scholarly journals Effects of Buoyancy and Wind Forcing on Southern Ocean Climate Change

2020 ◽  
Vol 33 (23) ◽  
pp. 10003-10020
Author(s):  
Jia-Rui Shi ◽  
Lynne D. Talley ◽  
Shang-Ping Xie ◽  
Wei Liu ◽  
Sarah T. Gille
Keyword(s):  
Southern Ocean ◽  
Hydrological Cycle ◽  
Meridional Overturning Circulation ◽  
Wind Forcing ◽  
Anthropogenic Heat ◽  
Subsurface Water ◽  
Induced Response ◽  
Wind Effect ◽  
Surface Salinity ◽  
Buoyancy Forcing

AbstractObservations show that since the 1950s, the Southern Ocean has stored a large amount of anthropogenic heat and has freshened at the surface. These patterns can be attributed to two components of surface forcing: poleward-intensified westerly winds and increased buoyancy flux from freshwater and heat. Here we separate the effects of these two forcing components by using a novel partial-coupling technique. We show that buoyancy forcing dominates the overall response in the temperature and salinity structure of the Southern Ocean. Wind stress change results in changes in subsurface temperature and salinity that are closely related to intensified residual meridional overturning circulation. As an important result, we show that buoyancy and wind forcing result in opposing changes in salinity: the wind-induced surface salinity increase due to upwelling of saltier subsurface water offsets surface freshening due to amplification of the global hydrological cycle. Buoyancy and wind forcing further lead to different vertical structures of Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) transport change; buoyancy forcing causes an ACC transport increase (3.1 ± 1.6 Sv; 1 Sv ≡ 106 m3 s−1) by increasing the meridional density gradient across the ACC in the upper 2000 m, while the wind-induced response is more barotropic, with the whole column transport increased by 8.7 ± 2.3 Sv. While previous research focused on the wind effect on ACC intensity, we show that surface horizontal current acceleration within the ACC is dominated by buoyancy forcing. These results shed light on how the Southern Ocean might change under global warming, contributing to more reliable future projections.

scholarly journals Southern Ocean Heat Uptake, Redistribution, and Storage in a Warming Climate: The Role of Meridional Overturning Circulation

2018 ◽  
Vol 31 (12) ◽  
pp. 4727-4743 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wei Liu ◽  
Jian Lu ◽  
Shang-Ping Xie ◽  
Alexey Fedorov
Keyword(s):  
Southern Ocean ◽  
Heat Transport ◽  
Climate Models ◽  
Climate Model ◽  
Meridional Overturning Circulation ◽  
The Other ◽  
Anthropogenic Heat ◽  
Overturning Circulation ◽  
Ocean Heat Uptake ◽  
Meridional Overturning

Climate models show that most of the anthropogenic heat resulting from increased atmospheric CO2 enters the Southern Ocean near 60°S and is stored around 45°S. This heat is transported to the ocean interior by the meridional overturning circulation (MOC) with wind changes playing an important role in the process. To isolate and quantify the latter effect, we apply an overriding technique to a climate model and decompose the total ocean response to CO2 increase into two major components: one due to wind changes and the other due to direct CO2 effect. We find that the poleward-intensified zonal surface winds tend to shift and strengthen the ocean Deacon cell and hence the residual MOC, leading to anomalous divergence of ocean meridional heat transport around 60°S coupled to a surface heat flux increase. In contrast, at 45°S we see anomalous convergence of ocean heat transport and heat loss at the surface. As a result, the wind-induced ocean heat storage (OHS) peaks at 46°S at a rate of 0.07 ZJ yr−1 (° lat)−1 (1 ZJ = 1021 J), contributing 20% to the total OHS maximum. The direct CO2 effect, on the other hand, very slightly alters the residual MOC but primarily warms the ocean. It induces a small but nonnegligible change in eddy heat transport and causes OHS to peak at 42°S at a rate of 0.30 ZJ yr−1 (° lat)−1, accounting for 80% of the OHS maximum. We also find that the eddy-induced MOC weakens, primarily caused by a buoyancy flux change as a result of the direct CO2 effect, and does not compensate the intensified Deacon cell.

