Assessment of the structure and variability of Weddell Sea water masses in distinct ocean reanalysis products
We assessed and evaluated the performance of five ocean reanalysis products in reproducing essential hydrographic properties and their associated temporal variability for the Weddell Sea, Antarctica. The products used in this assessment were ECMWF ORAS4 (European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Fore...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:ec646c2420e8430cbf8f780048b64c45 2023-05-15T13:51:04+02:00 Assessment of the structure and variability of Weddell Sea water masses in distinct ocean reanalysis products T. S. Dotto R. Kerr M. M. Mata M. Azaneu I. Wainer E. Fahrbach G. Rohardt 2014-06-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.5194/os-10-523-2014 https://doaj.org/article/ec646c2420e8430cbf8f780048b64c45 EN eng Copernicus Publications http://www.ocean-sci.net/10/523/2014/os-10-523-2014.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/1812-0784 https://doaj.org/toc/1812-0792 1812-0784 1812-0792 doi:10.5194/os-10-523-2014 https://doaj.org/article/ec646c2420e8430cbf8f780048b64c45 Ocean Science, Vol 10, Iss 3, Pp 523-546 (2014) Geography. Anthropology. Recreation G Environmental sciences GE1-350 article 2014 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.5194/os-10-523-2014 2022-12-31T08:55:57Z We assessed and evaluated the performance of five ocean reanalysis products in reproducing essential hydrographic properties and their associated temporal variability for the Weddell Sea, Antarctica. The products used in this assessment were ECMWF ORAS4 (European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts Ocean Reanalysis System 4), CFSR (Climate Forecast System Reanalysis), MyOcean UR025.4 (University of Reading), ECCO2 (Estimating the Circulation and Climate of the Ocean, Phase II) and SODA (Simple Ocean Data Assimilation). The present study focuses on the Weddell Sea deep layer, which is composed of the following three main water masses: Warm Deep Water (WDW), Weddell Sea Deep Water (WSDW) and Weddell Sea Bottom Water (WSBW). The MyOcean UR025.4 product provided the most accurate representation of the structure and thermohaline properties of the Weddell Sea water masses when compared with observations. All the ocean reanalysis products analyzed exhibited limited capabilities in representing the surface water masses in the Weddell Sea. The CFSR and ECCO2 products were not able to represent deep water masses with a neutral density ≥ 28.40 kg m −3 , which was considered the WSBW's upper limit throughout the simulation period. The expected WDW warming was only reproduced by the SODA product, whereas the ECCO2 product was able to represent the trends in the WSDW's hydrographic properties. All the assessed ocean reanalyses were able to represent the decrease in the WSBW's density, except the SODA product in the inner Weddell Sea. Improvements in parameterization may have as much impact on the reanalyses assessed as improvements in horizontal resolution primarily because the Southern Ocean lacks in situ data, and the data that are currently available are summer-biased. The choice of the reanalysis product should be made carefully, taking into account the performance, the parameters of interest, and the type of physical processes to be evaluated. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctica Southern Ocean Weddell Sea Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Southern Ocean Weddell Weddell Sea Ocean Science 10 3 523 546 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Geography. Anthropology. Recreation G Environmental sciences GE1-350 |
spellingShingle |
Geography. Anthropology. Recreation G Environmental sciences GE1-350 T. S. Dotto R. Kerr M. M. Mata M. Azaneu I. Wainer E. Fahrbach G. Rohardt Assessment of the structure and variability of Weddell Sea water masses in distinct ocean reanalysis products |
topic_facet |
Geography. Anthropology. Recreation G Environmental sciences GE1-350 |
description |
We assessed and evaluated the performance of five ocean reanalysis products in reproducing essential hydrographic properties and their associated temporal variability for the Weddell Sea, Antarctica. The products used in this assessment were ECMWF ORAS4 (European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts Ocean Reanalysis System 4), CFSR (Climate Forecast System Reanalysis), MyOcean UR025.4 (University of Reading), ECCO2 (Estimating the Circulation and Climate of the Ocean, Phase II) and SODA (Simple Ocean Data Assimilation). The present study focuses on the Weddell Sea deep layer, which is composed of the following three main water masses: Warm Deep Water (WDW), Weddell Sea Deep Water (WSDW) and Weddell Sea Bottom Water (WSBW). The MyOcean UR025.4 product provided the most accurate representation of the structure and thermohaline properties of the Weddell Sea water masses when compared with observations. All the ocean reanalysis products analyzed exhibited limited capabilities in representing the surface water masses in the Weddell Sea. The CFSR and ECCO2 products were not able to represent deep water masses with a neutral density ≥ 28.40 kg m −3 , which was considered the WSBW's upper limit throughout the simulation period. The expected WDW warming was only reproduced by the SODA product, whereas the ECCO2 product was able to represent the trends in the WSDW's hydrographic properties. All the assessed ocean reanalyses were able to represent the decrease in the WSBW's density, except the SODA product in the inner Weddell Sea. Improvements in parameterization may have as much impact on the reanalyses assessed as improvements in horizontal resolution primarily because the Southern Ocean lacks in situ data, and the data that are currently available are summer-biased. The choice of the reanalysis product should be made carefully, taking into account the performance, the parameters of interest, and the type of physical processes to be evaluated. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
T. S. Dotto R. Kerr M. M. Mata M. Azaneu I. Wainer E. Fahrbach G. Rohardt |
author_facet |
T. S. Dotto R. Kerr M. M. Mata M. Azaneu I. Wainer E. Fahrbach G. Rohardt |
author_sort |
T. S. Dotto |
title |
Assessment of the structure and variability of Weddell Sea water masses in distinct ocean reanalysis products |
title_short |
Assessment of the structure and variability of Weddell Sea water masses in distinct ocean reanalysis products |
title_full |
Assessment of the structure and variability of Weddell Sea water masses in distinct ocean reanalysis products |
title_fullStr |
Assessment of the structure and variability of Weddell Sea water masses in distinct ocean reanalysis products |
title_full_unstemmed |
Assessment of the structure and variability of Weddell Sea water masses in distinct ocean reanalysis products |
title_sort |
assessment of the structure and variability of weddell sea water masses in distinct ocean reanalysis products |
publisher |
Copernicus Publications |
publishDate |
2014 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/os-10-523-2014 https://doaj.org/article/ec646c2420e8430cbf8f780048b64c45 |
geographic |
Southern Ocean Weddell Weddell Sea |
geographic_facet |
Southern Ocean Weddell Weddell Sea |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctica Southern Ocean Weddell Sea |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctica Southern Ocean Weddell Sea |
op_source |
Ocean Science, Vol 10, Iss 3, Pp 523-546 (2014) |
op_relation |
http://www.ocean-sci.net/10/523/2014/os-10-523-2014.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/1812-0784 https://doaj.org/toc/1812-0792 1812-0784 1812-0792 doi:10.5194/os-10-523-2014 https://doaj.org/article/ec646c2420e8430cbf8f780048b64c45 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/os-10-523-2014 |
container_title |
Ocean Science |
container_volume |
10 |
container_issue |
3 |
container_start_page |
523 |
op_container_end_page |
546 |
_version_ |
1766254668266078208 |