Atlantic salinity budget in response to Northern and Southern Hemisphere ice sheet discharge
The impact of an idealised scenario of future mass release of major ice sheets on the Atlantic ocean is studied. A freshwater forcing is applied to the ocean surface in a coupled climate model forced in accordance with a high-end future climate projection for mass loss from the Greenland and Antarct...
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Online Access: | https://research.wur.nl/en/publications/atlantic-salinity-budget-in-response-to-northern-and-southern-hem https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-018-4444-4 |
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ftunivwagenin:oai:library.wur.nl:wurpubs/541632 2024-02-04T09:53:08+01:00 Atlantic salinity budget in response to Northern and Southern Hemisphere ice sheet discharge van den Berk, J. Drijfhout, S.S. Hazeleger, W. 2019 application/pdf https://research.wur.nl/en/publications/atlantic-salinity-budget-in-response-to-northern-and-southern-hem https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-018-4444-4 en eng info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/EC/FP7/282672 https://edepot.wur.nl/461148 https://research.wur.nl/en/publications/atlantic-salinity-budget-in-response-to-northern-and-southern-hem doi:10.1007/s00382-018-4444-4 info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Wageningen University & Research Climate Dynamics 52 (2019) 9-10 ISSN: 0930-7575 Atlantic Ocean Coupled climate models Meltwater Salinity budget info:eu-repo/semantics/article Article/Letter to editor info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion 2019 ftunivwagenin https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-018-4444-4 2024-01-10T23:16:38Z The impact of an idealised scenario of future mass release of major ice sheets on the Atlantic ocean is studied. A freshwater forcing is applied to the ocean surface in a coupled climate model forced in accordance with a high-end future climate projection for mass loss from the Greenland and Antarctic ice-sheet, together with the RCP8.5 emission scenario. The added freshwater dilutes the entire ocean by increasing total volume, but changes in freshwater budget are non-linear in time, especially in the Atlantic Ocean. In the Atlantic the initial dilution mainly comes from Greenland freshwater, but the increase in mass is counteracted by the mass flux across the boundaries of the Atlantic, with the outflow into the Southern Ocean becoming larger than the inflow through Bering Strait. Associated with this mass divergence, salt is exported to the Southern Ocean by the barotropic flow. Further freshening is associated with more freshwater import by the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation across the southern boundary of the Atlantic. Also, the subtropical gyre exports salt and imports freshwater across the Atlantic’s southern boundary, especially when freshwater from the Antarctic Ice Sheet arrives at the boundary of the basin. It appears that the response to Northern Hemisphere (NH) sources (the Greenland Ice Sheet) and Southern Hemisphere (SH) sources (the Antarctic Ice Sheet) are opposite. In the case of NH-only freshwater forcing, sea surface height (SSH) increases in the Arctic, causing a reduction of the SSH gradient over the Bering Strait, and hence the barotropic throughflow across the Arctic–Atlantic basin reduces. In case of SH-only freshwater forcing, SSH increases in the Pacific, enhancing the barotropic throughflow in the Arctic–Atlantic. When both NH and SH freshwater forcings are present, the response in the Atlantic is dominated by NH forcing. Changes in overturning transport to either NH or SH forcing counteract the response to changes in barotropic transport. These changes are not due to ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Arctic Bering Strait Greenland Ice Sheet Southern Ocean Wageningen UR (University & Research Centre): Digital Library Antarctic Arctic Bering Strait Greenland Pacific Southern Ocean The Antarctic Climate Dynamics 52 9-10 5249 5267 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Wageningen UR (University & Research Centre): Digital Library |
op_collection_id |
ftunivwagenin |
language |
English |
topic |
Atlantic Ocean Coupled climate models Meltwater Salinity budget |
spellingShingle |