Evolving Relative Importance of the Southern Ocean and North Atlantic in Anthropogenic Ocean Heat Uptake

2018 ◽  
Vol 31 (18) ◽  
pp. 7459-7479 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jia-Rui Shi ◽  
Shang-Ping Xie ◽  
Lynne D. Talley
Keyword(s):  
Southern Ocean ◽  
North Atlantic ◽  
Radiative Forcing ◽  
Meridional Overturning Circulation ◽  
Anthropogenic Heat ◽  
Anthropogenic Aerosols ◽  
Ocean Heat Uptake ◽  
The North ◽  
Heat Uptake ◽  
The North Atlantic

Ocean uptake of anthropogenic heat over the past 15 years has mostly occurred in the Southern Ocean, based on Argo float observations. This agrees with historical simulations from phase 5 of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP5), where the Southern Ocean (south of 30°S) accounts for 72% ± 28% of global heat uptake, while the contribution from the North Atlantic north of 30°N is only 6%. Aerosols preferentially cool the Northern Hemisphere, and the effect on surface heat flux over the subpolar North Atlantic opposes the greenhouse gas (GHG) effect in nearly equal magnitude. This heat uptake compensation is associated with weakening (strengthening) of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) in response to GHG (aerosol) radiative forcing. Aerosols are projected to decline in the near future, reinforcing the greenhouse effect on the North Atlantic heat uptake. As a result, the Southern Ocean, which will continue to take up anthropogenic heat largely through the mean upwelling of water from depth, will be joined by increased relative contribution from the North Atlantic because of substantial AMOC slowdown in the twenty-first century. In the RCP8.5 scenario, the percentage contribution to global uptake is projected to decrease to 48% ± 8% in the Southern Ocean and increase to 26% ± 6% in the northern North Atlantic. Despite the large uncertainty in the magnitude of projected aerosol forcing, our results suggest that anthropogenic aerosols, given their geographic distributions and temporal trajectories, strongly influence the high-latitude ocean heat uptake and interhemispheric asymmetry through AMOC change.

The Injection of Zonal Momentum by Buoyancy Forcing in a Southern Ocean Model

2015 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 259-271 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emma Howard ◽  
Andrew McC. Hogg ◽  
Stephanie Waterman ◽  
David P. Marshall
Keyword(s):  
Southern Ocean ◽  
Wind Stress ◽  
Volume Transport ◽  
Ocean Model ◽  
Bottom Friction ◽  
Meridional Overturning Circulation ◽  
Overturning Circulation ◽  
Buoyancy Forcing ◽  
Momentum Budget ◽  
Zonal Momentum

AbstractAn overturning circulation, driven by prescribed buoyancy forcing, is used to set a zonal volume transport in a reentrant channel ocean model with three isopycnal layers. The channel is designed to represent the Southern Ocean such that the forced overturning resembles the lower limb of the meridional overturning circulation (MOC). The relative contributions of wind and buoyancy forcing to the zonal circulation are examined. It is found that the zonal volume transport is strongly dependent on the buoyancy forcing and that the eddy kinetic energy is primarily set by wind stress forcing. The zonal momentum budget integrated over each layer is considered in the buoyancy-forced, wind-forced, and combined forcing case. At equilibrium, sources and sinks of momentum are balanced, but the transient spinup reveals the source of momentum for the current. In the buoyancy-forced case, the forcing creates a baroclinic shear with westward flow in the lower layer, allowing topographic form stress and bottom friction to act as the initial sources of eastward momentum, with bottom friction acting over a longer time frame. In the wind-forced and combined forcing cases, the surface wind stress dominates the initial momentum budget, and the time to reach equilibration is shorter in the combined forcing simulation. These results imply that future changes in the rate of formation of Antarctic Bottom Water may alter the volume transport of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current.

scholarly journals Meridional Overturning Circulation in a multi-basin model. Part II: Sensitivity to diffusivity and wind in warm and cool climates

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan A. Baker ◽  
Andrew J. Watson ◽  
Geoffrey K. Vallis
Keyword(s):  
Southern Ocean ◽  
Wind Stress ◽  
General Circulation ◽  
Circulation Model ◽  
Meridional Overturning Circulation ◽  
Overturning Circulation ◽  
Buoyancy Forcing ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Primary Determinant ◽  
Meridional Overturning

