Changes in Subantartic Mode Water Properties and its Impact on Spiciness Variation in the Southern Indian Ocean

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ying Zhang ◽  
Yan Du ◽  
Ming Feng
Keyword(s):  
Indian Ocean ◽  
Potential Temperature ◽  
Vital Role ◽  
Sea Surface ◽  
Southern Indian Ocean ◽  
Wind Stress Curl ◽  
Mode Water ◽  
Subantarctic Mode Water ◽  
The Indian Ocean ◽  
Global Oceans

<p><span>Subantarctic Mode Water (SAMW) is formed by deep mixing in winter in the Subantarctic Zone and transported into the adjacent subtropical gyres after subduction, which plays a vital role in heat, freshwater, carbon and nutrient budgets in the global oceans. The changes in SAMW properties and its impact on spiciness variation in the southern Indian Ocean have been investigated using the gridded Argo dataset in 2004-2018. Annual mean potential temperature and salinity of the SAMW have undergone significant variations during 2004-2018, with an increase (a decrease) trend for potential temperature (salinity). An analysis of decomposition shows that the heaving process contributes to warming and salinification while spiciness causes cooling and freshening, both of which modulate the SAMW properties. A strong deepening of the isopycnal surfaces </span>caused by positive wind stress curl anomalies over the subtropical southern Indian Ocean leads to warming/salinification heaving contribution to the changes in SAMW. The cooling/freshening contribution from spiciness process is due to a southward shift of sea surface potential density favoring colder and fresher water into the interior ocean, which is driven by an increase in wintertime sea surface temperature and salinity in the SAMW formation region. The colder and fresher water carried with the SAMW spreads along isopycnal surfaces via the Indian Ocean subtropical gyre, which results in cooling and freshening spiciness trends over the all basin of the subtropical southern Indian Ocean.</p><p> </p>

scholarly journals Changes in the Subantarctic Mode Water Properties and Spiciness in the Southern Indian Ocean based on Argo Observations

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ying ZHANG ◽  
Yan DU ◽  
Tangdong QU ◽  
Yu HONG ◽  
Catia M. DOMINGUES ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Indian Ocean ◽  
Mixed Layer ◽  
Layer Structure ◽  
Mixed Layer Depth ◽  
Southern Indian Ocean ◽  
Ekman Transport ◽  
Mode Water ◽  
Formation Region ◽  
Subantarctic Mode Water ◽  
Subduction Rate

AbstractThe Subantarctic Mode Water (SAMW) plays an essential role in the global heat, freshwater, carbon, and nutrient budgets. In this study, decadal changes in the SAMW properties in the Southern Indian Ocean (SIO) and associated thermodynamic and dynamic processes are investigated during the Argo era. Both temperature and salinity of the SAMW in the SIO show increasing trends during 2004-2018. A two-layer structure of the SAMW trend, with more warm and salty light SAMW but less cool and fresh dense SAMW, is identified. The heaving and spiciness processes are important but have opposite contributions to the temperature and salinity trends of the SAMW. A significant deepening of isopycnals (heaving), peaking at σθ=26.7-26.8 kg m−3in the middle layer of the SAMW, expands the warm and salty light SAMW and compresses the cool and fresh dense SAMW corresponding to the change in subduction rate during 2004-2018. The change in the SAMW subduction rate is dominated by the change in the mixed layer depth, controlled by the changes in wind stress curl and surface buoyancy loss. An increase in the mixed-layer temperature due to weakening northward Ekman transport of cool water leads to a lighter surface density in the SAMW formation region. Consequently, density outcropping lines in the SAMW formation region shift southward and favor the intrusion and entrainment of the cooler and fresher Antarctic surface water from the south, contributing to the cooling/freshening trend of isopycnals (spiciness). Subsequently, the cooler and fresher SAMW spiciness anomalies spread in the SIO via the subtropical gyre.

