Simulated Lagrangian pathways between the Leeuwin Current System and the upper-ocean circulation of the southeast Indian Ocean

2007 ◽  
Vol 54 (8-10) ◽  
pp. 797-817 ◽  
Author(s):  
Catia M. Domingues ◽  
Mathew E. Maltrud ◽  
Susan E. Wijffels ◽  
John A. Church ◽  
Matthias Tomczak
2017 ◽  
Vol 47 (3) ◽  
pp. 701-719 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher L. Wolfe ◽  
Paola Cessi ◽  
Bruce D. Cornuelle

AbstractAn intrinsic mode of self-sustained, interannual variability is identified in a coarse-resolution ocean model forced by an annually repeating atmospheric state. The variability has maximum loading in the Indian Ocean, with a significant projection into the South Atlantic Ocean. It is argued that this intrinsic mode is caused by baroclinic instability of the model’s Leeuwin Current, which radiates out to the tropical Indian and South Atlantic Oceans as long Rossby waves at a period of 4 yr. This previously undescribed mode has a remarkably narrowband time series. However, the variability is not synchronized with the annual cycle; the phase of the oscillation varies chaotically on decadal time scales. The presence of this internal mode reduces the predictability of the ocean circulation by obscuring the response to forcing or initial condition perturbations. The signature of this mode can be seen in higher-resolution global ocean models driven by high-frequency atmospheric forcing, but altimeter and assimilation analyses do not show obvious signatures of such a mode, perhaps because of insufficient duration.


2017 ◽  
Vol 47 (3) ◽  
pp. 583-602 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ryo Furue ◽  
Kévin Guerreiro ◽  
Helen E. Phillips ◽  
Julian P. McCreary ◽  
Nathaniel L. Bindoff

AbstractThe Leeuwin Current System (LCS) along the coast of Western Australia consists of the poleward-flowing Leeuwin Current (LC), the equatorward-flowing Leeuwin Undercurrent (LUC), and neighboring flows in the south Indian Ocean (SIO). Using geostrophic currents obtained from a highly resolved (⅛°) hydrographic climatology [CSIRO Atlas of Regional Seas (CARS)], this study describes the spatial structure and annual variability of the LC, LUC, and SIO zonal currents, estimates their transports, and identifies linkages among them. In CARS, the LC is supplied partly by water from the tropics (an annual mean of 0.3 Sv; 1 Sv ≡ 106 m3 s−1) but mostly by shallow (200 m) eastward flows in the SIO (4.7 Sv), and it loses water by downwelling across the bottom of this layer (3.4 Sv). The downwelling is so strong that, despite the large SIO inflow, the horizontal transport of the LC does not much increase to the south (from 0.3 Sv at 22°S to 1.5 Sv at 34°S). This LC transport is significantly smaller than previously reported. The LUC is supplied by water from south of Australia (0.2 Sv), by eastward inflow from the SIO south of 28°S (1.6 Sv), and by the downwelling from the LC (1.6 Sv) and in response strengthens northward, reaching a maximum near 28°S (3.4 Sv). North of 28°S it loses water by outflow into subsurface westward flow (−3.6 Sv between 28° and 22°S) and despite an additional downwelling from the LC (1.9 Sv), it decreases to the north (1.7 Sv at 22°S). The seasonality of the LUC is described for the first time.


2005 ◽  
Vol 18 (13) ◽  
pp. 2330-2343 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dean Roemmich ◽  
John Gilson ◽  
Josh Willis ◽  
Philip Sutton ◽  
Ken Ridgway

Abstract The role of oceanic advection in seasonal-to-interannual balances of mass and heat is studied using a 12-yr time series of quarterly eddy-resolving expendable bathythermograph (XBT) surveys around the perimeter of a region the authors call the Tasman Box in the southwestern Pacific. The region contains the South Pacific’s subtropical western boundary current system and associated strong mesoscale variability. Mean geostrophic transport in the warm upper ocean (temperature greater than 12°C) is about 3.8 Sv (1 Sv ≡ 106 m3 s−1) southward into the box across the Brisbane, Australia–Fiji northern edge. Net outflows are 3.3 Sv eastward across the Auckland, New Zealand–Fiji edge, and 2.7 Sv southward across Sydney, Australia–Wellington, New Zealand. Mean Ekman convergence of 2.2 Sv closes the mass budget. Net water mass conversions in the upper ocean consist of inflow of waters averaging about 26°C and 35.4 psu balanced by outflow at about 18°C and 35.7 psu, and reflect the net evaporation and heat loss in the formation of South Pacific Subtropical Mode Water. The mean heat balance shows good agreement between ocean heat flux convergence (42.3 W m−2), heat loss to the atmosphere from the NCEP–NCAR reanalysis (39.2 W m−2), and heat storage calculated from data in the box interior (1.3 W m−2). On interannual time scales, volume transport through the box ranges from about 1 to 9 Sv, with heat flux convergence ranging from about 20 to 60 W m−2. An interannual balance in the heat budget of the warm layer is achieved to within about 10 W m−2 (or 6 W m−2 for the upper 100 m alone). Maxima in the advective heat flux convergence occurred in 1993, 1997, and 1999–2000, and corresponded to maxima in air–sea heat loss. The evolution of surface-layer temperature in the region is the residual of nearly equal and opposing effects of ocean heat flux convergence and air–sea exchange. Hence, ocean circulation is a key element in the interannual heat budget of the air–sea climate system in the western boundary current region.