AbstractThe response of the meridional overturning circulation (MOC) to changes in Southern Ocean (SO) zonal wind forcing and Pacific basin vertical diffusivity is investigated under varying buoyancy forcings, corresponding to ‘warm’, ‘present-day’ and ‘cold’ states, in a two-basin general circulation model connected by a southern circumpolar channel. We find that the Atlantic MOC (AMOC) strengthens with increased SO wind stress or diffusivity in the model Pacific, under all buoyancy forcings. The sensitivity of the AMOC to wind stress increases as the buoyancy forcing is varied from a warm to a present-day or cold state, whereas it is most sensitive to the Pacific diffusivity in a present-day or warm state. Similarly, the AMOC is more sensitive to buoyancy forcing over the Southern Ocean under reduced wind stress or enhanced Pacific diffusivity. These results arise because of the increased importance of the Pacific pathway in the warmer climates, giving an increased linkage between the basins and so the opportunity for the diffusivity in the Pacific to affect the overturning in the Atlantic. In cooler states, such as in glacial climates, the two basins are largely decoupled and the wind strength over the SO is the primary determinant of the AMOC strength. Both wind- and diffusively-driven upwelling sustain the AMOC in the warmer (present-day) state. Changes in SO wind stress alone do not shoal the AMOC to resemble that observed at the last glacial maximum; changes in the buoyancy forcing are also needed to decouple the two basins.

scholarly journals Multi-decadal changes in Southern Ocean ventilation since the 1960s driven by wind and buoyancy forcing

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-53
Author(s):  
Lavinia Patara ◽  
Claus W. Böning ◽  
Toste Tanhua
Keyword(s):  
Southern Ocean ◽  
Wind Stress ◽  
Decadal Variability ◽  
Meridional Overturning Circulation ◽  
Atmospheric Forcing ◽  
Subsequent Increase ◽  
Buoyancy Forcing ◽  
Ocean Ventilation ◽  
Main Driver ◽  
The 1960S

AbstractEnhanced Southern Ocean ventilation in recent decades has been suggested to be a relevant modulator of the observed changes in ocean heat and carbon uptake. This study focuses on the Southern Ocean mid-latitude ventilation changes from the 1960s to the 2010s. A global 1/4° configuration of the NEMO-LIM2 ocean sea-ice model including the inert tracer CFC-12 (a proxy of ocean ventilation) is forced with the CORE-II and JRA55-do atmospheric reanalyses. Sensitivity experiments, where the variability of wind stress and/or the buoyancy forcing is suppressed on interannual time scales, are used to unravel the mechanisms driving ventilation changes. Ventilation changes are estimated by comparing CFC-12 interior inventories among the different experiments. All simulations suggest a multi-decadal fluctuation of Southern Ocean ventilation, with a decrease until the 1980s-1990s and a subsequent increase. This evolution is related to the atmospheric forcing and is caused by the (often counteracting) effects of wind stress and buoyancy forcing. Until the 1980s increased buoyancy gains caused the ventilation decrease, whereas the subsequent ventilation increase was driven by strengthened wind stress causing deeper mixed layers and a stronger meridional overturning circulation. Wind stress emerges as the main driver of ventilation changes, even though buoyancy forcing modulates its trend and decadal variability. The three Southern Ocean basins take up CFC-12 in distinct density intervals but overall respond similarly to the atmospheric forcing. This study suggests that Southern Ocean ventilation is expected to increase as long as the effect of increasing Southern Hemisphere wind stress overwhelms that of increased stratification.

Ventilation of the Southern Ocean Pycnocline

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Adele K. Morrison ◽  
Darryn W. Waugh ◽  
Andrew McC. Hogg ◽  
Daniel C. Jones ◽  
Ryan P. Abernathey
Keyword(s):  
Southern Ocean ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Meridional Overturning Circulation ◽  
Anthropogenic Heat ◽  
Annual Review ◽  
Publication Date ◽  
Relative Contribution ◽  
Ocean Ventilation ◽  
Multiple Processes ◽  
A Chain

