Roles of the ocean mesoscale in the horizontal supply of mass, heat, carbon and nutrients to the Northern Hemisphere subtropical gyres
Horizontal transport at the boundaries of the subtropical gyres plays a crucial role in providing the nutrients that fuel gyre primary productivity, the heat that helps restratify the surface mixed layer, and the dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) that influences air‐sea carbon exchange. Mesoscale edd...
Published in: | Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
AGU (American Geophysical Union)
2018
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/44139/ https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/44139/1/Yamamoto_et_al-2018-Journal_of_Geophysical_Research__Oceans.pdf https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/44139/13/Yamamoto_et_al-2018.pdf https://doi.org/10.1029/2018JC013969 |
id |
ftoceanrep:oai:oceanrep.geomar.de:44139 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
ftoceanrep:oai:oceanrep.geomar.de:44139 2023-05-15T17:35:04+02:00 Roles of the ocean mesoscale in the horizontal supply of mass, heat, carbon and nutrients to the Northern Hemisphere subtropical gyres Yamamoto, Ayako Palter, Jaime B. Dufour, Carolina O. Griffies, Stephen M. Bianchi, Daniele Claret, Mariona Dunne, John P. Frenger, Ivy Galbraith, Eric D. 2018-10 text https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/44139/ https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/44139/1/Yamamoto_et_al-2018-Journal_of_Geophysical_Research__Oceans.pdf https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/44139/13/Yamamoto_et_al-2018.pdf https://doi.org/10.1029/2018JC013969 en eng AGU (American Geophysical Union) Wiley https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/44139/1/Yamamoto_et_al-2018-Journal_of_Geophysical_Research__Oceans.pdf https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/44139/13/Yamamoto_et_al-2018.pdf Yamamoto, A., Palter, J. B., Dufour, C. O., Griffies, S. M., Bianchi, D., Claret, M., Dunne, J. P., Frenger, I. and Galbraith, E. D. (2018) Roles of the ocean mesoscale in the horizontal supply of mass, heat, carbon and nutrients to the Northern Hemisphere subtropical gyres. Open Access Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, 123 (10). pp. 7016-7036. DOI 10.1029/2018JC013969 <https://doi.org/10.1029/2018JC013969>. doi:10.1029/2018JC013969 cc_by_3.0 info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Article PeerReviewed 2018 ftoceanrep https://doi.org/10.1029/2018JC013969 2023-04-07T15:41:01Z Horizontal transport at the boundaries of the subtropical gyres plays a crucial role in providing the nutrients that fuel gyre primary productivity, the heat that helps restratify the surface mixed layer, and the dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) that influences air‐sea carbon exchange. Mesoscale eddies may be an important component of these horizontal transports; however, previous studies have not quantified the horizontal tracer transport due to eddies across the subtropical gyre boundaries. Here we assess the physical mechanisms that control the horizontal transport of mass, heat, nutrients and carbon across the North Pacific and North Atlantic subtropical gyre boundaries using the eddy‐rich ocean component of a climate model (GFDL's CM2.6) coupled to a simple biogeochemical model (mini‐BLING). Our results suggest that horizontal transport across the gyre boundaries supplies a substantial amount of mass and tracers to the ventilated layer of both Northern Hemisphere subtropical gyres, with the Kuroshio and Gulf Stream acting as main exchange gateways. Mass, heat, and DIC supply is principally driven by the time‐mean circulation, whereas nutrient transport differs markedly from the other tracers, as nutrients are mainly supplied to both subtropical gyres by down‐gradient eddy mixing across gyre boundaries. A budget analysis further reveals that the horizontal nutrient transport, combining the roles of both mean and eddy components, is responsible for more than three quarters of the total nutrient supply into the subtropical gyres, surpassing a recent estimate based on a coarse resolution model and thus further highlighting the importance of horizontal nutrient transport. Article in Journal/Newspaper North Atlantic OceanRep (GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre für Ocean Research Kiel) Pacific Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans 123 10 7016 7036 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
OceanRep (GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre für Ocean Research Kiel) |
op_collection_id |
ftoceanrep |
language |
English |
description |