2007 ◽  
Vol 20 (13) ◽  
pp. 2978-2993 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tommy G. Jensen

Abstract Composites of Florida State University winds (1970–99) for four different climate scenarios are used to force an Indian Ocean model. In addition to the mean climatology, the cases include La Niña, El Niño, and the Indian Ocean dipole (IOD). The differences in upper-ocean water mass exchanges between the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal are investigated and show that, during El Niño and IOD years, the average clockwise Indian Ocean circulation is intensified, while it is weakened during La Niña years. As a consequence, high-salinity water export from the Arabian Sea into the Bay of Bengal is enhanced during El Niño and IOD years, while transport of low-salinity waters from the Bay of Bengal into the Arabian Sea is enhanced during La Niña years. This provides a venue for interannual salinity variations in the northern Indian Ocean.


Author(s):  
Diego Bruciaferri ◽  
Marina Tonani ◽  
Huw Lewis ◽  
John Siddorn ◽  
Andrew Saulter ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erik Wolfgring ◽  
Michael A. Kaminski ◽  
Anna Waśkowska ◽  
Maria Rose Petrizzo ◽  
Eun Young Lee ◽  
...  

<p>Site U1512 was drilled during Expedition 369 of the International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP), which is located in the Great Australian Bight, southern Indian Ocean. It provides exceptional insights into the benthic foraminiferal biostratigraphy and paleoecology of a high southern latitude restricted marginal marine basin during the Late Cretaceous hot greenhouse climate and the rifting between Australia and Antarctica. The sedimentary sequence recovered at Site U1512 presents a rare record of a deep water agglutinated foraminifera (DWAF) community from the Southern High Latitudes. The Cretaceous record at Site U1512 covers the lower Turonian through Santonian (nannofossil zones UC8b to UC12/CC10b to CC16, <em>H. helvetica</em> to <em>Marginotruncana</em> spp. - <em>Planoheterohelix papula</em> - <em>Globotruncana linneana</em> planktonic foraminifera zones). Diverse benthic foraminiferal assemblages yield many new taxa that are yet to be described.</p><p>Agglutinated forms dominate the assemblage in most intervals. In lower to mid Turonian and Santonian strata, calcareous benthic as well as planktonic foraminifera are frequent. Abundant radiolaria are recovered from the mid Turonian, and they increase up-section and exceed 50% of the microfossil assemblage. We documented a diverse benthic foraminiferal assemblage consisting of 162 taxa (110 agglutinated and 52 calcareous). The most common taxa of the DWAF assemblage are tubular (i.e., <em>Kalamopsis grzybowskii,</em> <em>Bathysiphon</em> spp.) and planispiral forms (i.e., <em>Ammodiscus</em> spp., <em>Haplophragmoides</em> spp., <em>Buzasina</em> sp., <em>Labrospira</em> spp.).</p><p>The Turonian strata yield highly abundant <em>Bulbobaculites problematicus</em> and <em>Spiroplectammina navarroana</em>. The presence of the agglutinated foraminiferal marker taxa <em>Uvigerinammina jankoi</em> and <em>Bulbobaculites problematicus</em> provides a tie-point to the Tethyan DWAF biozonation of Geroch and Nowak (1984). The composition of foraminiferal assemblages and the increase in radiolaria abundance suggest unstable environmental conditions at Site U1512 during the early Turonian through Santonian. These characteristics refer to changes in bathymetry associated with changing ocean chemistry. Results of quantitative analyses of the benthic foraminiferal assemblages indicate a restricted paleoenvironmental regime, dictated by changes in paleobathymetry, unstable patterns in ocean circulation, and the discharge of a nearby river delta system.</p><p>References: Geroch, S., Nowak, K., 1984. Proposal of zonation for the Late Tithonian – late Eocene. based upon arenaceous Foraminifera from the Outer Carpathians, Poland, 225-239, In: Oertli, H.J. (Ed.), Benthos ´83; 2nd international 915 Symposium on Benthic Foraminifera, Pau (France) April 11-15, 1983, Elf Aquitaine, ESO REP and TOTAL CFP, Pau and Bordeaux.</p><p> </p>


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