Origin and mechanism of Subantarctic Mode Water formation and transformation in the Southern Indian Ocean

2010 ◽  
Vol 60 (3) ◽  
pp. 563-583 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ariane Koch-Larrouy ◽  
Rosemary Morrow ◽  
Thierry Penduff ◽  
Mélanie Juza
Keyword(s):  
Indian Ocean ◽  
Southern Indian Ocean ◽  
Mode Water ◽  
Subantarctic Mode Water ◽  
Water Formation

scholarly journals The Shallow Overturning Circulation in the Indian Ocean

2018 ◽  
Vol 48 (2) ◽  
pp. 413-434 ◽  
Author(s):  
Motoki Nagura ◽  
Michael J. McPhaden
Keyword(s):  
Indian Ocean ◽  
Western Boundary ◽  
Western Coast ◽  
Intermediate Water ◽  
Depth Range ◽  
Mode Water ◽  
Ocean Reanalysis ◽  
Subantarctic Mode Water ◽  
The Indian Ocean ◽  
Mean Circulation

AbstractThe number of in situ observations in the Indian Ocean has dramatically increased over the past 15 years thanks to the implementation of the Argo profiling float program. This study estimates the mean circulation in the Indian Ocean using hydrographic observations obtained from both Argo and conductivity–temperature–depth (CTD) observations. Absolute velocity at the Argo float parking depth is used so there is no need to assume a level of no motion. Results reveal previously unknown features in addition to well-known currents and water masses. Some newly identified features include the lack of an interior pathway to the equator from the southern Indian Ocean in the pycnocline, indicating that water parcels must transit through the western boundary to reach the equator. High potential vorticity (PV) intrudes from the western coast of Australia in the depth range of the Subantarctic Mode Water, which leads to a structure similar to a PV barrier. The subtropical anticyclonic gyre retreats poleward with depth, as happens in the subtropical Atlantic and Pacific. An eastward flow was found in the eastern basin along 15°S at the depth of the Antarctic Intermediate Water—a feature expected from property distributions but never before detected in velocity estimates. Meridional mass transport indicates about 10 Sv (1 Sv ≡ 106 m3 s−1) southward flow at 6°S and 18 Sv northward flow at 20°S, which results in meridional convergence of currents and thermocline depression at about 16°–20°S. These estimated absolute velocities agree well with those of an ocean reanalysis, which lends credibility to the strictly databased analysis.

scholarly journals Two Independent Triggers for the Indian Ocean Dipole/Zonal Mode in a Coupled GCM

2005 ◽  
Vol 18 (17) ◽  
pp. 3428-3449 ◽  
Author(s):  
Albert S. Fischer ◽  
Pascal Terray ◽  
Eric Guilyardi ◽  
Silvio Gualdi ◽  
Pascale Delecluse
Keyword(s):  
Indian Ocean ◽  
El Niño ◽  
Indian Ocean Dipole ◽  
El Nino ◽  
Tropical Indian Ocean ◽  
Sea Surface ◽  
Dynamical Response ◽  
Thermocline Depth ◽  
Second Phase ◽  
The Indian Ocean

Abstract The question of whether and how tropical Indian Ocean dipole or zonal mode (IOZM) interannual variability is independent of El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) variability in the Pacific is addressed in a comparison of twin 200-yr runs of a coupled climate model. The first is a reference simulation, and the second has ENSO-scale variability suppressed with a constraint on the tropical Pacific wind stress. The IOZM can exist in the model without ENSO, and the composite evolution of the main anomalies in the Indian Ocean in the two simulations is virtually identical. Its growth depends on a positive feedback between anomalous equatorial easterly winds, upwelling equatorial and coastal Kelvin waves reducing the thermocline depth and sea surface temperature off the coast of Sumatra, and the atmospheric dynamical response to the subsequently reduced convection. Two IOZM triggers in the boreal spring are found. The first is an anomalous Hadley circulation over the eastern tropical Indian Ocean and Maritime Continent, with an early northward penetration of the Southern Hemisphere southeasterly trades. This situation grows out of cooler sea surface temperatures in the southeastern tropical Indian Ocean left behind by a reinforcement of the late austral summer winds. The second trigger is a consequence of a zonal shift in the center of convection associated with a developing El Niño, a Walker cell anomaly. The first trigger is the only one present in the constrained simulation and is similar to the evolution of anomalies in 1994, when the IOZM occurred in the absence of a Pacific El Niño state. The presence of these two triggers—the first independent of ENSO and the second phase locking the IOZM to El Niño—allows an understanding of both the existence of IOZM events when Pacific conditions are neutral and the significant correlation between the IOZM and El Niño.