Horizontal transport at the boundaries of the subtropical gyres plays a crucial role in providing the nutrients that fuel gyre primary productivity, the heat that helps restratify the surface mixed layer, and the dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) that influences air‐sea carbon exchange. Mesoscale eddies may be an important component of these horizontal transports; however, previous studies have not quantified the horizontal tracer transport due to eddies across the subtropical gyre boundaries. Here we assess the physical mechanisms that control the horizontal transport of mass, heat, nutrients and carbon across the North Pacific and North Atlantic subtropical gyre boundaries using the eddy‐rich ocean component of a climate model (GFDL's CM2.6) coupled to a simple biogeochemical model (mini‐BLING). Our results suggest that horizontal transport across the gyre boundaries supplies a substantial amount of mass and tracers to the ventilated layer of both Northern Hemisphere subtropical gyres, with the Kuroshio and Gulf Stream acting as main exchange gateways. Mass, heat, and DIC supply is principally driven by the time‐mean circulation, whereas nutrient transport differs markedly from the other tracers, as nutrients are mainly supplied to both subtropical gyres by down‐gradient eddy mixing across gyre boundaries. A budget analysis further reveals that the horizontal nutrient transport, combining the roles of both mean and eddy components, is responsible for more than three quarters of the total nutrient supply into the subtropical gyres, surpassing a recent estimate based on a coarse resolution model and thus further highlighting the importance of horizontal nutrient transport. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Yamamoto, Ayako Palter, Jaime B. Dufour, Carolina O. Griffies, Stephen M. Bianchi, Daniele Claret, Mariona Dunne, John P. Frenger, Ivy Galbraith, Eric D. |
spellingShingle |
Yamamoto, Ayako Palter, Jaime B. Dufour, Carolina O. Griffies, Stephen M. Bianchi, Daniele Claret, Mariona Dunne, John P. Frenger, Ivy Galbraith, Eric D. Roles of the ocean mesoscale in the horizontal supply of mass, heat, carbon and nutrients to the Northern Hemisphere subtropical gyres |
author_facet |
Yamamoto, Ayako Palter, Jaime B. Dufour, Carolina O. Griffies, Stephen M. Bianchi, Daniele Claret, Mariona Dunne, John P. Frenger, Ivy Galbraith, Eric D. |
author_sort |
Yamamoto, Ayako |
title |
Roles of the ocean mesoscale in the horizontal supply of mass, heat, carbon and nutrients to the Northern Hemisphere subtropical gyres |
title_short |
Roles of the ocean mesoscale in the horizontal supply of mass, heat, carbon and nutrients to the Northern Hemisphere subtropical gyres |
title_full |
Roles of the ocean mesoscale in the horizontal supply of mass, heat, carbon and nutrients to the Northern Hemisphere subtropical gyres |
title_fullStr |
Roles of the ocean mesoscale in the horizontal supply of mass, heat, carbon and nutrients to the Northern Hemisphere subtropical gyres |
title_full_unstemmed |
Roles of the ocean mesoscale in the horizontal supply of mass, heat, carbon and nutrients to the Northern Hemisphere subtropical gyres |
title_sort |
roles of the ocean mesoscale in the horizontal supply of mass, heat, carbon and nutrients to the northern hemisphere subtropical gyres |
publisher |
AGU (American Geophysical Union) |
publishDate |
2018 |
url |
https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/44139/ https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/44139/1/Yamamoto_et_al-2018-Journal_of_Geophysical_Research__Oceans.pdf https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/44139/13/Yamamoto_et_al-2018.pdf https://doi.org/10.1029/2018JC013969 |
geographic |
Pacific |
geographic_facet |
Pacific |
genre |
North Atlantic |
genre_facet |
North Atlantic |
op_relation |
https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/44139/1/Yamamoto_et_al-2018-Journal_of_Geophysical_Research__Oceans.pdf https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/44139/13/Yamamoto_et_al-2018.pdf Yamamoto, A., Palter, J. B., Dufour, C. O., Griffies, S. M., Bianchi, D., Claret, M., Dunne, J. P., Frenger, I. and Galbraith, E. D. (2018) Roles of the ocean mesoscale in the horizontal supply of mass, heat, carbon and nutrients to the Northern Hemisphere subtropical gyres. Open Access Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, 123 (10). pp. 7016-7036. DOI 10.1029/2018JC013969 <https://doi.org/10.1029/2018JC013969>. doi:10.1029/2018JC013969 |
op_rights |
cc_by_3.0 info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1029/2018JC013969 |
container_title |
Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans |
container_volume |
123 |
container_issue |
10 |
container_start_page |
7016 |
op_container_end_page |
7036 |
_version_ |
1766134099345408000 |