scholarly journals The Southern Ocean and Its Climate in CCSM4

2012 ◽  
Vol 25 (8) ◽  
pp. 2652-2675 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wilbert Weijer ◽  
Bernadette M. Sloyan ◽  
Mathew E. Maltrud ◽  
Nicole Jeffery ◽  
Matthew W. Hecht ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Southern Ocean ◽  
Climate System ◽  
Intermediate Water ◽  
Mode Water ◽  
Ice Dynamics ◽  
Climate System Model ◽  
Interbasin Exchange ◽  
Circumpolar Current ◽  
Earth’S Climate ◽  
New Community

Abstract The new Community Climate System Model, version 4 (CCSM4), provides a powerful tool to understand and predict the earth’s climate system. Several aspects of the Southern Ocean in the CCSM4 are explored, including the surface climatology and interannual variability, simulation of key climate water masses (Antarctic Bottom Water, Subantarctic Mode Water, and Antarctic Intermediate Water), the transport and structure of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, and interbasin exchange via the Agulhas and Tasman leakages and at the Brazil–Malvinas Confluence. It is found that the CCSM4 has varying degrees of accuracy in the simulation of the climate of the Southern Ocean when compared with observations. This study has identified aspects of the model that warrant further analysis that will result in a more comprehensive understanding of ocean–atmosphere–ice dynamics and interactions that control the earth’s climate and its variability.

scholarly journals Simulation of Subantarctic Mode and Antarctic Intermediate Waters in Climate Models

2007 ◽  
Vol 20 (20) ◽  
pp. 5061-5080 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bernadette M. Sloyan ◽  
Igor V. Kamenkovich
Keyword(s):  
Southern Ocean ◽  
Climate Models ◽  
Intermediate Water ◽  
Mixing Processes ◽  
Intergovernmental Panel ◽  
Mode Water ◽  
Buoyancy Forcing ◽  
The North ◽  
Circumpolar Current ◽  
Ipcc Ar4

Abstract The Southern Ocean’s Subantarctic Mode Water (SAMW) and Antarctic Intermediate Water (AAIW) are two globally significant upper-ocean water masses that circulate in all Southern Hemisphere subtropical gyres and cross the equator to enter the North Pacific and North Atlantic Oceans. Simulations of SAMW and AAIW for the twentieth century in eight climate models [GFDL-CM2.1, CCSM3, CNRM-CM3, MIROC3.2(medres), MIROC3.2(hires), MRI-CGCM2.3.2, CSIRO-Mk3.0, and UKMO-HadCM3] that provided their output in support of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Fourth Assessment Report (IPCC AR4) have been compared to the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) Atlas of Regional Seas. The climate models, except for UKMO-HadCM3, CSIRO-Mk3.0, and MRI-CGCM2.3.2, provide a reasonable simulation of SAMW and AAIW isopycnal temperature and salinity in the Southern Ocean. Many models simulate the potential vorticity minimum layer and salinity minimum layer of SAMW and AAIW, respectively. However, the simulated SAMW layer is generally thinner and at lighter densities than observed. All climate models display a limited equatorward extension of SAMW and AAIW north of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current. Errors in the simulation of SAMW and AAIW property characteristics are likely to be due to a combination of many errors in the climate models, including simulation of wind and buoyancy forcing, inadequate representation of subgrid-scale mixing processes in the Southern Ocean, and midlatitude diapycnal mixing parameterizations.

scholarly journals Impacts of Climate Change on the Subduction of Mode and Intermediate Water Masses in the Southern Ocean

2009 ◽  
Vol 22 (12) ◽  
pp. 3289-3302 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephanie M. Downes ◽  
Nathaniel L. Bindoff ◽  
Stephen R. Rintoul
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Southern Ocean ◽  
Mixed Layer ◽  
Potential Vorticity ◽  
Volume Transport ◽  
Water Masses ◽  
Ekman Transport ◽  
Intermediate Water ◽  
Mode Water ◽  
Climate System Model