Ocean ventilation is the transfer of tracers and young water from the surface down into the ocean interior. The tracers that can be transported to depth include anthropogenic heat and carbon, both of which are critical to understanding future climate trajectories. Ventilation occurs in both high- and midlatitude regions, but it is the southern midlatitudes that are responsible for the largest fraction of anthropogenic heat and carbon uptake; such Southern Ocean ventilation is the focus of this review. Southern Ocean ventilation occurs through a chain of interconnected mechanisms, including the zonally averaged meridional overturning circulation, localized subduction, eddy-driven mixing along isopycnals, and lateral transport by subtropical gyres. To unravel the complex pathways of ventilation and reconcile conflicting results, here we assess the relative contribution of each of these mechanisms, emphasizing the three-dimensional and temporally varying nature of the ventilation of the Southern Ocean pycnocline. We conclude that Southern Ocean ventilation depends on multiple processes and that simplified frameworks that explain ventilation changes through a single process are insufficient. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Marine Science, Volume 14 is January 2022. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.

scholarly journals The Importance of Wind and Buoyancy Forcing for the Boundary Density Variations and the Geostrophic Component of the AMOC at 26°N

2014 ◽  
Vol 44 (9) ◽  
pp. 2387-2408 ◽  
Author(s):  
Irene Polo ◽  
Jon Robson ◽  
Rowan Sutton ◽  
Magdalena Alonso Balmaseda
Keyword(s):  
Density Gradient ◽  
Time Scales ◽  
Wind Stress ◽  
Coastal Upwelling ◽  
Ocean Model ◽  
Meridional Overturning Circulation ◽  
Wind Forcing ◽  
Western Boundary ◽  
Decadal Time Scale ◽  
Buoyancy Forcing

Abstract It is widely thought that changes in both the surface buoyancy fluxes and wind stress drive variability in the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC), but that they drive variability on different time scales. For example, wind forcing dominates short-term variability through its effects on Ekman currents and coastal upwelling, whereas buoyancy forcing is important for longer time scales (multiannual and decadal). However, the role of the wind forcing on multiannual to decadal time scales is less clear. Here the authors present an analysis of simulations with the Nucleus for European Modelling of the Ocean (NEMO) ocean model with the aim of explaining the important drivers of the zonal density gradient at 26°N, which is directly related to the AMOC. In the experiments, only one of either the wind stress or the buoyancy forcing is allowed to vary in time, whereas the other remains at its seasonally varying climatology. On subannual time scales, variations in the density gradient, and in the AMOC minus Ekman, are driven largely by local wind-forced coastal upwelling at both the western and eastern boundaries. On decadal time scales, buoyancy forcing related to the North Atlantic Oscillation dominates variability in the AMOC. Interestingly, however, it is found that wind forcing also plays a role at longer time scales, primarily impacting the interannual variability through the excitation of Rossby waves in the central Atlantic, which propagate westward to interact with the western boundary, but also by modulating the decadal time-scale response to buoyancy forcing.

Energetics of a Rotating Wind-forced Horizontal Convection Model of a Reentrant Channel

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Varvara E. Zemskova ◽  
Brian L. White ◽  
Alberto Scotti
Keyword(s):  
Potential Energy ◽  
Southern Ocean ◽  
Wind Stress ◽  
Energy Budget ◽  
Surface Wind ◽  
Meridional Overturning Circulation ◽  
Stress Profile ◽  
Overturning Circulation ◽  
Available Potential Energy ◽  
Buoyancy Forcing

AbstractWe present numerical results for an idealized rotating, buoyancy- and windforced channel as a simple model for the Southern Ocean branch of the Meridional Overturning Circulation (MOC). Differential buoyancy forcing is applied along the top horizontal surface, with surface cooling at one end (to represent the pole) and surface warming at the other (to represent the equatorial region) and a zonally re-entrant channel to represent the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC). Zonally-uniform surface wind forcing is applied with a similar pattern to the westerlies and easterlies with varying magnitude relative to the buoyancy forcing. The problem is solved numerically using a 3D DNS model based on a finite-volume solver for the Boussinesq Navier-Stokes equations with rotation. The overall dynamics, including large-scale overturning, baroclinic eddying, turbulent mixing, and resulting energy cascades are studied by calculating terms in the energy budget using the local Available Potential Energy framework. The basic physics of the overturning in the Southern Ocean are investigated at multiple scales and the output from the fully-resolved DNS simulations is compared with the results from previous studies of the global (ECCO2) and Southern Ocean eddy-permitting state estimates. We find that both the magnitude and shape of the zonal wind stress profile are important to the spatial pattern of the overturning circulation. However, the available potential energy budget and the diapycnal mixing are not significantly affected by the surface wind stress and are primarily set by the buoyancy forcing at the surface.

