Ocean Convection

Ocean convection is a key mechanism that regulates heat uptake, water-mass transformation, CO2 exchange, and nutrient transport with crucial implications for ocean dynamics and climate change. Both cooling to the atmosphere and salinification, from evaporation or sea-ice formation, cause surface waters to become dense and down-well as turbulent convective plumes. The upper mixed layer in the ocean is significantly deepened and sustained by convection. In the tropics and subtropics, night-time cooling is a main driver of mixed layer convection, while in the mid- and high-latitude regions, winter cooling is key to mixed layer convection. Additionally, at higher latitudes, and particularly in the sub-polar North Atlantic Ocean, the extensive surface heat loss during winter drives open-ocean convection that can reach thousands of meters in depth. On the Antarctic continental shelf, polynya convection regulates the formation of dense bottom slope currents. These strong convection events help to drive the immense water-mass transport of the globally-spanning meridional overturning circulation (MOC). However, convection is often highly localised in time and space, making it extremely difficult to accurately measure in field observations. Ocean models such as global circulation models (GCMs) are unable to resolve convection and turbulence and, instead, rely on simple convective parameterizations that result in a poor representation of convective processes and their impact on ocean circulation, air–sea exchange, and ocean biology. In the past few decades there has been markedly more observations, advancements in high-resolution numerical simulations, continued innovation in laboratory experiments and improvement of theory for ocean convection. The impacts of anthropogenic climate change on ocean convection are beginning to be observed, but key questions remain regarding future climate scenarios. Here, we review the current knowledge and future direction of ocean convection arising from sea–surface interactions, with a focus on mixed layer, open-ocean, and polynya convection.

An update to the traditional water mass (trans)formation framework.

<p>Traditional estimates of convection/water mass formation at the sea surface rely on measurements of air-sea fluxes of heat and freshwater<br>(evaporation minus precipitation), that are estimated by combining in-situ data with meteorological modelisation. Satellite-based estimates of ocean convection are thus largely impacted by the relatively high uncertainties and low space-time resolution of those fluxes. However, direct satellite measurements of the ocean surface offer a unique opportunity to study convection (upwelling, downwelling) events with unprecedented spatio-temporal resolution compared to in-situ measurements. In this work, we propose an alternative approach to the traditional framework for estimating ocean convection using satellites. Instead of combining high-resolution ocean data of sea surface temperature and salinity with the much less precise, less resolved air-sea interaction data, we estimate the air-sea fluxes by computing the material derivatives (using satellite ocean currents) of the satellite sea surface variables. We therefore obtain estimates at the same resolution of the satellite products, and with much better accuracy than what was estimated before. We present some examples of application in the Atlantic ocean and in the Mediterranean sea. Future directions of this work is the study of the seasonal and interannual variability of ocean convection, and the potential changes on deep convection associated to climate variability at different time scales.</p>

A New Way to Fingerprint Drivers of Water Cycle Change

Simulations of tropical ocean convection help distinguish climate effects resulting from large-scale changes in atmospheric circulation from those resulting from higher temperatures.

Southern Ocean convection amplified past Antarctic warming and atmospheric CO2 rise during Heinrich Stadial 4

The record of past climate highlights recurrent and intense millennial anomalies, characterised by a distinct pattern of inter-polar temperature change, termed the ‘thermal bipolar seesaw’, which is widely believed to arise from rapid changes in the Atlantic overturning circulation. By forcing a suppression of North Atlantic convection, models have been able to reproduce many of the general features of the thermal bipolar seesaw; however, they typically fail to capture the full magnitude of temperature change reconstructed using polar ice cores from both hemispheres. Here we use deep-water temperature reconstructions, combined with parallel oxygenation and radiocarbon ventilation records, to demonstrate the occurrence of enhanced deep convection in the Southern Ocean across the particularly intense millennial climate anomaly, Heinrich Stadial 4. Our results underline the important role of Southern Ocean convection as a potential amplifier of Antarctic warming, and atmospheric CO2 rise, that is responsive to triggers originating in the North Atlantic.