Abstract Changes in the temperature, salinity, and subduction of Subantarctic Mode Water (SAMW) and Antarctic Intermediate Water (AAIW) between the 1950s and 2090s are diagnosed using the CSIRO Mark version 3.5 (Mk3.5) climate system model Caps under a CO2 forcing that reaches 860 ppm by the year 2100. These Southern Ocean upper-limb water masses ventilate the ocean interior, and changes in their properties have been related to climate change in numerous studies. Over time, the authors follow the low potential vorticity and salinity minimum layers describing SAMW and AAIW and find that the water column in the 2090s shifts to lighter densities by approximately 0.2 kg m−3. The model projects a reduction in the SAMW and AAIW annual mean subduction rates as a result of a combination of a shallower mixed layer, increased potential vorticity at the base of the mixed layer, and a net buoyancy gain. There is little change in the projected total volume of SAMW transported into the ocean interior via the subduction process; however, the authors find a significant decrease in the subduction of AAIW. The authors find overall that increases in the air–sea surface heat and freshwater fluxes mainly control the reduction in the mean loss of the SAMW and AAIW surface buoyancy flux when compared with the effect of changes supplied by Ekman transport because of increased zonal wind stress. In the A2 scenario, there are cooling and freshening on neutral density surfaces less than 27.3 kg m−3 in response to the warming and freshening observed at the ocean’s surface. The model projects deepening of density surfaces due to southward shifts in the outcrop regions and the downward displacement of these surfaces north of 45°S. The volume transport across 32°S is predicted to decrease in all three basins, with southward transport of SAMW and AAIW decreasing by up to 1.2 and 2.0 Sv (1 Sv ≡ 106 m3 s−1), respectively, in the Indian Ocean. These projected reductions in the subduction and transport of mode and intermediate water masses in the CSIRO Mk3.5 model could potentially decrease the absorption and storage of CO2 in the Southern Ocean.

scholarly journals Imprint of Southern Ocean mesoscale eddies on chlorophyll

2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (15) ◽  
pp. 4781-4798 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ivy Frenger ◽  
Matthias Münnich ◽  
Nicolas Gruber
Keyword(s):  
Southern Ocean ◽  
Light Exposure ◽  
Mixed Layer Depth ◽  
Mesoscale Eddies ◽  
Mode Water ◽  
Upper Echelon ◽  
Nutrient Contents ◽  
Mesoscale Ocean Eddies ◽  
Circumpolar Current ◽  
Lateral Advection

Abstract. Although mesoscale ocean eddies are ubiquitous in the Southern Ocean, their average regional and seasonal association with phytoplankton has not been quantified systematically yet. To this end, we identify over 100 000 mesoscale eddies with diameters of 50 km and more in the Southern Ocean and determine the associated phytoplankton biomass anomalies using satellite-based chlorophyll-a (Chl) as a proxy. The mean Chl anomalies, δChl, associated with these eddies, comprising the upper echelon of the oceanic mesoscale, exceed ±10 % over wide regions. The structure of these anomalies is largely zonal, with cyclonic, thermocline lifted, eddies having positive anomalies in the subtropical waters north of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) and negative anomalies along its main flow path. The pattern is similar, but reversed for anticyclonic, thermocline deepened eddies. The seasonality of δChl is weak in subtropical waters, but pronounced along the ACC, featuring a seasonal sign switch. The spatial structure and seasonality of the mesoscale δChl can be explained largely by lateral advection, especially local eddy-stirring. A prominent exception is the ACC region in winter, where δChl is consistent with a modulation of phytoplankton light exposure caused by an eddy-induced modification of the mixed layer depth. The clear impact of mesoscale eddies on phytoplankton may implicate a downstream effect on Southern Ocean biogeochemical properties, such as mode water nutrient contents.

scholarly journals Eddy-Resolving Model Estimate of the Cabbeling Effect on the Water Mass Transformation in the Southern Ocean

2012 ◽  
Vol 42 (8) ◽  
pp. 1288-1302 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. Shogo Urakawa ◽  
Hiroyasu Hasumi
Keyword(s):  
Southern Ocean ◽  
Deep Water ◽  
Water Mass ◽  
Formation Rate ◽  
Ocean Model ◽  
Intermediate Water ◽  
Mode Water ◽  
Model Estimate ◽  
Circumpolar Deep Water ◽  
Water Mass Transformation

