Physical oceanography

Abstract:

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title> <jats:p>We investigate the relationship between Ertel potential vorticity, Q, and Bernoulli potential, B, on orthobaric density surfaces in the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC), using the Southern Ocean State Estimate. Similar to the extratropical atmospheres of Earth and Mars, Q and B correlate in the ACC in a function-like manner with modest scatter. Below the near-surface, the underlying function relating Q and B appears to be nearly linear. Nondimensionalizing its slope yields “Ma”, a “Mach” number for long Rossby waves, the ratio of the local flow speed to the intrinsic long Rossby wave speed. We empirically estimate the latter using established and novel techniques that yield qualitatively consistent results. Previous work related “Ma” to the degree of homogeneity of Q and to Arnol’d’s shear stability criteria. Estimates of “Ma” for the whole ACC are notably positive, implying inhomogeneous Q, on all circumpolar buoyancy surfaces studied. Upper layers generally exhibit “Ma” slightly less than unity, suggesting that shear instability may operate within these layers. Deep layers exhibit “Ma” greater than unity, implying stability. On surfaces shallower than 1000 m just north of the ACC, the Q versus B slope varies strongly on sub-annual and interannual time-scales, but “Ma” hovers near unity. We also study spatial variability: the ACC is speckled with hundreds of small-scale features with “Ma” near unity, whereas away from the ACC “Ma” is more commonly negative or above unity, both corresponding to stability. Maps of the time-mean “Ma” show stable regions occupy most of the Southern Ocean, except for several topographically controlled hotspots where “Ma” is always near unity.</jats:p>

Abstract:

There have been recent advancements in the quantification of parameters describing the proportion of internal tide energy being dissipated locally and the “efficiency” of diapycnal mixing, that is, the ratio of the diapycnal mixing rate to the kinetic energy dissipation rate. We show that oceanic tidal mixing is nontrivially sensitive to the covariation of these parameters. Varying these parameters one at a time can lead to significant errors in the patterns of diapycnal mixing‐driven upwelling and downwelling and to the over and under estimation of mixing in such a way that the net rate of globally integrated deep circulation appears reasonable. However, the local rates of upwelling and downwelling in the deep ocean are significantly different when both parameters are allowed to covary and be spatially variable. These findings have important implications for the representation of oceanic heat, carbon, nutrients, and other tracer budgets in general circulation models.

Abstract:

The impact of aerosols on cloud properties is one of the leading uncertainties in the human forcing of the climate. Ships are large, isolated sources of aerosol creating linear cloud formations known as shiptracks. These are an ideal opportunity to identify and measure aerosol-cloud interactions. This work uses over 17,000 shiptracks during the implementation of fuel sulfur content regulations to demonstrate the central role of sulfate aerosol in ship exhaust for modifying clouds. By connecting individual shiptracks to transponder data, it is shown that almost half of shiptracks are likely undetected, masking a significant contribution to the climate impact of shipping. A pathway to retrieving ship sulfate emissions is demonstrated, showing how cloud observations could be used to monitor air pollution.

Abstract:

Revolutionary observational arrays, together with a new generation of ocean and climate models, have provided new and intriguing insights into the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) over the last two decades. Theoretical models have also changed our view of the AMOC, providing a dynamical framework for understanding the new observations and the results of complex models. In this paper we review recent advances in conceptual understanding of the processes maintaining the AMOC. We discuss recent theoretical models that address issues such as the interplay between surface buoyancy and wind forcing, the extent to which the AMOC is adiabatic, the importance of mesoscale eddies, the interaction between the middepth North Atlantic Deep Water cell and the abyssal Antarctic Bottom Water cell, the role of basin geometry and bathymetry, and the importance of a three‐dimensional multiple‐basin perspective. We review new paradigms for deep water formation in the high‐latitude North Atlantic and the impact of diapycnal mixing on vertical motion in the ocean interior. And we discuss advances in our understanding of the AMOC's stability and its scaling with large‐scale meridional density gradients. Along with reviewing theories for the mean AMOC, we consider models of AMOC variability and discuss what we have learned from theory about the detection and meridional propagation of AMOC anomalies. Simple theoretical models remain a vital and powerful tool for articulating our understanding of the AMOC and identifying the processes that are most critical to represent accurately in the next generation of numerical ocean and climate models.