overturning circulation (MOC) in the deep Indian Ocean is investigated with an eddy-permitting ocean model. The amplitude of the modeled deep Indian Ocean MOC is 5.6 Sv (1 Sv ≡ 106 m3 s−1), a broadly realistic but somewhat weak overturning. Although the model parameterization of diapycnal mixing is inaccurate, the model’s short spinup allows the effective diapycnal velocity (the sum of model drift and the explicitly modeled diapycnal velocity) to resemble the true, real-ocean diapycnal velocity. For this reason, the model is able to recover the broad zonal asymmetry in the turbulent buoyancy flux that is suggested by observations. The model features a substantial deep, depth-reversing zonal circulation of nearly 50% of the MOC. The existence of this circulation, brought about by the zonally asymmetric distribution of diapycnal mixing, implies a much slower ventilation of the deep Indian Ocean (by a factor of 5–6) than would be in place without zonal interbasin exchanges. It is concluded that the zonal asymmetry in the distribution of diapycnal mixing must have a major impact on the deep Indian Ocean’s capacity to store and transform climatically significant physical and biogeochemical tracers.
44
Kamphuis, V., S. E. Huisman, and H. A. Dijkstra. "The global ocean circulation on a retrograde rotating earth." Climate of the Past 7, no. 2 (May 9, 2011): 487–99. http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/cp-7-487-2011.
Full textAbstract:
Abstract. To understand the three-dimensional ocean circulation patterns that have occurred in past continental geometries, it is crucial to study the role of the present-day continental geometry and surface (wind stress and buoyancy) forcing on the present-day global ocean circulation. This circulation, often referred to as the Conveyor state, is characterised by an Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (MOC) with a deep water formation at northern latitudes and the absence of such a deep water formation in the North Pacific. This MOC asymmetry is often attributed to the difference in surface freshwater flux: the Atlantic as a whole is a basin with net evaporation, while the Pacific receives net precipitation. This issue is revisited in this paper by considering the global ocean circulation on a retrograde rotating earth, computing an equilibrium state of the coupled atmosphere-ocean-land surface-sea ice model CCSM3. The Atlantic-Pacific asymmetry in surface freshwater flux is indeed reversed, but the ocean circulation pattern is not an Inverse Conveyor state (with deep water formation in the North Pacific) as there is relatively weak but intermittently strong deep water formation in the North Atlantic. Using a fully-implicit, global ocean-only model the stability properties of the Atlantic MOC on a retrograde rotating earth are also investigated, showing a similar regime of multiple equilibria as in the present-day case. These results indicate that the present-day asymmetry in surface freshwater flux is not the most important factor setting the Atlantic-Pacific salinity difference and, thereby, the asymmetry in the global MOC.
45
Kamphuis, V., S. E. Huisman, and H. A. Dijkstra. "The global ocean circulation on a retrograde rotating earth." Climate of the Past Discussions 6, no. 6 (November 3, 2010): 2455–82. http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/cpd-6-2455-2010.
Full textAbstract:
Abstract. To understand the three-dimensional ocean circulation patterns that have occurred in past continental geometries, it is crucial to study the role of the present-day continental geometry and surface (wind stress and buoyancy) forcing on the present-day global ocean circulation. This circulation, often referred to as the Conveyor state, is characterized by an Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (MOC) with deep water formation at northern latitudes and the absence of such deep water formation in the North Pacific. This MOC asymmetry is often attributed to the difference in surface freshwater flux: the North Atlantic is a basin with net evaporation, while the North Pacific receives net precipitation. This issue is revisited in this paper by considering the global ocean circulation on a retrograde rotating earth, computing an equilibrium state of the coupled atmosphere-ocean-land surface-sea ice model CCSM3. The Atlantic-Pacific asymmetry in surface freshwater flux is indeed reversed but the ocean circulation pattern is not an Inverse Conveyor state (with deep water formation in the North Pacific) as there is strong and highly variable deep water formation in the North Atlantic. Using a fully-implicit, global ocean-only model also the stability properties of the Atlantic MOC on a retrograde rotating earth are investigated, showing a similar regime of multiple equilibria as in the present-day case. These results demonstrate that the present-day asymmetry in surface freshwater flux is not a crucial factor for the Atlantic-Pacific asymmetry in the global MOC.