scholarly journals Meridional Overturning Circulation in a Multibasin Model. Part I: Dependence on Southern Ocean Buoyancy Forcing

2020 ◽  
Vol 50 (5) ◽  
pp. 1159-1178 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan A. Baker ◽  
Andrew J. Watson ◽  
Geoffrey K. Vallis
Keyword(s):  
Southern Ocean ◽  
Deep Water ◽  
General Circulation ◽  
Circulation Model ◽  
Meridional Overturning Circulation ◽  
Pacific Basin ◽  
Overturning Circulation ◽  
Buoyancy Forcing ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Meridional Overturning

AbstractThe variation in the strength and structure of the overturning circulation under varying Southern Ocean buoyancy forcing, corresponding to present day, a cooler (glacial) state, and a possible future warmer state is analyzed in an idealized two-basin general circulation model connected by a southern circumpolar channel. A connection between the North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW) cell in the Atlantic basin and the Pacific Deep Water (PDW) cell in the Pacific basin occurs with a direct flow of NADW into the channel’s lower cell, while PDW upwelled in the Pacific basin can flow directly into the upper wind-driven cell in the channel. The intersection of these cells along with direct zonal flows between the basins completes the interbasin circulation. The present-day Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) in the model is upwelled both by wind-driven upwelling in the Southern Ocean and by diffusion in the Pacific and Atlantic. In a cooler climate with enhanced sea ice, the NADW cell shoals, which can then no longer flow directly into the channel’s lower cell, reducing the Pacific pathway of NADW. This leads to a substantial weakening of the AMOC, suggesting buoyancy forcing changes can play a substantial role in the transition of the AMOC to a glacial state. In contrast, in a warmer equilibrium climate state with reduced AABW formation, the NADW cell strengthens and deepens. NADW is increasingly directed along the Pacific pathway, while the direct upwelling in the channel’s wind-driven upper cell plays a smaller role.

scholarly journals The depth scales of the AMOC on a decadal timescale

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tim Rohrschneider ◽  
Johanna Baehr ◽  
Veit Lüschow ◽  
Dian Putrasahan ◽  
Jochem Marotzke
Keyword(s):  
Global Warming ◽  
Southern Ocean ◽  
Northern Hemisphere ◽  
Velocity Profiles ◽  
Meridional Overturning Circulation ◽  
Wind Forcing ◽  
Wind Effects ◽  
Local Wind ◽  
Decadal Timescale ◽  
Ocean Wind

Abstract. We use wind sensitivity experiments to understand the wind forcing dependencies of the level of no motion and the e-folding pycnocline scale as well as their relationship to northward transport of the mid-depth Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) south and north of the equator. In contrast to previous studies, we investigate the interplay of nonlocal and local wind effects on a decadal timescale. We use 30-year simulations with a high-resolution ocean general circulation model (OGCM) which is an eddy-resolving version of the Max Planck Institute Ocean Model (MPIOM). Our findings deviate from the common perspective that the AMOC is a nonlocal phenomenon only, because northward transport in the inter-hemispheric cell can only be understood by analyzing nonlocal Southern Ocean wind effects and local wind effects in the northern hemisphere downwelling region where Ekman pumping takes place. Southern Ocean wind forcing predominantly determines the magnitude of the pycnocline scale throughout the basin, whereas northern hemisphere winds additionally influence the level of no motion locally. In that respect, the level of no motion is a better proxy for northward transport and mid-depth velocity profiles despite the Ekman return flow which is found to be baroclinic. We compare our results inferred from the wind experiments and a 100-year global warming experiment in which the atmospheric CO2 concentration is quadrupled, using MPIOM coupled to an atmospheric model. We find that the evolution of the level of no motion in response to global warming represents changes in vertical velocity profiles or northward transport, whereas the changes of the pycnocline scale are opposite to the changes of the level of no motion over time. Using the level of no motion as depth scale, the analysis of the wind experiments and the warming experiment suggests a hemisphere-dependent scaling of the strength of AMOC. Furthermore, we put forward the idea that the ability of numerical models to capture the spatial and temporal variations of the level of no motion is crucial to reproduce the mid-depth cell in an appropriate way.

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