Atmospheric Rivers Contribute to Summer Surface Buoyancy Forcing in the Atlantic Sector of the Southern Ocean

Abstract Atmospheric rivers (ARs) dominate moisture transport globally; however, it is unknown what impact ARs have on surface ocean buoyancy. This study explores the surface buoyancy gained by ARs using high‐resolution surface observations from a Wave Glider deployed in the subpolar Southern Ocean...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Geophysical Research Letters
Main Authors: Johan M. Edholm, Sebastiaan Swart, Marcel D. Plessis, Sarah‐Anne Nicholson
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2022
Subjects:
atmospheric rivers
Southern Ocean
buoyancy flux
precipitation
air‐sea interactions
Geophysics. Cosmic physics
QC801-809
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1029/2022GL100149
https://doaj.org/article/4882c2762b914a159a133408fa9fcda9
Description
Summary:Abstract Atmospheric rivers (ARs) dominate moisture transport globally; however, it is unknown what impact ARs have on surface ocean buoyancy. This study explores the surface buoyancy gained by ARs using high‐resolution surface observations from a Wave Glider deployed in the subpolar Southern Ocean (54°S, 0°E) between 19 December 2018 and 12 February 2019 (55 days). When ARs combine with storms, the associated precipitation is significantly enhanced (189%). In addition, the daily accumulation of AR‐induced precipitation provides a buoyancy gain to the surface ocean equivalent to warming by surface heat fluxes. Over the 55 days, ARs accounted for 47% of the total precipitation equating to 10% of the summer surface ocean buoyancy gain. This study indicates that ARs play an important role in the summer precipitation over the subpolar Southern Ocean and that they can alter the upper‐ocean buoyancy budget from synoptic to seasonal timescales.

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