Halosteric Sea Level Changes during the Argo Era
In addition to the sea level (SL) change, or anomaly (SLA), due to ocean thermal expansion, total steric SLA (SSLA, all change to the existing volume of ocean water) is also affected by ocean salinity variation. Less attention, however, has been paid to this halosteric effect, due to the global domi...
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ftmdpi:oai:mdpi.com:/2073-4441/9/7/484/ 2023-08-20T04:08:29+02:00 Halosteric Sea Level Changes during the Argo Era Gongjie Wang Lijing Cheng Timothy Boyer Chongyin Li agris 2017-07-01 application/pdf https://doi.org/10.3390/w9070484 EN eng Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute Oceans and Coastal Zones https://dx.doi.org/10.3390/w9070484 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Water; Volume 9; Issue 7; Pages: 484 sea level halosteric Argo thermosteric salinity climate change Text 2017 ftmdpi https://doi.org/10.3390/w9070484 2023-07-31T21:09:24Z In addition to the sea level (SL) change, or anomaly (SLA), due to ocean thermal expansion, total steric SLA (SSLA, all change to the existing volume of ocean water) is also affected by ocean salinity variation. Less attention, however, has been paid to this halosteric effect, due to the global dominance of thermosteric SLA (TSLA) and the scarcity of salinity measurements. Here, we analyze halosteric SLA (HSLA) since 2005, when Argo data reached near-global ocean coverage, based on several observational products. We find that, on global average, the halosteric component contributes negatively by ~5.8% to SSLA during the 2005–2015 period, and reveals a modest correlation (~0.38) with ENSO on the inter-annual scale. Vertically, the global ocean was saltier in the upper 200-m and fresher within 200 to 600-m since 2005, while the change below 600-m was not significantly different from zero. The upper 200-m changes dominate the HSLA, suggesting the importance of surface fresh water flux forcing; meanwhile, the ocean dynamic might also play a role. The inconsistent pattern of salinity trend between upper 200-m and 200 to 600-m implies the importance of ocean dynamics. Our analysis suggests that local salinity changes cannot be neglected, and can even play a more important role in SSLA than the thermosteric component in some regions, such as the Tropical/North Pacific Ocean, the Southern Ocean, and the North Atlantic Ocean. This study highlights the need to better reconstruct historical salinity datasets, to better monitor the past SSLA changes. Also, it is important to understand the mechanisms (ocean dynamics vs. surface flux) related to regional ocean salinity changes. Text North Atlantic Southern Ocean MDPI Open Access Publishing Pacific Southern Ocean Water 9 7 484 |
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Open Polar |
collection |
MDPI Open Access Publishing |
op_collection_id |
ftmdpi |
language |
English |
topic |
sea level halosteric Argo thermosteric salinity climate change |
spellingShingle |
sea level halosteric Argo thermosteric salinity climate change Gongjie Wang Lijing Cheng Timothy Boyer Chongyin Li Halosteric Sea Level Changes during the Argo Era |
topic_facet |
sea level halosteric Argo thermosteric salinity climate change |
description |
In addition to the sea level (SL) change, or anomaly (SLA), due to ocean thermal expansion, total steric SLA (SSLA, all change to the existing volume of ocean water) is also affected by ocean salinity variation. Less attention, however, has been paid to this halosteric effect, due to the global dominance of thermosteric SLA (TSLA) and the scarcity of salinity measurements. Here, we analyze halosteric SLA (HSLA) since 2005, when Argo data reached near-global ocean coverage, based on several observational products. We find that, on global average, the halosteric component contributes negatively by ~5.8% to SSLA during the 2005–2015 period, and reveals a modest correlation (~0.38) with ENSO on the inter-annual scale. Vertically, the global ocean was saltier in the upper 200-m and fresher within 200 to 600-m since 2005, while the change below 600-m was not significantly different from zero. The upper 200-m changes dominate the HSLA, suggesting the importance of surface fresh water flux forcing; meanwhile, the ocean dynamic might also play a role. The inconsistent pattern of salinity trend between upper 200-m and 200 to 600-m implies the importance of ocean dynamics. Our analysis suggests that local salinity changes cannot be neglected, and can even play a more important role in SSLA than the thermosteric component in some regions, such as the Tropical/North Pacific Ocean, the Southern Ocean, and the North Atlantic Ocean. This study highlights the need to better reconstruct historical salinity datasets, to better monitor the past SSLA changes. Also, it is important to understand the mechanisms (ocean dynamics vs. surface flux) related to regional ocean salinity changes. |
format |
Text |
author |
Gongjie Wang Lijing Cheng Timothy Boyer Chongyin Li |
author_facet |
Gongjie Wang Lijing Cheng Timothy Boyer Chongyin Li |
author_sort |
Gongjie Wang |
title |
Halosteric Sea Level Changes during the Argo Era |
title_short |
Halosteric Sea Level Changes during the Argo Era |
title_full |
Halosteric Sea Level Changes during the Argo Era |
title_fullStr |
Halosteric Sea Level Changes during the Argo Era |
title_full_unstemmed |
Halosteric Sea Level Changes during the Argo Era |
title_sort |
halosteric sea level changes during the argo era |
publisher |
Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute |
publishDate |
2017 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.3390/w9070484 |
op_coverage |
agris |
geographic |
Pacific Southern Ocean |
geographic_facet |
Pacific Southern Ocean |
genre |
North Atlantic Southern Ocean |
genre_facet |
North Atlantic Southern Ocean |
op_source |
Water; Volume 9; Issue 7; Pages: 484 |
op_relation |
Oceans and Coastal Zones https://dx.doi.org/10.3390/w9070484 |
op_rights |
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3390/w9070484 |
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Water |
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9 |
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7 |
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484 |
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