The sensitivity of Southeast Pacific heat distribution to local and remote changes in ocean properties
The Southern Ocean features regionally varying ventilation pathways that transport heat and carbon from the surface ocean to the interior thermocline on timescales of decades to centuries, but the factors that control the distribution of heat along these pathways are not well understood. In this stu...
Published in: | Journal of Physical Oceanography |
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Language: | English |
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American Meteorological Society
2020
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Online Access: | http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/526768/ https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/526768/1/__filestore.soton.ac.uk_users_elc1_mydesktop_OA_Downloads_Jones_et_al-2019-Journal_of_Geophysical_Research__Oceans.pdf https://journals.ametsoc.org/jpo/article/50/3/773/345511/The-Sensitivity-of-Southeast-Pacific-Heat |
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ftnerc:oai:nora.nerc.ac.uk:526768 2023-05-15T13:41:44+02:00 The sensitivity of Southeast Pacific heat distribution to local and remote changes in ocean properties Jones, Daniel C. Boland, Emma Meijers, Andrew J.S. Forget, Gael Josey, Simon Sallee, Jean-Baptiste Shuckburgh, Emily 2020-03-09 text http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/526768/ https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/526768/1/__filestore.soton.ac.uk_users_elc1_mydesktop_OA_Downloads_Jones_et_al-2019-Journal_of_Geophysical_Research__Oceans.pdf https://journals.ametsoc.org/jpo/article/50/3/773/345511/The-Sensitivity-of-Southeast-Pacific-Heat en eng American Meteorological Society https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/526768/1/__filestore.soton.ac.uk_users_elc1_mydesktop_OA_Downloads_Jones_et_al-2019-Journal_of_Geophysical_Research__Oceans.pdf Jones, Daniel C. orcid:0000-0002-8701-4506 Boland, Emma orcid:0000-0003-2430-7763 Meijers, Andrew J.S. orcid:0000-0003-3876-7736 Forget, Gael; Josey, Simon orcid:0000-0002-1683-8831 Sallee, Jean-Baptiste; Shuckburgh, Emily. 2020 The sensitivity of Southeast Pacific heat distribution to local and remote changes in ocean properties. Journal of Physical Oceanography, 50 (3). 773-790. https://doi.org/10.1175/JPO-D-19-0155.1 <https://doi.org/10.1175/JPO-D-19-0155.1> Publication - Article PeerReviewed 2020 ftnerc https://doi.org/10.1175/JPO-D-19-0155.1 2023-02-04T19:50:09Z The Southern Ocean features regionally varying ventilation pathways that transport heat and carbon from the surface ocean to the interior thermocline on timescales of decades to centuries, but the factors that control the distribution of heat along these pathways are not well understood. In this study, we use a global ocean state estimate (ECCOv4) to (1) define the recently ventilated interior Pacific (RVP) using numerical passive tracer experiments over a 10‐year period and (2) use an adjoint approach to calculate the sensitivities of the RVP heat content (RVPh) to changes in net heat flux and wind stress. We find that RVPh is most sensitive to local heat flux and wind stress anomalies north of the sea surface height contours that delineate the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, with especially high sensitivities over the South Pacific Gyre. Surprisingly, RVPh is not especially sensitive to changes at higher latitudes. We perform a set of step response experiments over the South Pacific Gyre, the subduction region, and the high‐latitude Southern Ocean. In consistency with the adjoint sensitivity fields, RVPh is most sensitive to wind stress curl over the subtropical gyre, which alter isopycnal heave, and it is only weakly sensitive to changes at higher latitudes. Our results suggest that despite the localized nature of mode water subduction hot spots, changes in basin‐scale pressure gradients are an important controlling factor on RVPh. Because basin‐scale wind stress is expected to change in the coming decades to centuries, our results may have implications for climate, via the atmosphere/ocean partitioning of heat. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Southern Ocean Natural Environment Research Council: NERC Open Research Archive Antarctic Southern Ocean The Antarctic Pacific Curl ENVELOPE(-63.071,-63.071,-70.797,-70.797) Journal of Physical Oceanography 50 3 773 790 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Natural Environment Research Council: NERC Open Research Archive |
op_collection_id |
ftnerc |
language |
English |
description |