Abstract Cabbeling effect on the water mass transformation in the Southern Ocean is investigated with the use of an eddy-resolving Southern Ocean model. A significant amount of water is densified by cabbeling: water mass transformation rates are about 4 Sv (1 Sv ≡ 106 m3 s−1) for transformation from surface/thermocline water to Subantarctic Mode Water (SAMW), about 7 Sv for transformation from SAMW to Antarctic Intermediate Water (AAIW), and about 5 Sv for transformation from AAIW to Upper Circumpolar Deep Water. These diapycnal volume transports occur around the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC), where mesoscale eddies are active. The water mass transformation by cabbeling in this study is also characterized by a large amount of densification of Lower Circumpolar Deep Water (LCDW) into Antarctic Bottom Water (AABW) (about 9 Sv). Large diapycnal velocity is found not only along the ACC but also along the coast of Antarctica at the boundary between LCDW and AABW. It is found that about 3 Sv of LCDW is densified into AABW by cabbeling on the continental slopes of Antarctica in this study. This densification is not small compared with observational and numerical estimates on the AABW formation rate, which ranges from 10 to 20 Sv.

scholarly journals Carbon uptake and biogeochemical change in the Southern Ocean, south of Tasmania

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paula C. Pardo ◽  
Bronte Tilbrook ◽  
Clothilde Langlais ◽  
Tom W. Trull ◽  
Steve R. Rintoul
Keyword(s):  
Southern Ocean ◽  
Water Mass ◽  
Dissolved Inorganic Carbon ◽  
Water Masses ◽  
Atmospheric Co2 ◽  
Positive Trend ◽  
Intermediate Water ◽  
Mode Water ◽  
Aragonite Saturation ◽  
Deep Waters

Abstract. Biogeochemical change in the water masses of the Southern Ocean, south of Tasmania, was assessed for the 16-year period between 1995 and 2011 using data from 4 summer repeats of the WOCE/JGOFS/CLIVAR/GO-SHIP SR03 hydrographic section (at ~ 140° E). Changes in temperature, salinity, oxygen, and nutrients were used to disentangle the effect of solubility, biology, circulation and anthropogenic carbon (CANT) uptake on the variability of dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) for 8 water mass layers defined by neutral surfaces (ϒn). CANT was estimated using an improved back-calculation method. Warming (~ 0.0352 ± 0.0170 °C yr−1) of Subtropical Central Water (STCW) and Antarctic Surface Water (AASW) layers decreased their gas solubility, and accordingly DIC concentrations increased less rapidly than expected from equilibration with rising atmospheric CO2 (~ 0.86 ± 0.16 μmol kg−1 yr−1 versus ~ 1 ± 0.12 μmol kg−1 yr−1). An increase in apparent oxygen utilisation (AOU) occurred in these layers due to either remineralization of organic matter or intensification of upwelling. The range of estimates for the increases of CANT were 0.71 ± 0.08 to 0.93 ± 0.08 μmol kg−1 yr−1 for STCW and 0.35 ± 0.14 to 0.65 ± 0.21 μmol kg−1 yr−1 for AASW, with the lower values in each water mass obtained by assigning all the AOU change to remineralization. DIC increases in the Sub-Antarctic Mode Water (SAMW, 1.10 ± 0.14 μmol kg−1 yr−1) and Antarctic Intermediate Water (AAIW, 0.40 ± 0.15 μmol kg−1 yr−1) layers were similar to the calculated CANT trends. For SAMW, the CANT increase tracked rising atmospheric CO2. As a consequence of the general DIC increase, decreases in total pH (pHT) and aragonite saturation (ΩAr) were found in most water masses, with the upper ocean and the SAMW layer presenting the largest trends for pHT decrease (~ −0.0031 ± 0.0004 yr−1). DIC increases in deep and bottom layers (~ 0.24 ± 0.04 μmol kg−1 yr−1) resulted from the advection of old deep waters to resupply increased upwelling, as corroborated by increasing silicate (~ 0.21 ± 0.07 μmol kg−1 yr−1), which also reached the upper layers near the Antarctic Divergence (~ 0.36 ± 0.06 μmol kg−1 yr−1) and was accompanied by an increase in salinity. The observed changes in DIC over the 16-year span caused a shoaling (~ 340 m) of the aragonite saturation depth (ASD, ΩAr = 1) within Upper Circumpolar Deep Water that followed the upwelling path of this layer. From all our results, we conclude a scenario of increased transport of deep waters into the section and enhanced upwelling at high latitudes for the period between 1995 and 2011, probably linked to a positive trend in the Southern Annular Mode. Although enhanced upwelling lowered the capacity of the AASW layer to uptake atmospheric CO2, it did not limit that of the newly forming SAMW and AAIW, which exhibited CANT storage rates (~ 0.41 ± 0.20 mol m−2 yr−1) twice that of the upper layers.

