The Southern Ocean meridional overturning circulation as diagnosed from an eddy permitting state estimate
Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution September 2008 A modern general circulation model of the Southern Ocean with one-sixth of a degree resolution is optim...
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Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
2008
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ftwhoas:oai:darchive.mblwhoilibrary.org:1912/2608 2023-05-15T18:18:52+02:00 The Southern Ocean meridional overturning circulation as diagnosed from an eddy permitting state estimate Mazloff, Matthew R. Southern Ocean 2008-09 application/pdf https://hdl.handle.net/1912/2608 en_US eng Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution WHOI Theses https://hdl.handle.net/1912/2608 doi:10.1575/1912/2608 doi:10.1575/1912/2608 Ocean circulation Ocean temperature Thesis 2008 ftwhoas https://doi.org/10.1575/1912/2608 2022-05-28T22:57:40Z Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution September 2008 A modern general circulation model of the Southern Ocean with one-sixth of a degree resolution is optimized to the observed ocean in a weighted least squares sense. Convergence to the state estimate solution is carried out by systematically adjusting the control variables (atmospheric state and initial conditions) using the adjoint model. A cost function compares the model state to in situ observations (Argo float profiles, CTD synoptic sections, SEaOS instrument mounted seal profiles, and XBTs), altimetric observations (ENVISAT, GEOSAT, Jason, TOPEX/Poseidon), and other data sets (e.g. infrared and microwave radiometer observed sea surface temperature and NSIDC sea-ice concentration). Costs attributed to control variable perturbations ensure a physically realistic solution. The state estimate is found to be largely consistent with the individual observations, as well as with integrated fluxes inferred from previous static inverse models. The transformed Eulerian mean formulation is an elegant way to theorize about the Southern Ocean. Current researchers utilizing this framework, however, have been making assumptions that render their theories largely irrelevant to the actual ocean. It is shown that theories of the overturning circulation must include the effect of pressure forcing. This is true in the most buoyant waters, where pressure forcing overcomes eddy and wind forcing to balance a poleward geostrophic transport and allows the buoyancy budget to be closed. Pressure forcing is also lowest order at depth. Indeed, the Southern Ocean’s characteristic multiple cell overturning is primarily in geostrophic balance. Several other aspects of the Southern Ocean circulation are also investigated in the thesis, including an analysis of the magnitude and variability of heat, salt, and volume inter-basin transports. This ... Thesis Sea ice Southern Ocean Woods Hole Scientific Community: WHOAS (Woods Hole Open Access Server) Southern Ocean Woods Hole, MA |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Woods Hole Scientific Community: WHOAS (Woods Hole Open Access Server) |
op_collection_id |
ftwhoas |
language |
English |
topic |
Ocean circulation Ocean temperature |
spellingShingle |
Ocean circulation Ocean temperature Mazloff, Matthew R. The Southern Ocean meridional overturning circulation as diagnosed from an eddy permitting state estimate |
topic_facet |
Ocean circulation Ocean temperature |
description |
Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution September 2008 A modern general circulation model of the Southern Ocean with one-sixth of a degree resolution is optimized to the observed ocean in a weighted least squares sense. Convergence to the state estimate solution is carried out by systematically adjusting the control variables (atmospheric state and initial conditions) using the adjoint model. A cost function compares the model state to in situ observations (Argo float profiles, CTD synoptic sections, SEaOS instrument mounted seal profiles, and XBTs), altimetric observations (ENVISAT, GEOSAT, Jason, TOPEX/Poseidon), and other data sets (e.g. infrared and microwave radiometer observed sea surface temperature and NSIDC sea-ice concentration). Costs attributed to control variable perturbations ensure a physically realistic solution. The state estimate is found to be largely consistent with the individual observations, as well as with integrated fluxes inferred from previous static inverse models. The transformed Eulerian mean formulation is an elegant way to theorize about the Southern Ocean. Current researchers utilizing this framework, however, have been making assumptions that render their theories largely irrelevant to the actual ocean. It is shown that theories of the overturning circulation must include the effect of pressure forcing. This is true in the most buoyant waters, where pressure forcing overcomes eddy and wind forcing to balance a poleward geostrophic transport and allows the buoyancy budget to be closed. Pressure forcing is also lowest order at depth. Indeed, the Southern Ocean’s characteristic multiple cell overturning is primarily in geostrophic balance. Several other aspects of the Southern Ocean circulation are also investigated in the thesis, including an analysis of the magnitude and variability of heat, salt, and volume inter-basin transports. This ... |
format |
Thesis |
author |
Mazloff, Matthew R. |
author_facet |
Mazloff, Matthew R. |
author_sort |
Mazloff, Matthew R. |
title |
The Southern Ocean meridional overturning circulation as diagnosed from an eddy permitting state estimate |
title_short |
The Southern Ocean meridional overturning circulation as diagnosed from an eddy permitting state estimate |
title_full |
The Southern Ocean meridional overturning circulation as diagnosed from an eddy permitting state estimate |
title_fullStr |
The Southern Ocean meridional overturning circulation as diagnosed from an eddy permitting state estimate |
title_full_unstemmed |
The Southern Ocean meridional overturning circulation as diagnosed from an eddy permitting state estimate |
title_sort |
southern ocean meridional overturning circulation as diagnosed from an eddy permitting state estimate |
publisher |
Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution |
publishDate |
2008 |
url |
https://hdl.handle.net/1912/2608 |
op_coverage |
Southern Ocean |
geographic |
Southern Ocean |
geographic_facet |
Southern Ocean |
genre |
Sea ice Southern Ocean |
genre_facet |
Sea ice Southern Ocean |
op_source |
doi:10.1575/1912/2608 |
op_relation |
WHOI Theses https://hdl.handle.net/1912/2608 doi:10.1575/1912/2608 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1575/1912/2608 |
op_publisher_place |
Woods Hole, MA |
_version_ |
1766195603970195456 |