Mechanisms of subantarctic mode water upwelling in a hybrid-coordinate global GCM

2012 ◽  
Vol 45-46 ◽  
pp. 59-80 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hao Zuo ◽  
Alberto C. Naveira Garabato ◽  
Adrian L. New ◽  
Andreas Oschlies
Keyword(s):  
Mode Water ◽  
Subantarctic Mode Water

scholarly journals Subantarctic Mode Water Formation, Destruction, and Export in the Eddy-Permitting Southern Ocean State Estimate

2013 ◽  
Vol 43 (7) ◽  
pp. 1485-1511 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ivana Cerovečki ◽  
Lynne D. Talley ◽  
Matthew R. Mazloff ◽  
Guillaume Maze
Keyword(s):  
Southern Ocean ◽  
Buoyancy Flux ◽  
Differential Heat ◽  
Diapycnal Mixing ◽  
Mode Water ◽  
State Estimate ◽  
Surface Formation ◽  
Subantarctic Mode Water ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
The Difference

Abstract Subantarctic Mode Water (SAMW) is examined using the data-assimilating, eddy-permitting Southern Ocean State Estimate, for 2005 and 2006. Surface formation due to air–sea buoyancy flux is estimated using Walin analysis, and diapycnal mixing is diagnosed as the difference between surface formation and transport across 30°S, accounting for volume change with time. Water in the density range 26.5 < σθ < 27.1 kg m−3 that includes SAMW is exported northward in all three ocean sectors, with a net transport of (18.2, 17.1) Sv (1 Sv ≡ 106 m3 s−1; for years 2005, 2006); air–sea buoyancy fluxes form (13.2, 6.8) Sv, diapycnal mixing removes (−14.5, −12.6) Sv, and there is a volume loss of (−19.3, −22.9) Sv mostly occurring in the strongest SAMW formation locations. The most vigorous SAMW formation is in the Indian Ocean by air–sea buoyancy flux (9.4, 10.9) Sv, where it is partially destroyed by diapycnal mixing (−6.6, −3.1) Sv. There is strong export to the Pacific, where SAMW is destroyed both by air–sea buoyancy flux (−1.1, −4.6) Sv and diapycnal mixing (−5.6, −8.4) Sv. In the South Atlantic, SAMW is formed by air–sea buoyancy flux (5.0, 0.5) Sv and is destroyed by diapycnal mixing (−2.3, −1.1) Sv. Peaks in air–sea flux formation occur at the Southeast Indian and Southeast Pacific SAMWs (SEISAMWs, SEPSAMWs) densities. Formation over the broad SAMW circumpolar outcrop windows is largely from denser water, driven by differential freshwater gain, augmented or decreased by heating or cooling. In the SEISAMW and SEPSAMW source regions, however, formation is from lighter water, driven by differential heat loss.

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.

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 Variability of Subantarctic Mode Water and Antarctic Intermediate Water in the Drake Passage during the Late-Twentieth and Early-Twenty-First Centuries

2009 ◽  
Vol 22 (13) ◽  
pp. 3661-3688 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alberto C. Naveira Garabato ◽  
Loïc Jullion ◽  
David P. Stevens ◽  
Karen J. Heywood ◽  
Brian A. King
Keyword(s):  
Sea Ice ◽  
Drake Passage ◽  
Heat Fluxes ◽  
Turbulent Heat ◽  
Intermediate Water ◽  
The West ◽  
Mode Water ◽  
Subantarctic Mode Water ◽  
Turbulent Heat Fluxes ◽  
The Antarctic

Abstract A time series of the physical and biogeochemical properties of Subantarctic Mode Water (SAMW) and Antarctic Intermediate Water (AAIW) in the Drake Passage between 1969 and 2005 is constructed using 24 transects of measurements across the passage. Both water masses have experienced substantial variability on interannual to interdecadal time scales. SAMW is formed by winter overturning on the equatorward flank of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) in and to the west of the Drake Passage. Its interannual variability is primarily driven by variations in wintertime air–sea turbulent heat fluxes and net evaporation modulated by the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO). Despite their spatial proximity, the AAIW in the Drake Passage has a very different source than that of the SAMW because it is ventilated by the northward subduction of Winter Water originating in the Bellingshausen Sea. Changes in AAIW are mainly forced by variability in Winter Water properties resulting from fluctuations in wintertime air–sea turbulent heat fluxes and spring sea ice melting, both of which are linked to predominantly ENSO-driven variations in the intensity of meridional winds to the west of the Antarctic Peninsula. A prominent exception to the prevalent modes of SAMW and AAIW formation occurred in 1998, when strong wind forcing associated with constructive interference between ENSO and the southern annular mode (SAM) triggered a transitory shift to an Ekman-dominated mode of SAMW ventilation and a 1–2-yr shutdown of AAIW production. The interdecadal evolutions of SAMW and AAIW in the Drake Passage are distinct and driven by different processes. SAMW warmed (by ∼0.3°C) and salinified (by ∼0.04) during the 1970s and experienced the reverse trends between 1990 and 2005, when the coldest and freshest SAMW on record was observed. In contrast, AAIW underwent a net freshening (by ∼0.05) between the 1970s and the twenty-first century. Although the reversing changes in SAMW were chiefly forced by a ∼30-yr oscillation in regional air–sea turbulent heat fluxes and precipitation associated with the interdecadal Pacific oscillation, with a SAM-driven intensification of the Ekman supply of Antarctic surface waters from the south contributing significantly too, the freshening of AAIW was linked to the extreme climate change that occurred to the west of the Antarctic Peninsula in recent decades. There, a freshening of the Winter Water ventilating AAIW was brought about by increased precipitation and a retreat of the winter sea ice edge, which were seemingly forced by an interdecadal trend in the SAM and regional positive feedbacks in the air–sea ice coupled climate system. All in all, these findings highlight the role of the major modes of Southern Hemisphere climate variability in driving the evolution of SAMW and AAIW in the Drake Passage region and the wider South Atlantic and suggest that these modes may have contributed significantly to the hemispheric-scale changes undergone by those waters in recent decades.