46
Nilsson, Johan, Peter L. Langen, David Ferreira, and John Marshall. "Ocean Basin Geometry and the Salinification of the Atlantic Ocean." Journal of Climate 26, no. 16 (August 6, 2013): 6163–84. http://dx.doi.org/10.1175/jcli-d-12-00358.1.
Full textAbstract:
Abstract A coupled atmosphere–sea ice–ocean model is used in an aqua-planet setting to examine the role of the basin geometry for the climate and ocean circulation. The basin geometry has a present-day-like topology with two idealized northern basins and a circumpolar ocean in the south. A suite of experiments is described in which the southward extents of the two (gridpoint wide) “continents” and the basin widths have been varied. When the two basins have identical shapes, the coupled model can attain a symmetric climate state with northern deep-water formation in both basins as well as asymmetric states, where the deep-water formation occurs only in one of the basins and Atlantic–Pacific-like hydrographic differences develop. A difference in the southward extents of the land barriers can enhance as well as reduce the zonal asymmetries of the atmosphere–ocean circulation. This arises from an interplay between the basin boundaries and the wind-driven Sverdrup circulation, which controls the interbasin exchange of heat and salt. Remarkably, when the short “African” continent is located near or equatorward of the zero wind line in the Southern Hemisphere, the deep-water formation becomes uniquely localized to the “Atlantic”-like basin with the long western boundary. In this case, the salinification is accomplished primarily by a westward wind-routed interbasin salt transport. Furthermore, experiments using geometries with asymmetries in both continental extents and basin widths suggest that in the World Ocean these two fundamental basin asymmetries should independently be strong enough for uniquely localizing the Northern Hemisphere deep-water formation to the Atlantic Ocean.
47
Kodera, Kunihiko, Nawo Eguchi, Rei Ueyama, Yuhji Kuroda, Chiaki Kobayashi, Beatriz M. Funatsu, and Chantal Claud. "Implication of tropical lower stratospheric cooling in recent trends in tropical circulation and deep convective activity." Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics 19, no. 4 (February 28, 2019): 2655–69. http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-2655-2019.
Full textAbstract:
Abstract. Large changes in tropical circulation from the mid-to-late 1990s to the present, in particular changes related to the summer monsoon and cooling of the sea surface in the equatorial eastern Pacific, are noted. The cause of such recent decadal variations in the tropics was studied using a meteorological reanalysis dataset. Cooling of the equatorial southeastern Pacific Ocean occurred in association with enhanced cross-equatorial southerlies that were associated with a strengthening of the deep ascending branch of the boreal summer Hadley circulation over the continental sector connected to stratospheric circulation. From boreal summer to winter, the anomalous convective activity center moves southward following the seasonal march to the equatorial Indian Ocean–Maritime Continent region, which strengthens the surface easterlies over the equatorial central Pacific. Accordingly, ocean surface cooling extends over the equatorial central Pacific. We suggest that the fundamental cause of the recent decadal change in the tropical troposphere and the ocean is a poleward shift of convective activity that resulted from a strengthening of extreme deep convection penetrating into the tropical tropopause layer, particularly over the African and Asian continents and adjacent oceans. We conjecture that the increase in extreme deep convection is produced by a combination of land surface warming due to increased CO2 and a reduction of static stability in the tropical tropopause layer due to tropical stratospheric cooling.
48
Iudicone, Daniele, Sabrina Speich, Gurvan Madec, and Bruno Blanke. "The Global Conveyor Belt from a Southern Ocean Perspective." Journal of Physical Oceanography 38, no. 7 (July 1, 2008): 1401–25. http://dx.doi.org/10.1175/2007jpo3525.1.