Atlantic Ocean Coupled climate models Meltwater Salinity budget van den Berk, J. Drijfhout, S.S. Hazeleger, W. Atlantic salinity budget in response to Northern and Southern Hemisphere ice sheet discharge |
topic_facet |
Atlantic Ocean Coupled climate models Meltwater Salinity budget |
description |
The impact of an idealised scenario of future mass release of major ice sheets on the Atlantic ocean is studied. A freshwater forcing is applied to the ocean surface in a coupled climate model forced in accordance with a high-end future climate projection for mass loss from the Greenland and Antarctic ice-sheet, together with the RCP8.5 emission scenario. The added freshwater dilutes the entire ocean by increasing total volume, but changes in freshwater budget are non-linear in time, especially in the Atlantic Ocean. In the Atlantic the initial dilution mainly comes from Greenland freshwater, but the increase in mass is counteracted by the mass flux across the boundaries of the Atlantic, with the outflow into the Southern Ocean becoming larger than the inflow through Bering Strait. Associated with this mass divergence, salt is exported to the Southern Ocean by the barotropic flow. Further freshening is associated with more freshwater import by the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation across the southern boundary of the Atlantic. Also, the subtropical gyre exports salt and imports freshwater across the Atlantic’s southern boundary, especially when freshwater from the Antarctic Ice Sheet arrives at the boundary of the basin. It appears that the response to Northern Hemisphere (NH) sources (the Greenland Ice Sheet) and Southern Hemisphere (SH) sources (the Antarctic Ice Sheet) are opposite. In the case of NH-only freshwater forcing, sea surface height (SSH) increases in the Arctic, causing a reduction of the SSH gradient over the Bering Strait, and hence the barotropic throughflow across the Arctic–Atlantic basin reduces. In case of SH-only freshwater forcing, SSH increases in the Pacific, enhancing the barotropic throughflow in the Arctic–Atlantic. When both NH and SH freshwater forcings are present, the response in the Atlantic is dominated by NH forcing. Changes in overturning transport to either NH or SH forcing counteract the response to changes in barotropic transport. These changes are not due to ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
van den Berk, J. Drijfhout, S.S. Hazeleger, W. |
author_facet |
van den Berk, J. Drijfhout, S.S. Hazeleger, W. |
author_sort |
van den Berk, J. |
title |
Atlantic salinity budget in response to Northern and Southern Hemisphere ice sheet discharge |
title_short |
Atlantic salinity budget in response to Northern and Southern Hemisphere ice sheet discharge |
title_full |
Atlantic salinity budget in response to Northern and Southern Hemisphere ice sheet discharge |
title_fullStr |
Atlantic salinity budget in response to Northern and Southern Hemisphere ice sheet discharge |
title_full_unstemmed |
Atlantic salinity budget in response to Northern and Southern Hemisphere ice sheet discharge |
title_sort |
atlantic salinity budget in response to northern and southern hemisphere ice sheet discharge |
publishDate |
2019 |
url |
https://research.wur.nl/en/publications/atlantic-salinity-budget-in-response-to-northern-and-southern-hem https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-018-4444-4 |
geographic |
Antarctic Arctic Bering Strait Greenland Pacific Southern Ocean The Antarctic |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic Arctic Bering Strait Greenland Pacific Southern Ocean The Antarctic |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Arctic Bering Strait Greenland Ice Sheet Southern Ocean |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Arctic Bering Strait Greenland Ice Sheet Southern Ocean |
op_source |
Climate Dynamics 52 (2019) 9-10 ISSN: 0930-7575 |
op_relation |
info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/EC/FP7/282672 https://edepot.wur.nl/461148 https://research.wur.nl/en/publications/atlantic-salinity-budget-in-response-to-northern-and-southern-hem doi:10.1007/s00382-018-4444-4 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Wageningen University & Research |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-018-4444-4 |
container_title |
Climate Dynamics |
container_volume |
52 |
container_issue |
9-10 |
container_start_page |
5249 |
op_container_end_page |
5267 |
_version_ |
1789964325986762752 |