The importance of interocean exchange south of Africa in a numerical model

A fine resolution numerical model of the Southern Ocean (the Fine Resolution Antarctic Model (FRAM)) has been used to investigate the way in which heat is supplied to the South Atlantic. The heat budget in the model is compared with other estimates and is found to be broadly realistic. The temperatu...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans
Main Authors: Thompson, Simon R., Stevens, David P., Döös, Kristofer
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: 1997
Subjects:
Antarctic
Indian
Southern Ocean
Antarc*
Online Access:https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/15934/
https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/15934/1/DS_16.pdf
https://doi.org/10.1029/96JC03207
Description
Summary:A fine resolution numerical model of the Southern Ocean (the Fine Resolution Antarctic Model (FRAM)) has been used to investigate the way in which heat is supplied to the South Atlantic. The heat budget in the model is compared with other estimates and is found to be broadly realistic. The temperature structure in the Atlantic, and therefore the meridional heat transport, depend heavily on the input of heat from the Indian Ocean via the Agulhas Retroflection region. FRAM is compared with three models which do not exhibit a significant input of heat from the Indian Ocean. These models also have a lower equatorward heat transport in the South Atlantic. Horizontal resolution affects the amount of Agulhas transfer with coarser resolution leading to lower heat transport in the Atlantic, a result which has implications for ocean models used in climate simulations.

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