High-latitude ocean ventilation and its role in Earth's climate transitions

• Published in: Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences
• Main Authors: Naveira Garabato, Alberto C., MacGilchrist, Graeme A., Brown, Peter J., Evans, D. Gwyn, Meijers, Andrew J. S., Zika, Jan D.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 2017
• Subjects: ocean ventilation; Southern Ocean; Arctic Ocean; climate transitions; MERIDIONAL OVERTURNING CIRCULATION; WEDDELL GYRE; SEA-ICE; MECHANISMS; PACIFIC; CLOSURE; HEAT; CO2; Arctic; Pacific; Weddell; Sea ice
• Online Access: https://risweb.st-andrews.ac.uk/portal/en/researchoutput/highlatitude-ocean-ventilation-and-its-role-in-earths-climate-transitions(bf4e8855-dc13-4707-8733-78260e325080).html; https://doi.org/10.1098/rsta.2016.0324

The processes regulating ocean ventilation at high latitudes are re-examined based on a range of observations spanning all scales of ocean circulation, from the centimetre scales of turbulence to the basin scales of gyres. It is argued that high-latitude ocean ventilation is controlled by mechanisms that differ in fundamental ways from those that set the overturning circulation. This is contrary to the assumption of broad equivalence between the two that is commonly adopted in interpreting the role of the high-latitude oceans in Earth's climate transitions. Illustrations of how recognizing this distinction may change our view of the ocean's role in the climate system are offered. This article is part of the themed issue 'Ocean ventilation and deoxygenation in a warming world'.