Full textAbstract:
Abstract Recent studies have proposed the Southern Ocean as the site of large water-mass transformations; other studies propose that this basin is among the main drivers for North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW) circulation. A modeling contribution toward understanding the role of this basin in the global thermohaline circulation can thus be of interest. In particular, key pathways and transformations associated with the thermohaline circulation in the Southern Ocean of an ice–ocean coupled model have been identified here through the extensive use of quantitative Lagrangian diagnostics. The model Southern Ocean is characterized by a shallow overturning circulation transforming 20 Sv (1 Sv ≡ 106 m3 s−1) of thermocline waters into mode waters and a deep overturning related to the formation of Antarctic Bottom Water. Mode and intermediate waters contribute to 80% of the upper branch of the overturning in the Atlantic Ocean north of 30°S. A net upwelling of 11.5 Sv of Circumpolar Deep Waters is simulated in the Southern Ocean. Antarctic Bottom Water upwells into deep layers in the Pacific basin, forming Circumpolar Deep Water and subsurface thermocline water. The Southern Ocean is a powerful consumer of NADW: about 40% of NADW net export was found to upwell in the Southern Ocean, and 40% is transformed into Antarctic Bottom Water. The upwelling occurs south of the Polar Front and mainly in the Indian and Pacific Ocean sectors. The transformation of NADW to lighter water occurs in two steps: vertical mixing at the base of the mixed layer first decreases the salinity of the deep water upwelling south of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, followed by heat input by air–sea and diffusive fluxes to complete the transformation to mode and intermediate waters.
49
Newsom, Emily R., Cecilia M. Bitz, Frank O. Bryan, Ryan Abernathey, and Peter R. Gent. "Southern Ocean Deep Circulation and Heat Uptake in a High-Resolution Climate Model." Journal of Climate 29, no. 7 (March 29, 2016): 2597–619. http://dx.doi.org/10.1175/jcli-d-15-0513.1.
Full textAbstract:
Abstract The dynamics of the lower cell of the meridional overturning circulation (MOC) in the Southern Ocean are compared in two versions of a global climate model: one with high-resolution (0.1°) ocean and sea ice and the other a lower-resolution (1.0°) counterpart. In the high-resolution version, the lower cell circulation is stronger and extends farther northward into the abyssal ocean. Using the water-mass-transformation framework, it is shown that the differences in the lower cell circulation between resolutions are explained by greater rates of surface water-mass transformation within the higher-resolution Antarctic sea ice pack and by differences in diapycnal-mixing-induced transformation in the abyssal ocean. While both surface and interior transformation processes work in tandem to sustain the lower cell in the control climate, the circulation is far more sensitive to changes in surface transformation in response to atmospheric warming from raising carbon dioxide levels. The substantial reduction in overturning is primarily attributed to reduced surface heat loss. At high resolution, the circulation slows more dramatically, with an anomaly that reaches deeper into the abyssal ocean and alters the distribution of Southern Ocean warming. The resolution dependence of associated heat uptake is particularly pronounced in the abyssal ocean (below 4000 m), where the higher-resolution version of the model warms 4.5 times more than its lower-resolution counterpart.
50
Yasuhara, Moriaki, Thomas M. Cronin, Gene Hunt, and David A. Hodell. "Deep-sea ostracods from the South Atlantic sector of the Southern Ocean during the last 370,000 years." Journal of Paleontology 83, no. 6 (November 2009): 914–30. http://dx.doi.org/10.1666/08-149.1.
Full textAbstract:
We report changes of deep-sea ostracod fauna during the last 370,000 yr from the Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) Hole 704A in the South Atlantic sector of the Southern Ocean. The results show that faunal changes are coincident with glacial/interglacial-scale deep-water circulation changes, even though our dataset is relatively small and the waters are barren of ostracods until mid-MIS (Marine Isotope Stage) 5.KritheandPoseidonamicuswere dominant during the Holocene interglacial period and the latter part of MIS 5, when this site was under the influence of North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW). Conversely,HenryhowellaandLegitimocytherewere dominant during glacial periods, when this site was in the path of Circumpolar Deep Water (CPDW). Three new species (Aversovalva brandaoae, Poseidonamicus hisayoae, andKrithe mazziniae) are described herein. This is the first report of Quaternary glacial/interglacial scale deep-sea ostracod faunal changes in the Southern and South Atlantic Oceans, a key region for understanding Quaternary climate and deep-water circulation, although the paucity of Quaternary ostracods in this region necessitates further research.