Seasonal cycle of meridional heat transport in the subtropical North Atlantic: a model intercomparison in relation to observations near 25°N
Three different, eddy-permitting numerical models are used to examine the seasonal variation of meridional mass and heat flux in the North Atlantic, with a focus on the transport mechanisms in the subtropics relating to observational studies near 25°N. The models, developed in the DYNAMO project, co...
Published in: | Progress in Oceanography |
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Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
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Online Access: | https://hal.science/hal-00182317 https://doi.org/10.1016/S0079-6611(01)00006-4 |
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ftunivnantes:oai:HAL:hal-00182317v1 2023-05-15T17:32:35+02:00 Seasonal cycle of meridional heat transport in the subtropical North Atlantic: a model intercomparison in relation to observations near 25°N Böning, Claus W. Dieterich, C. Barnier, Bernard Jia, Yanli Institut für Meereskunde Kiel (IFMK) Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel (CAU) Laboratoire des Écoulements Géophysiques et Industriels Grenoble (LEGI) Université Joseph Fourier - Grenoble 1 (UJF)-Institut polytechnique de Grenoble - Grenoble Institute of Technology (Grenoble INP )-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) National Oceanography Centre Southampton (NOC) University of Southampton 2001 https://hal.science/hal-00182317 https://doi.org/10.1016/S0079-6611(01)00006-4 en eng HAL CCSD Elsevier info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1016/S0079-6611(01)00006-4 hal-00182317 https://hal.science/hal-00182317 doi:10.1016/S0079-6611(01)00006-4 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ ISSN: 0079-6611 Progress in Oceanography https://hal.science/hal-00182317 Progress in Oceanography, 2001, 2-3, pp.231-253. ⟨10.1016/S0079-6611(01)00006-4⟩ [PHYS.MECA.MEFL]Physics [physics]/Mechanics [physics]/Fluid mechanics [physics.class-ph] [SPI.MECA.MEFL]Engineering Sciences [physics]/Mechanics [physics.med-ph]/Fluids mechanics [physics.class-ph] info:eu-repo/semantics/article Journal articles 2001 ftunivnantes https://doi.org/10.1016/S0079-6611(01)00006-4 2023-02-08T08:32:53Z Three different, eddy-permitting numerical models are used to examine the seasonal variation of meridional mass and heat flux in the North Atlantic, with a focus on the transport mechanisms in the subtropics relating to observational studies near 25°N. The models, developed in the DYNAMO project, cover the same horizontal domain, with a locally isotropic grid of 1/3° resolution in longitude, and are subject to the same monthly-mean atmospheric forcing based on a three-year ECMWF climatology. The models differ in the vertical-coordinate scheme (geopotential, isopycnic, and sigma), implying differences in lateral and diapycnic mixing concepts, and implementation of bottom topography. As shown in the companion paper of Willebrand et al. (2001), the model solutions exhibit significant discrepancies in the annual-mean patterns of meridional mass and heat transport, as well as in the structure of the western boundary current system.Despite these differences in the mean properties, the seasonal anomalies of the meridional fluxes are in remarkable agreement, demonstrating a robust model behavior that is primarily dependent on the external forcing, and independent of choices of numerics and parameterization. The annual range is smaller than in previous model studies in which wind stress climatologies based on marine observations were used, both in the equatorial Atlantic (1.4 PW) and in the subtropics (0.4–0.5 PW). This is a consequence of a weaker seasonal variation in the zonal wind stresses based on the ECMWF analysis than those derived from climatologies of marine observations.The similarities in the amplitude and patterns of the meridional transport anomalies betwen the different model realizations provide support for previous model conclusions concerning the mechanism of seasonal and intraseasonal heat flux variations: they can be rationalized in terms of a time-varying Ekman transport and their predominantly barotropic compensation at depth. Analysis for 25°N indicates that the net meridional flow variation at ... Article in Journal/Newspaper North Atlantic Université de Nantes: HAL-UNIV-NANTES Progress in Oceanography 48 2-3 231 253 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Université de Nantes: HAL-UNIV-NANTES |
op_collection_id |
ftunivnantes |
language |
English |
topic |
[PHYS.MECA.MEFL]Physics [physics]/Mechanics [physics]/Fluid mechanics [physics.class-ph] [SPI.MECA.MEFL]Engineering Sciences [physics]/Mechanics [physics.med-ph]/Fluids mechanics [physics.class-ph] |
spellingShingle |