scholarly journals Circulation and Water Mass Modification in the Brazil–Malvinas Confluence

2010 ◽  
Vol 40 (5) ◽  
pp. 845-864 ◽  
Author(s):  
Loic Jullion ◽  
Karen J. Heywood ◽  
Alberto C. Naveira Garabato ◽  
David P. Stevens
Keyword(s):  
Deep Water ◽  
Subtropical Gyre ◽  
Strong Interactions ◽  
Intermediate Water ◽  
Mode Water ◽  
Brazil Current ◽  
Subantarctic Mode Water ◽  
Circumpolar Current ◽  
The Antarctic ◽  
Argentine Basin

Abstract The confluence between the Brazil Current and the Malvinas Current [the Brazil–Malvinas Confluence (BMC)] in the Argentine Basin is characterized by a complicated thermohaline structure favoring the exchanges of mass, heat, and salt between the subtropical gyre and the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC). Analysis of thermohaline properties of hydrographic sections in the BMC reveals strong interactions between the ACC and subtropical fronts. In the Subantarctic Front, Subantarctic Mode Water (SAMW), Antarctic Intermediate Water (AAIW), and Circumpolar Deep Water (CDW) warm (become saltier) by 0.4° (0.08), 0.3° (0.02), and 0.6°C (0.1), respectively. In the subtropical gyre, AAIW and North Atlantic Deep Water have cooled (freshened) by 0.4° (0.07) and 0.7°C (0.11), respectively. To quantify those ACC–subtropical gyre interactions, a box inverse model surrounding the confluence is built. The model diagnoses a subduction of 16 ± 4 Sv (1 Sv ≡ 106 m3 s−1) of newly formed SAMW and AAIW under the subtropical gyre corresponding to about half of the total subduction rate of the South Atlantic found in previous studies. Cross-frontal heat (0.06 PW) and salt (2.4 × 1012 kg s−1) gains by the ACC in the BMC contribute to the meridional poleward heat and salt fluxes across the ACC. These estimates correspond to perhaps half of the total cross-ACC poleward heat flux. The authors’ results highlight the BMC as a key region in the subtropical–ACC exchanges.

scholarly journals Frontal Circulation and Submesoscale Variability during the Formation of a Southern Ocean Mesoscale Eddy

2017 ◽  
Vol 47 (7) ◽  
pp. 1737-1753 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katherine A. Adams ◽  
Philip Hosegood ◽  
John R. Taylor ◽  
Jean-Baptiste Sallée ◽  
Scott Bachman ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mixed Layer ◽  
Mesoscale Eddy ◽  
Drake Passage ◽  
Mathematical Framework ◽  
Intermediate Water ◽  
Surface Mixed Layer ◽  
Mode Water ◽  
Scotia Sea ◽  
Simplifying Assumptions ◽  
Circumpolar Current

