Widespread global disparities between modelled and observed mid-depth ocean currents
Abstract The mid-depth ocean circulation is critically linked to actual changes in the long-term global climate system. However, in the past few decades, predictions based on ocean circulation models highlight the lack of data, knowledge, and long-term implications in climate change assessment. Here...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:e51e025708d540e38f374b2a9b3e5589 2023-06-11T04:06:55+02:00 Widespread global disparities between modelled and observed mid-depth ocean currents Fenzhen Su Rong Fan Fengqin Yan Michael Meadows Vincent Lyne Po Hu Xiangzhou Song Tianyu Zhang Zenghong Liu Chenghu Zhou Tao Pei Xiaomei Yang Yunyan Du Zexun Wei Fan Wang Yiquan Qi Fei Chai 2023-04-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-37841-x https://doaj.org/article/e51e025708d540e38f374b2a9b3e5589 EN eng Nature Portfolio https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-37841-x https://doaj.org/toc/2041-1723 doi:10.1038/s41467-023-37841-x 2041-1723 https://doaj.org/article/e51e025708d540e38f374b2a9b3e5589 Nature Communications, Vol 14, Iss 1, Pp 1-9 (2023) Science Q article 2023 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-37841-x 2023-04-23T00:36:37Z Abstract The mid-depth ocean circulation is critically linked to actual changes in the long-term global climate system. However, in the past few decades, predictions based on ocean circulation models highlight the lack of data, knowledge, and long-term implications in climate change assessment. Here, using 842,421 observations produced by Argo floats from 2001-2020, and Lagrangian simulations, we show that only 3.8% of the mid-depth oceans, including part of the equatorial Pacific Ocean and the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, can be regarded as accurately modelled, while other regions exhibit significant underestimations in mean current velocity. Knowledge of ocean circulation is generally more complete in the low-latitude oceans but is especially poor in high latitude regions. Accordingly, we propose improvements in forecasting, model representation of stochasticity, and enhancement of observations of ocean currents. The study demonstrates that knowledge and model representations of global circulation are substantially compromised by inaccuracies of significant magnitude and direction, with important implications for modelled predictions of currents, temperature, carbon dioxide sequestration, and sea-level rise trends. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Antarctic Pacific The Antarctic Nature Communications 14 1 |
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Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
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ftdoajarticles |
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English |
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Science Q |
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Science Q Fenzhen Su Rong Fan Fengqin Yan Michael Meadows Vincent Lyne Po Hu Xiangzhou Song Tianyu Zhang Zenghong Liu Chenghu Zhou Tao Pei Xiaomei Yang Yunyan Du Zexun Wei Fan Wang Yiquan Qi Fei Chai Widespread global disparities between modelled and observed mid-depth ocean currents |
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Science Q |
description |
Abstract The mid-depth ocean circulation is critically linked to actual changes in the long-term global climate system. However, in the past few decades, predictions based on ocean circulation models highlight the lack of data, knowledge, and long-term implications in climate change assessment. Here, using 842,421 observations produced by Argo floats from 2001-2020, and Lagrangian simulations, we show that only 3.8% of the mid-depth oceans, including part of the equatorial Pacific Ocean and the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, can be regarded as accurately modelled, while other regions exhibit significant underestimations in mean current velocity. Knowledge of ocean circulation is generally more complete in the low-latitude oceans but is especially poor in high latitude regions. Accordingly, we propose improvements in forecasting, model representation of stochasticity, and enhancement of observations of ocean currents. The study demonstrates that knowledge and model representations of global circulation are substantially compromised by inaccuracies of significant magnitude and direction, with important implications for modelled predictions of currents, temperature, carbon dioxide sequestration, and sea-level rise trends. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Fenzhen Su Rong Fan Fengqin Yan Michael Meadows Vincent Lyne Po Hu Xiangzhou Song Tianyu Zhang Zenghong Liu Chenghu Zhou Tao Pei Xiaomei Yang Yunyan Du Zexun Wei Fan Wang Yiquan Qi Fei Chai |
author_facet |
Fenzhen Su Rong Fan Fengqin Yan Michael Meadows Vincent Lyne Po Hu Xiangzhou Song Tianyu Zhang Zenghong Liu Chenghu Zhou Tao Pei Xiaomei Yang Yunyan Du Zexun Wei Fan Wang Yiquan Qi Fei Chai |
author_sort |
Fenzhen Su |
title |
Widespread global disparities between modelled and observed mid-depth ocean currents |
title_short |
Widespread global disparities between modelled and observed mid-depth ocean currents |
title_full |
Widespread global disparities between modelled and observed mid-depth ocean currents |
title_fullStr |
Widespread global disparities between modelled and observed mid-depth ocean currents |
title_full_unstemmed |
Widespread global disparities between modelled and observed mid-depth ocean currents |
title_sort |
widespread global disparities between modelled and observed mid-depth ocean currents |
publisher |
Nature Portfolio |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-37841-x https://doaj.org/article/e51e025708d540e38f374b2a9b3e5589 |
geographic |
Antarctic Pacific The Antarctic |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic Pacific The Antarctic |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic |
op_source |
Nature Communications, Vol 14, Iss 1, Pp 1-9 (2023) |
op_relation |
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-37841-x https://doaj.org/toc/2041-1723 doi:10.1038/s41467-023-37841-x 2041-1723 https://doaj.org/article/e51e025708d540e38f374b2a9b3e5589 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-37841-x |
container_title |
Nature Communications |
container_volume |
14 |
container_issue |
1 |
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1768379153492475904 |