[PHYS.MECA.MEFL]Physics [physics]/Mechanics [physics]/Fluid mechanics [physics.class-ph] [SPI.MECA.MEFL]Engineering Sciences [physics]/Mechanics [physics.med-ph]/Fluids mechanics [physics.class-ph] Böning, Claus W. Dieterich, C. Barnier, Bernard Jia, Yanli Seasonal cycle of meridional heat transport in the subtropical North Atlantic: a model intercomparison in relation to observations near 25°N |
topic_facet |
[PHYS.MECA.MEFL]Physics [physics]/Mechanics [physics]/Fluid mechanics [physics.class-ph] [SPI.MECA.MEFL]Engineering Sciences [physics]/Mechanics [physics.med-ph]/Fluids mechanics [physics.class-ph] |
description |
Three different, eddy-permitting numerical models are used to examine the seasonal variation of meridional mass and heat flux in the North Atlantic, with a focus on the transport mechanisms in the subtropics relating to observational studies near 25°N. The models, developed in the DYNAMO project, cover the same horizontal domain, with a locally isotropic grid of 1/3° resolution in longitude, and are subject to the same monthly-mean atmospheric forcing based on a three-year ECMWF climatology. The models differ in the vertical-coordinate scheme (geopotential, isopycnic, and sigma), implying differences in lateral and diapycnic mixing concepts, and implementation of bottom topography. As shown in the companion paper of Willebrand et al. (2001), the model solutions exhibit significant discrepancies in the annual-mean patterns of meridional mass and heat transport, as well as in the structure of the western boundary current system.Despite these differences in the mean properties, the seasonal anomalies of the meridional fluxes are in remarkable agreement, demonstrating a robust model behavior that is primarily dependent on the external forcing, and independent of choices of numerics and parameterization. The annual range is smaller than in previous model studies in which wind stress climatologies based on marine observations were used, both in the equatorial Atlantic (1.4 PW) and in the subtropics (0.4–0.5 PW). This is a consequence of a weaker seasonal variation in the zonal wind stresses based on the ECMWF analysis than those derived from climatologies of marine observations.The similarities in the amplitude and patterns of the meridional transport anomalies betwen the different model realizations provide support for previous model conclusions concerning the mechanism of seasonal and intraseasonal heat flux variations: they can be rationalized in terms of a time-varying Ekman transport and their predominantly barotropic compensation at depth. Analysis for 25°N indicates that the net meridional flow variation at ... |
author2 |
Institut für Meereskunde Kiel (IFMK) Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel (CAU) Laboratoire des Écoulements Géophysiques et Industriels Grenoble (LEGI) Université Joseph Fourier - Grenoble 1 (UJF)-Institut polytechnique de Grenoble - Grenoble Institute of Technology (Grenoble INP )-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) National Oceanography Centre Southampton (NOC) University of Southampton |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Böning, Claus W. Dieterich, C. Barnier, Bernard Jia, Yanli |
author_facet |
Böning, Claus W. Dieterich, C. Barnier, Bernard Jia, Yanli |
author_sort |
Böning, Claus W. |
title |
Seasonal cycle of meridional heat transport in the subtropical North Atlantic: a model intercomparison in relation to observations near 25°N |
title_short |
Seasonal cycle of meridional heat transport in the subtropical North Atlantic: a model intercomparison in relation to observations near 25°N |
title_full |
Seasonal cycle of meridional heat transport in the subtropical North Atlantic: a model intercomparison in relation to observations near 25°N |
title_fullStr |
Seasonal cycle of meridional heat transport in the subtropical North Atlantic: a model intercomparison in relation to observations near 25°N |
title_full_unstemmed |
Seasonal cycle of meridional heat transport in the subtropical North Atlantic: a model intercomparison in relation to observations near 25°N |
title_sort |
seasonal cycle of meridional heat transport in the subtropical north atlantic: a model intercomparison in relation to observations near 25°n |
publisher |
HAL CCSD |
publishDate |
2001 |
url |
https://hal.science/hal-00182317 https://doi.org/10.1016/S0079-6611(01)00006-4 |
genre |
North Atlantic |
genre_facet |
North Atlantic |
op_source |
ISSN: 0079-6611 Progress in Oceanography https://hal.science/hal-00182317 Progress in Oceanography, 2001, 2-3, pp.231-253. ⟨10.1016/S0079-6611(01)00006-4⟩ |
op_relation |
info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1016/S0079-6611(01)00006-4 hal-00182317 https://hal.science/hal-00182317 doi:10.1016/S0079-6611(01)00006-4 |
op_rights |
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1016/S0079-6611(01)00006-4 |
container_title |
Progress in Oceanography |
container_volume |
48 |
container_issue |
2-3 |
container_start_page |
231 |
op_container_end_page |
253 |
_version_ |
1766130783962005504 |