scholarly journals Trapped Planetary (Rossby) Waves Observed in the Indian Ocean by Satellite Borne Altimeters

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yair De-Leon ◽  
Nathan Paldor
Keyword(s):  
Indian Ocean ◽  
Rossby Waves ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
Propagation Speed ◽  
Wave Theory ◽  
Planetary Waves ◽  
Sea Surface ◽  
Trapped Wave ◽  
The Indian Ocean ◽  
Frequency Variations

Abstract. Using 20 years of accurately calibrated, high resolution, observations of Sea Surface Height Anomalies (SSHA) by satellite ‎borne altimeters we show that in the Indian Ocean south of the Australian coast the low frequency variations of SSHA are ‎dominated by westward propagating, trapped, i.e. non-harmonic, planetary waves. Our results demonstrate that the ‎meridional-dependent amplitudes of the SSHA are large only within a few degrees of latitude next to the South-Australian ‎coast while farther in the ocean they are uniformly small. This meridional variation of the SSHA signal is typical of the ‎amplitude structure in the trapped wave theory. The westward propagation speed of the SSHA signals is analyzed by ‎employing three different methods of estimation. Each one of these methods yields speed estimates that can vary widely ‎between adjacent latitudes but the combination of at least two of the three methods yields much smoother variation. The ‎estimates obtained in this manner show that the observed phase speeds at different latitudes exceed the phase speeds of ‎harmonic Rossby (Planetary) waves by 140 % to 200 %. In contrast, the theory of trapped Rossby (Planetary) waves in a ‎domain bounded by a wall on its equatorward side yields phase speeds that approximate more closely the observed phase ‎speeds.‎

Assessing Sea Surface Salinity Derived by Aquarius in the Indian Ocean

2014 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 719-722 ◽  
Author(s):  
Smitha Ratheesh ◽  
Rashmi Sharma ◽  
Rajesh Sikhakolli ◽  
Raj Kumar ◽  
Sujit Basu
Keyword(s):  
Indian Ocean ◽  
Sea Surface ◽  
Sea Surface Salinity ◽  
Surface Salinity ◽  
The Indian Ocean

Variations of the Indian Ocean Walker circulation since the Last Glacial Maximum revealed by reconstructed and simulated zonal wind intensity

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xinquan Zhou ◽  
Stéphanie Duchamp-Alphonse ◽  
Masa Kageyama ◽  
Franck Bassinot ◽  
Xiaoxu Shi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Indian Ocean ◽  
Surface Temperature ◽  
Equatorial Indian Ocean ◽  
Walker Circulation ◽  
Sea Surface ◽  
The Indian Ocean ◽  
Sst Anomaly ◽  
Mean Circulation ◽  
The Last Glacial Maximum ◽  
The Last Glacial

<p>Today, precipitation and wind patterns over the equatorial Indian Ocean and surrounding lands are paced by monsoon and Walker circulations that are controlled by the seasonal land-sea temperature contrast and the inter-annual convection over the Indo-Pacific Warm Pool, respectively. The annual mean surface westerly winds are particularly tied to the Walker circulation, showing interannual variability coupled with the gradient of Sea Surface Temperature (SST) anomaly between the tropical western and southeastern Indian Ocean, namely, the Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD). While the Indian monsoon pattern has been widely studied in the past, few works deal with the evolution of Walker circulation despite its crucial impacts on modern and future tropical climate systems. Here, we reconstruct the long-term westerly (summer) and easterly (winter) wind dynamics of the equatorial Indian Ocean (10°S−10°N), since the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) based on i) primary productivity (PP) records derived from coccolith analyses of sedimentary cores MD77-191 and BAR94-24, retrieved off the southern tip of India and off the northwestern tip of Sumatra, respectively and ii) the calculation of a sea surface temperature (SST) anomaly gradient off (south) western Sumatra based on published SST data. We compare these reconstructions with atmospheric circulation simulations obtained with the general coupled model AWI-ESM-1-1-LR (Alfred Wegener Institute Earth System Model).</p><p>Our results show that the Indian Ocean Walker circulation was weaker during the LGM and the early/middle Holocene than present. Model simulations suggest that this is due to anomalous easterlies over the eastern Indian Ocean. The LGM mean circulation state may have been comparable to the year 1997 with a positive IOD, when anomalously strong equatorial easterlies prevailed in winter. The early/mid Holocene mean circulation state may have been equivalent to the year 2006 with a positive IOD, when anomalously strong southeasterlies prevailed over Java-Sumatra in summer. The deglaciation can be seen as a transient period between these two positive IOD-like mean states.</p>