The Dynamics of Mixed Layer Deepening during Open-Ocean Convection

Open-ocean convection is a common phenomenon that regulates mixed layer depth and ocean ventilation in the high-latitude oceans. However, many climate model simulations overestimate mixed layer depth during open-ocean convection, resulting in excessive formation of dense water in some regions. The physical processes controlling transient mixed layer depth during open-ocean convection are examined using two different numerical models: a high-resolution, turbulence-resolving nonhydrostatic model and a large-scale hydrostatic ocean model. An isolated destabilizing buoyancy flux is imposed at the surface of both models and a quasi-equilibrium flow is allowed to develop. Mixed layer depth in the turbulence-resolving and large-scale models closely aligns with existing scaling theories. However, the large-scale model has an anomalously deep mixed layer prior to quasi-equilibrium. This transient mixed layer depth bias is a consequence of the lack of resolved turbulent convection in the model, which delays the onset of baroclinic instability. These findings suggest that in order to reduce mixed layer biases in ocean simulations, parameterizations of the connection between baroclinic instability and convection need to be addressed.

Early to mid-Holocene sea ice changes on the Labrador Shelf - biomarker evidence.

<p>Understanding the Earth’s climate system and by that improving predictions of future changes are of utmost importance. A key player in this context is the global thermohaline ocean circulation, of which North Atlantic deep ocean convection is an essential component. Hence, one important region for deep ocean convection is the Labrador Sea, where the warm Gulf Stream meets cold polar waters in the Subpolar Gyre. Sea surface temperature and salinity play a major role in this convective process; two factors that influence these parameters are seasonal sea ice cover and freshwater inflow. During the early Holocene a major freshening in the Labrador Sea at 8.5 ka BP has been associated with the collapse of the Hudson Bay Ice Saddle (Lochte et al., 2019a). This collapse was triggered by a subsurface warming of the western Labrador Sea, linked to the strengthening of the Irminger and West Greenland Current that could have accelerated the ice saddle collapse. However, the role of sea ice in this process is yet unknown.</p><p> </p><p>Here, we present a reconstruction of sea ice cover during the respective time interval, based on the organic biomarker IP<sub>25</sub>, a highly branched isoprenoid that is considered as a reliable proxy for past sea ice conditions. Actually, we apply the more advanced PIP<sub>25</sub> sea ice index, together with other biomarkers for phytoplankton productivity, to reconstruct sea ice changes at centennial scale for the early to mid Holocene from a Labrador Shelf sediment core.</p><p> </p><p>Based on this approach we infer that nearly perennial sea ice cover opened towards more seasonally, extremely fluctuating, conditions around 8.5 ka, parallel to the strengthening of Atlantic warm water inflow towards the Labrador Shelf. The shift to more seasonal sea ice cover may have favoured the advance of Atlantic water into Hudson Bay and could have accelerated the collapse and subsequent drainage of the Hudson Bay Ice Saddle. The opening of the sea ice triggered phytoplankton productivity and we find evidence for the establishment of a stable ice edge in the vicinity of the core location between 8.1 and 7.6 ka. With the establishment of the Labrador Sea Water formation around 7.4 ka (Lochte et al., 2019b) sea ice continued to fluctuate seasonally and reduced freshwater inflow favoured enhanced phytoplankton productivity.</p><p> </p><p>References:</p><p>Lochte, A. A., Repschläger, J., Kienast, M.,Garbe-Schönberg, D., Andersen, N., Hamann, C., Schneider, R., 2019a. Labrador Sea freshening at 8.5 ka BP caused by Hudson Bay Ice Saddle collapse. Nature Communications, 10-586</p><p>Lochte, A. A., Repschläger, J., Seidenkrantz, M-S., Kienast, M., Blanz, T., Schneider, R.R., 2019b. Holocene water mass changes in the Labrador Current. The Holocene 1-15</p>