LETTERS Mass and volume transport variability in an eddy-filled ocean
The possibility that the oceanic general circulation is undergoing changes as part, or the cause, of major climate shifts is being intensely discussed1, with some published results relying on data from moorings spanning the North Atlantic Ocean2,3. The circulation is, however, extremely noisy. Here,...
Main Author: | |
---|---|
Other Authors: | |
Format: | Text |
Language: | English |
Published: |
2008
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.390.1840 http://ocean.mit.edu/~cwunsch/papersonline/wunsch_nature_geoscience_2008.pdf |
id |
ftciteseerx:oai:CiteSeerX.psu:10.1.1.390.1840 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
ftciteseerx:oai:CiteSeerX.psu:10.1.1.390.1840 2023-05-15T17:32:13+02:00 LETTERS Mass and volume transport variability in an eddy-filled ocean Carl Wunsch The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives 2008 application/pdf http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.390.1840 http://ocean.mit.edu/~cwunsch/papersonline/wunsch_nature_geoscience_2008.pdf en eng http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.390.1840 http://ocean.mit.edu/~cwunsch/papersonline/wunsch_nature_geoscience_2008.pdf Metadata may be used without restrictions as long as the oai identifier remains attached to it. http://ocean.mit.edu/~cwunsch/papersonline/wunsch_nature_geoscience_2008.pdf text 2008 ftciteseerx 2016-09-18T00:45:27Z The possibility that the oceanic general circulation is undergoing changes as part, or the cause, of major climate shifts is being intensely discussed1, with some published results relying on data from moorings spanning the North Atlantic Ocean2,3. The circulation is, however, extremely noisy. Here, I use existing estimates of the frequency and wavenumber content of geostrophic eddies in the ocean4 to show that variations in ocean-wide integrated transport must appear even in the absence of a true long-term trend. Expected fluctuations exceed ±20 × 10 9 kg s −1 (or ±20 × 10 6 m 3 s −1) and exhibit multi-year timescales. Existing knowledge of the eddy field allows predictions of observed variability and produces lower bounds on the (multi-decadal) timescale required to detect true trends of a large magnitude. Detecting and understanding the effect of Text North Atlantic Unknown |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Unknown |
op_collection_id |
ftciteseerx |
language |
English |
description |
The possibility that the oceanic general circulation is undergoing changes as part, or the cause, of major climate shifts is being intensely discussed1, with some published results relying on data from moorings spanning the North Atlantic Ocean2,3. The circulation is, however, extremely noisy. Here, I use existing estimates of the frequency and wavenumber content of geostrophic eddies in the ocean4 to show that variations in ocean-wide integrated transport must appear even in the absence of a true long-term trend. Expected fluctuations exceed ±20 × 10 9 kg s −1 (or ±20 × 10 6 m 3 s −1) and exhibit multi-year timescales. Existing knowledge of the eddy field allows predictions of observed variability and produces lower bounds on the (multi-decadal) timescale required to detect true trends of a large magnitude. Detecting and understanding the effect of |
author2 |
The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives |
format |
Text |
author |
Carl Wunsch |
spellingShingle |
Carl Wunsch LETTERS Mass and volume transport variability in an eddy-filled ocean |
author_facet |
Carl Wunsch |
author_sort |
Carl Wunsch |
title |
LETTERS Mass and volume transport variability in an eddy-filled ocean |
title_short |
LETTERS Mass and volume transport variability in an eddy-filled ocean |
title_full |
LETTERS Mass and volume transport variability in an eddy-filled ocean |
title_fullStr |
LETTERS Mass and volume transport variability in an eddy-filled ocean |
title_full_unstemmed |
LETTERS Mass and volume transport variability in an eddy-filled ocean |
title_sort |
letters mass and volume transport variability in an eddy-filled ocean |
publishDate |
2008 |
url |
http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.390.1840 http://ocean.mit.edu/~cwunsch/papersonline/wunsch_nature_geoscience_2008.pdf |
genre |
North Atlantic |
genre_facet |
North Atlantic |
op_source |
http://ocean.mit.edu/~cwunsch/papersonline/wunsch_nature_geoscience_2008.pdf |
op_relation |
http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.390.1840 http://ocean.mit.edu/~cwunsch/papersonline/wunsch_nature_geoscience_2008.pdf |
op_rights |
Metadata may be used without restrictions as long as the oai identifier remains attached to it. |
_version_ |
1766130243240722432 |