scholarly journals The Role of Southern Ocean Surface Forcings and Mixing in the Global Conveyor

2008 ◽  
Vol 38 (7) ◽  
pp. 1377-1400 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniele Iudicone ◽  
Gurvan Madec ◽  
Bruno Blanke ◽  
Sabrina Speich
Keyword(s):  
Southern Ocean ◽  
North Atlantic ◽  
Deep Water ◽  
Thermohaline Circulation ◽  
North Atlantic Deep Water ◽  
Surface Fluxes ◽  
Weddell Sea ◽  
Mode Water ◽  
Circumpolar Deep Water ◽  
Subantarctic Mode Water

Abstract Despite the renewed interest in the Southern Ocean, there are yet many unknowns because of the scarcity of measurements and the complexity of the thermohaline circulation. Hence the authors present here the analysis of the thermohaline circulation of the Southern Ocean of a steady-state simulation of a coupled ice–ocean model. The study aims to clarify the roles of surface fluxes and internal mixing, with focus on the mechanisms of the upper branch of the overturning. A quantitative dynamical analysis of the water-mass transformation has been performed using a new method. Surface fluxes, including the effect of the penetrative solar radiation, produce almost 40 Sv (1 Sv ≡ 106 m3 s−1) of Subantarctic Mode Water while about 5 Sv of the densest water masses (γ > 28.2) are formed by brine rejection on the shelves of Antarctica and in the Weddell Sea. Mixing transforms one-half of the Subantarctic Mode Water into intermediate water and Upper Circumpolar Deep Water while bottom water is produced by Lower Circumpolar Deep Water and North Atlantic Deep Water mixing with shelf water. The upwelling of part of the North Atlantic Deep Water inflow is due to internal processes, mainly downward propagation of the surface freshwater excess via vertical mixing at the base of the mixed layer. A complementary Lagrangian analysis of the thermohaline circulation will be presented in a companion paper.

scholarly journals Rapid acidification of mode and intermediate waters in the southwest Atlantic Ocean

2014 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 6755-6792
Author(s):  
L. A. Salt ◽  
S. M. A. C. van Heuven ◽  
M. E. Claus ◽  
E. M. Jones ◽  
H. J. W. de Baar
Keyword(s):  
Dissolved Inorganic Carbon ◽  
Buffering Capacity ◽  
Intermediate Water ◽  
Mode Water ◽  
Maximum Increase ◽  
Southwest Atlantic ◽  
Subantarctic Mode Water ◽  
Anthropogenic Component ◽  
Rate Of Increase ◽  
Total Pool

Abstract. Observations along the southwest Atlantic WOCE A17 line made during the Dutch GEOTRACES-NL program (2010–2011) were compared with historical data from 1994 to quantify the changes in the anthropogenic component of the total pool of dissolved inorganic carbon (ΔCant). Application of the extended Multi Linear Regression (eMLR) method shows that the ΔCant from 1994 to 2011 has largely remained confined to the upper 1000 dbar. The greatest changes occur in the upper 200 dbar in the SubAntarctic Zone (SAZ), where a maximum increase of 37 μmol kg−1 is found. South Atlantic Central Water (SACW) experienced the highest rate of increase in Cant, at 0.99 ± 0.14 μmol kg−1 yr−1, resulting in a rate of decrease in pH of −0.0016 yr−1. The highest rates of acidification relative to ΔCant, however, were found in SubAntarctic Mode Water (SAMW) and Antarctic Intermediate Water (AAIW). The low buffering capacity of SAMW and AAIW combined with their relatively high rates of Cant increase of 0.53 ± 0.11 μmol kg−1 yr−1 and 0.36 ± 0.06 μmol kg−1 yr−1, respectively, will lead to rapid acidification in the SAZ and simultaneously reduce the chemical buffering capacity of this significant CO2 sink.

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.

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