The Southern Ocean features regionally varying ventilation pathways that transport heat and carbon from the surface ocean to the interior thermocline on timescales of decades to centuries, but the factors that control the distribution of heat along these pathways are not well understood. In this study, we use a global ocean state estimate (ECCOv4) to (1) define the recently ventilated interior Pacific (RVP) using numerical passive tracer experiments over a 10‐year period and (2) use an adjoint approach to calculate the sensitivities of the RVP heat content (RVPh) to changes in net heat flux and wind stress. We find that RVPh is most sensitive to local heat flux and wind stress anomalies north of the sea surface height contours that delineate the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, with especially high sensitivities over the South Pacific Gyre. Surprisingly, RVPh is not especially sensitive to changes at higher latitudes. We perform a set of step response experiments over the South Pacific Gyre, the subduction region, and the high‐latitude Southern Ocean. In consistency with the adjoint sensitivity fields, RVPh is most sensitive to wind stress curl over the subtropical gyre, which alter isopycnal heave, and it is only weakly sensitive to changes at higher latitudes. Our results suggest that despite the localized nature of mode water subduction hot spots, changes in basin‐scale pressure gradients are an important controlling factor on RVPh. Because basin‐scale wind stress is expected to change in the coming decades to centuries, our results may have implications for climate, via the atmosphere/ocean partitioning of heat. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Jones, Daniel C. Boland, Emma Meijers, Andrew J.S. Forget, Gael Josey, Simon Sallee, Jean-Baptiste Shuckburgh, Emily |
spellingShingle |
Jones, Daniel C. Boland, Emma Meijers, Andrew J.S. Forget, Gael Josey, Simon Sallee, Jean-Baptiste Shuckburgh, Emily The sensitivity of Southeast Pacific heat distribution to local and remote changes in ocean properties |
author_facet |
Jones, Daniel C. Boland, Emma Meijers, Andrew J.S. Forget, Gael Josey, Simon Sallee, Jean-Baptiste Shuckburgh, Emily |
author_sort |
Jones, Daniel C. |
title |
The sensitivity of Southeast Pacific heat distribution to local and remote changes in ocean properties |
title_short |
The sensitivity of Southeast Pacific heat distribution to local and remote changes in ocean properties |
title_full |
The sensitivity of Southeast Pacific heat distribution to local and remote changes in ocean properties |
title_fullStr |
The sensitivity of Southeast Pacific heat distribution to local and remote changes in ocean properties |
title_full_unstemmed |
The sensitivity of Southeast Pacific heat distribution to local and remote changes in ocean properties |
title_sort |
sensitivity of southeast pacific heat distribution to local and remote changes in ocean properties |
publisher |
American Meteorological Society |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/526768/ https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/526768/1/__filestore.soton.ac.uk_users_elc1_mydesktop_OA_Downloads_Jones_et_al-2019-Journal_of_Geophysical_Research__Oceans.pdf https://journals.ametsoc.org/jpo/article/50/3/773/345511/The-Sensitivity-of-Southeast-Pacific-Heat |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-63.071,-63.071,-70.797,-70.797) |
geographic |
Antarctic Southern Ocean The Antarctic Pacific Curl |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic Southern Ocean The Antarctic Pacific Curl |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Southern Ocean |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Southern Ocean |
op_relation |
https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/526768/1/__filestore.soton.ac.uk_users_elc1_mydesktop_OA_Downloads_Jones_et_al-2019-Journal_of_Geophysical_Research__Oceans.pdf Jones, Daniel C. orcid:0000-0002-8701-4506 Boland, Emma orcid:0000-0003-2430-7763 Meijers, Andrew J.S. orcid:0000-0003-3876-7736 Forget, Gael; Josey, Simon orcid:0000-0002-1683-8831 Sallee, Jean-Baptiste; Shuckburgh, Emily. 2020 The sensitivity of Southeast Pacific heat distribution to local and remote changes in ocean properties. Journal of Physical Oceanography, 50 (3). 773-790. https://doi.org/10.1175/JPO-D-19-0155.1 <https://doi.org/10.1175/JPO-D-19-0155.1> |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1175/JPO-D-19-0155.1 |
container_title |
Journal of Physical Oceanography |
container_volume |
50 |
container_issue |
3 |
container_start_page |
773 |
op_container_end_page |
790 |
_version_ |
1766156577655488512 |