Climatic variations of the work done by the wind on the ocean's general circulation
The Southern Hemisphere westerlies exert an important influence on global climate, supplying nearly half of the mechanical energy for the deep overturning circulation. In a coarse-resolution ocean model, northward-shifted winds increase the work done on surface geostrophic flows due to enhanced velo...
Published in: | Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans |
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ftsouthampton:oai:eprints.soton.ac.uk:344897 2023-08-27T04:05:42+02:00 Climatic variations of the work done by the wind on the ocean's general circulation Lauderdale, J.M. Naveira Garabato, A.C. Oliver, K.I.C. Thomas, L.N. 2012 https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/344897/ unknown Lauderdale, J.M., Naveira Garabato, A.C., Oliver, K.I.C. and Thomas, L.N. (2012) Climatic variations of the work done by the wind on the ocean's general circulation. Journal of Geophysical Research, 117 (C9), C09017. (doi:10.1029/2012JC008135 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2012JC008135>). Article PeerReviewed 2012 ftsouthampton https://doi.org/10.1029/2012JC008135 2023-08-03T22:20:07Z The Southern Hemisphere westerlies exert an important influence on global climate, supplying nearly half of the mechanical energy for the deep overturning circulation. In a coarse-resolution ocean model, northward-shifted winds increase the work done on surface geostrophic flows due to enhanced velocities associated with the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC). Alternatively, energy supply is diminished by southward-shifted winds, primarily through reduced correspondence between wind stress and surface velocity in the Southern Ocean due to dynamical and topographic constraints on the ACC. When combined perturbations in latitude and magnitude of the westerlies are applied, these results are reconciled with estimates of recent trends in wind work and volume transport in the Southern Ocean from observations and coupled climate models. This indicates that the strength of the winds exerts a dominant effect that masks the opposing consequences of latitudinal migration. In particular, transport through Drake Passage shows a clear relationship with wind work and velocity when the winds move poleward leading to a reduction in all three quantities. However, under equatorward-shifted winds, stronger polar easterlies adjacent to the Antarctic continent establishes a recirculation gyre leading to increased mechanical energy input and swifter currents but reduced transport. Significant (O(25%)) changes in the mechanical energy supply from the winds may be possible on climatic time scales, particularly associated with the spatial correlation between winds and the ACC that does not depend critically on unresolved eddy processes in this model, leading to a pathway for altering abyssal diapycnal mixing rates and stratification of the ocean interior. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Drake Passage Southern Ocean University of Southampton: e-Prints Soton Antarctic Drake Passage Southern Ocean The Antarctic Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans 117 C9 n/a n/a |
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University of Southampton: e-Prints Soton |
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ftsouthampton |
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description |
The Southern Hemisphere westerlies exert an important influence on global climate, supplying nearly half of the mechanical energy for the deep overturning circulation. In a coarse-resolution ocean model, northward-shifted winds increase the work done on surface geostrophic flows due to enhanced velocities associated with the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC). Alternatively, energy supply is diminished by southward-shifted winds, primarily through reduced correspondence between wind stress and surface velocity in the Southern Ocean due to dynamical and topographic constraints on the ACC. When combined perturbations in latitude and magnitude of the westerlies are applied, these results are reconciled with estimates of recent trends in wind work and volume transport in the Southern Ocean from observations and coupled climate models. This indicates that the strength of the winds exerts a dominant effect that masks the opposing consequences of latitudinal migration. In particular, transport through Drake Passage shows a clear relationship with wind work and velocity when the winds move poleward leading to a reduction in all three quantities. However, under equatorward-shifted winds, stronger polar easterlies adjacent to the Antarctic continent establishes a recirculation gyre leading to increased mechanical energy input and swifter currents but reduced transport. Significant (O(25%)) changes in the mechanical energy supply from the winds may be possible on climatic time scales, particularly associated with the spatial correlation between winds and the ACC that does not depend critically on unresolved eddy processes in this model, leading to a pathway for altering abyssal diapycnal mixing rates and stratification of the ocean interior. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Lauderdale, J.M. Naveira Garabato, A.C. Oliver, K.I.C. Thomas, L.N. |
spellingShingle |
Lauderdale, J.M. Naveira Garabato, A.C. Oliver, K.I.C. Thomas, L.N. Climatic variations of the work done by the wind on the ocean's general circulation |
author_facet |
Lauderdale, J.M. Naveira Garabato, A.C. Oliver, K.I.C. Thomas, L.N. |
author_sort |
Lauderdale, J.M. |
title |
Climatic variations of the work done by the wind on the ocean's general circulation |
title_short |
Climatic variations of the work done by the wind on the ocean's general circulation |
title_full |
Climatic variations of the work done by the wind on the ocean's general circulation |
title_fullStr |
Climatic variations of the work done by the wind on the ocean's general circulation |
title_full_unstemmed |
Climatic variations of the work done by the wind on the ocean's general circulation |
title_sort |
climatic variations of the work done by the wind on the ocean's general circulation |
publishDate |
2012 |
url |
https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/344897/ |
geographic |
Antarctic Drake Passage Southern Ocean The Antarctic |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic Drake Passage Southern Ocean The Antarctic |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Drake Passage Southern Ocean |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Drake Passage Southern Ocean |
op_relation |
Lauderdale, J.M., Naveira Garabato, A.C., Oliver, K.I.C. and Thomas, L.N. (2012) Climatic variations of the work done by the wind on the ocean's general circulation. Journal of Geophysical Research, 117 (C9), C09017. (doi:10.1029/2012JC008135 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2012JC008135>). |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1029/2012JC008135 |
container_title |
Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans |
container_volume |
117 |
container_issue |
C9 |
container_start_page |
n/a |
op_container_end_page |
n/a |
_version_ |
1775357444676911104 |