The Force Balance of the Southern Ocean Meridional Overturning Circulation
The Southern Ocean (SO) limb of the meridional overturning circulation (MOC) is characterized by three vertically stacked cells, each with a transport of about 10 Sv (Sv ≡ 10[superscript 6] m[superscript 3] s[superscript −1]). The buoyancy transport in the SO is dominated by the upper and middle MOC...
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ftmit:oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/85074 2023-06-11T04:05:11+02:00 The Force Balance of the Southern Ocean Meridional Overturning Circulation Mazloff, Matthew R. Ferrari, Raffaele Schneider, Tapio Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences Ferrari, Raffaele 2013-02 application/pdf http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/85074 en_US eng American Meteorological Society http://dx.doi.org/10.1175/jpo-d-12-069.1 Journal of Physical Oceanography 0022-3670 1520-0485 http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/85074 Mazloff, Matthew R., Raffaele Ferrari, and Tapio Schneider. “The Force Balance of the Southern Ocean Meridional Overturning Circulation.” J. Phys. Oceanogr. 43, no. 6 (June 2013): 1193–1208. © 2013 American Meteorological Society orcid:0000-0002-3736-1956 Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use. American Meteorological Society Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 2013 ftmit https://doi.org/10.1175/jpo-d-12-069.1 2023-05-29T08:46:36Z The Southern Ocean (SO) limb of the meridional overturning circulation (MOC) is characterized by three vertically stacked cells, each with a transport of about 10 Sv (Sv ≡ 10[superscript 6] m[superscript 3] s[superscript −1]). The buoyancy transport in the SO is dominated by the upper and middle MOC cells, with the middle cell accounting for most of the buoyancy transport across the Antarctic Circumpolar Current. A Southern Ocean state estimate for the years 2005 and 2006 with 1/6° resolution is used to determine the forces balancing this MOC. Diagnosing the zonal momentum budget in density space allows an exact determination of the adiabatic and diapycnal components balancing the thickness-weighted (residual) meridional transport. It is found that, to lowest order, the transport consists of an eddy component, a directly wind-driven component, and a component in balance with mean pressure gradients. Nonvanishing time-mean pressure gradients arise because isopycnal layers intersect topography or the surface in a circumpolar integral, leading to a largely geostrophic MOC even in the latitude band of Drake Passage. It is the geostrophic water mass transport in the surface layer where isopycnals outcrop that accomplishes the poleward buoyancy transport. National Science Foundation (U.S.) (Grant OCE-1233832) National Science Foundation (U.S.) (Grant OCE-1234473) National Science Foundation (U.S.) (Grant OPP-0961218) National Science Foundation (U.S.) (Grant MCA06N007) Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Drake Passage Southern Ocean DSpace@MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) Antarctic Southern Ocean The Antarctic Drake Passage Journal of Physical Oceanography 43 6 1193 1208 |
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Open Polar |
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DSpace@MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) |
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ftmit |
language |
English |
description |
The Southern Ocean (SO) limb of the meridional overturning circulation (MOC) is characterized by three vertically stacked cells, each with a transport of about 10 Sv (Sv ≡ 10[superscript 6] m[superscript 3] s[superscript −1]). The buoyancy transport in the SO is dominated by the upper and middle MOC cells, with the middle cell accounting for most of the buoyancy transport across the Antarctic Circumpolar Current. A Southern Ocean state estimate for the years 2005 and 2006 with 1/6° resolution is used to determine the forces balancing this MOC. Diagnosing the zonal momentum budget in density space allows an exact determination of the adiabatic and diapycnal components balancing the thickness-weighted (residual) meridional transport. It is found that, to lowest order, the transport consists of an eddy component, a directly wind-driven component, and a component in balance with mean pressure gradients. Nonvanishing time-mean pressure gradients arise because isopycnal layers intersect topography or the surface in a circumpolar integral, leading to a largely geostrophic MOC even in the latitude band of Drake Passage. It is the geostrophic water mass transport in the surface layer where isopycnals outcrop that accomplishes the poleward buoyancy transport. National Science Foundation (U.S.) (Grant OCE-1233832) National Science Foundation (U.S.) (Grant OCE-1234473) National Science Foundation (U.S.) (Grant OPP-0961218) National Science Foundation (U.S.) (Grant MCA06N007) |
author2 |
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences Ferrari, Raffaele |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Mazloff, Matthew R. Ferrari, Raffaele Schneider, Tapio |
spellingShingle |
Mazloff, Matthew R. Ferrari, Raffaele Schneider, Tapio The Force Balance of the Southern Ocean Meridional Overturning Circulation |
author_facet |
Mazloff, Matthew R. Ferrari, Raffaele Schneider, Tapio |
author_sort |
Mazloff, Matthew R. |
title |
The Force Balance of the Southern Ocean Meridional Overturning Circulation |
title_short |
The Force Balance of the Southern Ocean Meridional Overturning Circulation |
title_full |
The Force Balance of the Southern Ocean Meridional Overturning Circulation |
title_fullStr |
The Force Balance of the Southern Ocean Meridional Overturning Circulation |
title_full_unstemmed |
The Force Balance of the Southern Ocean Meridional Overturning Circulation |
title_sort |
force balance of the southern ocean meridional overturning circulation |
publisher |
American Meteorological Society |
publishDate |
2013 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/85074 |
geographic |
Antarctic Southern Ocean The Antarctic Drake Passage |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic Southern Ocean The Antarctic Drake Passage |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Drake Passage Southern Ocean |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Drake Passage Southern Ocean |
op_source |
American Meteorological Society |
op_relation |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1175/jpo-d-12-069.1 Journal of Physical Oceanography 0022-3670 1520-0485 http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/85074 Mazloff, Matthew R., Raffaele Ferrari, and Tapio Schneider. “The Force Balance of the Southern Ocean Meridional Overturning Circulation.” J. Phys. Oceanogr. 43, no. 6 (June 2013): 1193–1208. © 2013 American Meteorological Society orcid:0000-0002-3736-1956 |
op_rights |
Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use. |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1175/jpo-d-12-069.1 |
container_title |
Journal of Physical Oceanography |
container_volume |
43 |
container_issue |
6 |
container_start_page |
1193 |
op_container_end_page |
1208 |
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1768372703223349248 |