Spiciness Anomalies of Subantarctic Mode Water in the South Indian Ocean

2021 ◽  
Vol 34 (10) ◽  
pp. 3927-3953
Author(s):  
Motoki Nagura
Keyword(s):  
Indian Ocean ◽  
Mixed Layer ◽  
Mixed Layer Depth ◽  
Surface Mixed Layer ◽  
The South ◽  
South Indian Ocean ◽  
Mode Water ◽  
Horizontal Advection ◽  
South Indian ◽  
Subantarctic Mode Water

AbstractThis study investigates spreading and generation of spiciness anomalies of the Subantarctic Mode Water (SAMW) located on 26.6 to 26.8 σθ in the south Indian Ocean, using in situ hydrographic observations, satellite measurements, reanalysis datasets, and numerical model output. The amplitude of spiciness anomalies is about 0.03 psu or 0.13°C and tends to be large along the streamline of the subtropical gyre, whose upstream end is the outcrop region south of Australia. The speed of spreading is comparable to that of the mean current, and it takes about a decade for a spiciness anomaly in the outcrop region to spread into the interior up to Madagascar. In the outcrop region, interannual variability in mixed layer temperature and salinity tends to be density compensating, which indicates that Eulerian temperature or salinity changes account for the generation of isopycnal spiciness anomalies. It is known that wintertime temperature and salinity in the surface mixed layer determine the temperature and salinity relationship of a subducted water mass. Considering this, the mixed layer heat budget in the outcrop region is estimated based on the concept of effective mixed layer depth, the result of which shows the primary contribution from horizontal advection. The contributions from Ekman and geostrophic currents are comparable. Ekman flow advection is caused by zonal wind stress anomalies and the resulting meridional Ekman current anomalies, as is pointed out by a previous study. Geostrophic velocity is decomposed into large-scale and mesoscale variability, both of which significantly contribute to horizontal advection.

Interannual Variability in Sea Surface Height at Southern Midlatitudes of the Indian Ocean

2021 ◽  
Vol 51 (5) ◽  
pp. 1595-1609
Author(s):  
Motoki Nagura ◽  
Michael J. McPhaden
Keyword(s):  
Indian Ocean ◽  
Interannual Variability ◽  
Sea Surface Height ◽  
Wind Forcing ◽  
Sea Surface ◽  
The South ◽  
South Indian Ocean ◽  
Eastern Boundary ◽  
South Indian ◽  
The Indian Ocean

AbstractThis study examines interannual variability in sea surface height (SSH) at southern midlatitudes of the Indian Ocean (10°–35°S). Our focus is on the relative role of local wind forcing and remote forcing from the equatorial Pacific Ocean. We use satellite altimetry measurements, an atmospheric reanalysis, and a one-dimensional wave model tuned to simulate observed SSH anomalies. The model solution is decomposed into the part driven by local winds and that driven by SSH variability radiated from the western coast of Australia. Results show that variability radiated from the Australian coast is larger in amplitude than variability driven by local winds in the central and eastern parts of the south Indian Ocean at midlatitudes (between 19° and 33°S), whereas the influence from eastern boundary forcing is confined to the eastern basin at lower latitudes (10° and 17°S). The relative importance of eastern boundary forcing at midlatitudes is due to the weakness of wind stress curl anomalies in the interior of the south Indian Ocean. Our analysis further suggests that SSH variability along the west coast of Australia originates from remote wind forcing in the tropical Pacific, as is pointed out by previous studies. The zonal gradient of SSH between the western and eastern parts of the south Indian Ocean is also mostly controlled by variability radiated from the Australian coast, indicating that interannual variability in meridional geostrophic transport is driven principally by Pacific winds.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document