Constraining Southern Ocean Air-Sea-Ice Fluxes Through Enhanced Observations ...

• Main Authors: Swart, Sebastiaan, Gille, Sarah T., Delille, Bruno, Josey, Simon, Mazloff, Matthew, Newman, Louise, Thompson, Andrew F., Thomson, Jim, Ward, Brian, du Plessis, Marcel D., Kent, Elizabeth C., Girton, James, Gregor, Luke, Heil, Petra, Hyder, Patrick, Pezzi, Luciano Ponzi, de Souza, Ronald Buss, Tamsitt, Veronica, Weller, Robert A., Zappa, Christopher J.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: ETH Zurich 2019
• Subjects: Air-sea/Air-sea-ice fluxes; Southern Ocean; Ocean-atmosphere interaction; Climate; Ocean-ice interaction; Sea ice
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.3929/ethz-b-000357867; http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11850/357867

Air-sea and air-sea-ice fluxes in the Southern Ocean play a critical role in global climate through their impact on the overturning circulation and oceanic heat and carbon uptake. The challenging conditions in the Southern Ocean have led to sparse spatial and temporal coverage of observations. This has led to a “knowledge gap” that increases uncertainty in atmosphere and ocean dynamics and boundary-layer thermodynamic processes, impeding improvements in weather and climate models. Improvements will require both process-based research to understand the mechanisms governing air-sea exchange and a significant expansion of the observing system. This will improve flux parameterizations and reduce uncertainty associated with bulk formulae and satellite observations. Improved estimates spanning the full Southern Ocean will need to take advantage of ships, surface moorings, and the growing capabilities of autonomous platforms with robust and miniaturized sensors. A key challenge is to identify observing system ... : Frontiers in Marine Science, 6 ...