On the Wind Power Input to the Ocean General Circulation
JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL OCEANOGRAPHY 42:8 (2012) 1357-1365
Sustained monitoring of the Southern Ocean at Drake Passage: Past achievements and future priorities
Reviews of Geophysics 49:4 (2011)
Abstract:
Drake Passage is the narrowest constriction of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) in the Southern Ocean, with implications for global ocean circulation and climate. We review the long-term sustained monitoring programs that have been conducted at Drake Passage, dating back to the early part of the twentieth century. Attention is drawn to numerous breakthroughs that have been made from these programs, including (1) the first determinations of the complex ACC structure and early quantifications of its transport; (2) realization that the ACC transport is remarkably steady over interannual and longer periods, and a growing understanding of the processes responsible for this; (3) recognition of the role of coupled climate modes in dictating the horizontal transport and the role of anthropogenic processes in this; and (4) understanding of mechanisms driving changes in both the upper and lower limbs of the Southern Ocean overturning circulation and their impacts. It is argued that monitoring of this passage remains a high priority for oceanographic and climate research but that strategic improvements could be made concerning how this is conducted. In particular, long-term programs should concentrate on delivering quantifications of key variables of direct relevance to large-scale environmental issues: In this context, the time-varying overturning circulation is, if anything, even more compelling a target than the ACC flow. Further, there is a need for better international resource sharing and improved spatiotemporal coordination of the measurements. If achieved, the improvements in understanding of important climatic issues deriving from Drake Passage monitoring can be sustained into the future. © 2011 by the American Geophysical Union.A model of Atlantic heat content and sea level change in response to thermohaline forcing
Journal of Climate 24:21 (2011) 5619-5632
Abstract:
The response of ocean heat content in the Atlantic to variability in the meridional overturning circulation (MOC) at high latitudes is investigated using a reduced-gravity model and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) general circulationmodel (MITgcm). Consistent with theoretical predictions, the zonal-mean heat content anomalies are confined to lowlatitudeswhen the high-latitude MOC changes rapidly, but extends to mid- and high latitudes when the high-latitude MOC varies on decadal or multidecadal time scales. This low-passfiltering effect of the mid- and high latitudes on zonal-mean heat content anomalies, termed here the "Rossby buffer," is shown to be associated with the ratio of Rossby wave basin-crossing time to the forcing period at high northern latitudes. Experiments using the MITgcm also reveal the importance of advective spreading of cold water in the deep ocean, which is absent in the reduced-gravity model. Implications for monitoring ocean heat content and sea level changes are discussed in the context of both models. It is found that observing global sea level variability and sea level rise using tide gauges can substantially overestimate the global-mean values. © 2011 American Meteorological Society.Accurate representation of geostrophic and hydrostatic balance in unstructured mesh finite element ocean modelling
Ocean Modelling 39:3-4 (2011) 248-261
Abstract:
Accurate representation of geostrophic and hydrostatic balance is an essential requirement for numerical modelling of geophysical flows. Potentially, unstructured mesh numerical methods offer significant benefits over conventional structured meshes, including the ability to conform to arbitrary bounding topography in a natural manner and the ability to apply dynamic mesh adaptivity. However, there is a need to develop robust schemes with accurate representation of physical balance on arbitrary unstructured meshes. We discuss the origin of physical balance errors in a finite element discretisation of the Navier-Stokes equations using the fractional timestep pressure projection method. By considering the Helmholtz decomposition of forcing terms in the momentum equation, it is shown that the components of the buoyancy and Coriolis accelerations that project onto the non-divergent velocity tendency are the small residuals between two terms of comparable magnitude. Hence there is a potential for significant injection of imbalance by a numerical method that does not compute these residuals accurately. This observation is used to motivate a balanced pressure decomposition method whereby an additional "balanced pressure" field, associated with buoyancy and Coriolis accelerations, is solved for at increased accuracy and used to precondition the solution for the dynamical pressure. The utility of this approach is quantified in a fully non-linear system in exact geostrophic balance. The approach is further tested via quantitative comparison of unstructured mesh simulations of the thermally driven rotating annulus against laboratory data. Using a piecewise linear discretisation for velocity and pressure (a stabilised P1P1 discretisation), it is demonstrated that the balanced pressure decomposition method is required for a physically realistic representation of the system. © 2011 Elsevier Ltd.Momentum balance of the wind-driven and meridional overturning circulation
Journal of Physical Oceanography 41:5 (2011) 960-978