AbstractObservations made in the Scotia Sea during the May 2015 Surface Mixed Layer Evolution at Submesoscales (SMILES) research cruise captured submesoscale, O(1–10) km, variability along the periphery of a mesoscale O(10–100) km meander precisely as it separated from the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) and formed a cyclonic eddy ~120 km in diameter. The meander developed in the Scotia Sea, an eddy-rich region east of the Drake Passage where the Subantarctic and Polar Fronts converge and modifications of Subantarctic Mode Water (SAMW) occur. In situ measurements reveal a rich submesoscale structure of temperature and salinity and a loss of frontal integrity along the newly formed southern sector of the eddy. A mathematical framework is developed to estimate vertical velocity from collocated drifter and horizontal water velocity time series, under certain simplifying assumptions appropriate for the current dataset. Upwelling (downwelling) rates of O(100) m day−1 are found in the northern (southern) eddy sector. Favorable conditions for submesoscale instabilities are found in the mixed layer, particularly at the beginning of the survey in the vicinity of density fronts. Shallower mixed layer depths and increased stratification are observed later in the survey on the inner edge of the front. Evolution in temperature–salinity (T–S) space indicates modification of water mass properties in the upper 200 m over 2 days. Modifications along σθ = 27–27.2 kg m−3 have climate-related implications for mode and intermediate water transformation in the Scotia Sea on finer spatiotemporal scales than observed previously.

scholarly journals Changes in the Subduction of Southern Ocean Water Masses at the End of the Twenty-First Century in Eight IPCC Models

2010 ◽  
Vol 23 (24) ◽  
pp. 6526-6541 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephanie M. Downes ◽  
Nathaniel L. Bindoff ◽  
Stephen R. Rintoul
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Southern Ocean ◽  
Ocean Circulation ◽  
Comparison Method ◽  
Water Masses ◽  
Intermediate Water ◽  
Intergovernmental Panel ◽  
Mode Water ◽  
Surface Warming ◽  
Freshwater Fluxes

Abstract A multimodel comparison method is used to assess the sensitivity of Subantarctic Mode Water (SAMW) and Antarctic Intermediate Water (AAIW) formation to climate change. For the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change A2 emissions scenario (where atmospheric CO2 is 860 ppm at 2100), the models show cooling and freshening on density surfaces less than about 27.4 kg m−3, a pattern that has been observed in the late twentieth century. SAMW (defined by the low potential vorticity layer) and AAIW (defined by the salinity minimum layer) warm and freshen as they shift to lighter density classes. Heat and freshwater fluxes at the ocean surface dominate the projected buoyancy gain at outcrop regions of SAMW and AAIW, whereas the net increase in the Ekman flux of heat and freshwater contributes to a lesser extent. This buoyancy gain, combined with shoaling of the winter mixed layer, reduces the volume of SAMW subducted into the ocean interior by a mean of 8 Sv (12%), and the subduction of AAIW decreases by a mean of 14 Sv (23%; 1 Sv ≡ 106 m3 s−1). Decreases in the projected subduction of the key Southern Ocean upper-water masses imply a slow down in the Southern Ocean circulation in the future, driven by surface warming and freshening. A reduction in the subduction of intermediate waters implies a likely future decrease in the capacity of the Southern Ocean to sequester CO2.

scholarly journals Deglacial intermediate water reorganization: new evidence from the Indian Ocean

2014 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 293-303 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Romahn ◽  
A. Mackensen ◽  
J. Groeneveld ◽  
J. Pätzold
Keyword(s):  
Indian Ocean ◽  
Southern Ocean ◽  
Ocean Circulation ◽  
Equatorial Indian Ocean ◽  
Western Indian Ocean ◽  
Intermediate Water ◽  
Mode Water ◽  
Climate Anomalies ◽  
Tunnel Mechanism ◽  
Intermediate Waters

Abstract. The importance of intermediate water masses in climate change and ocean circulation has been emphasized recently. In particular, Southern Ocean Intermediate Waters (SOIW), such as Antarctic Intermediate Water and Subantarctic Mode Water, are thought to have acted as active interhemispheric transmitter of climate anomalies. Here we reconstruct changes in SOIW signature and spatial and temporal evolution based on a 40 kyr time series of oxygen and carbon isotopes as well as planktic Mg/Ca based thermometry from Site GeoB12615-4 in the western Indian Ocean. Our data suggest that SOIW transmitted Antarctic temperature trends to the equatorial Indian Ocean via the "oceanic tunnel" mechanism. Moreover, our results reveal that deglacial SOIW carried a signature of aged Southern Ocean deep water. We find no evidence of increased formation of intermediate waters during the deglaciation.

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