Freshwater transport in the coupled ocean-atmosphere system: a passive ocean
Conservation of water demands that meridional ocean and atmosphere freshwater transports (FWT) are of equal magnitude but opposite in direction. This suggests that the atmospheric FWT and its associated latent heat (LH) transport could be thought of as a “coupled ocean/atmosphere mode.” But what is...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Springer Berlin Heidelberg
2016
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/104641 https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9230-3591 |
| _version_ | 1811083140018470912 |
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| author | Ferreira, David Marshall, John C |
| author2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences |
| author_facet | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences Ferreira, David Marshall, John C |
| author_sort | Ferreira, David |
| collection | MIT |
| description | Conservation of water demands that meridional ocean and atmosphere freshwater transports (FWT) are of equal magnitude but opposite in direction. This suggests that the atmospheric FWT and its associated latent heat (LH) transport could be thought of as a “coupled ocean/atmosphere mode.” But what is the true nature of this coupling? Is the ocean passive or active? Here, we analyze a series of simulations with a coupled ocean-atmosphere-sea ice model employing highly idealized geometries but with markedly different coupled climates and patterns of ocean circulation. Exploiting streamfunctions in specific humidity coordinates for the atmosphere and salt coordinates for the ocean to represent FWT in their respective medium, we find that atmospheric FWT/LH transport is essentially independent of the ocean state. Ocean circulation and salinity distribution adjust to achieve a return freshwater pathway demanded of them by the atmosphere. So, although ocean and atmosphere FWTs are indeed coupled by mass conservation, the ocean is a passive component acting as a reservoir of freshwater. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T12:24:26Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/104641 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T12:24:26Z |
| publishDate | 2016 |
| publisher | Springer Berlin Heidelberg |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/1046412022-10-01T09:06:56Z Freshwater transport in the coupled ocean-atmosphere system: a passive ocean Ferreira, David Marshall, John C Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences Marshall, John C Conservation of water demands that meridional ocean and atmosphere freshwater transports (FWT) are of equal magnitude but opposite in direction. This suggests that the atmospheric FWT and its associated latent heat (LH) transport could be thought of as a “coupled ocean/atmosphere mode.” But what is the true nature of this coupling? Is the ocean passive or active? Here, we analyze a series of simulations with a coupled ocean-atmosphere-sea ice model employing highly idealized geometries but with markedly different coupled climates and patterns of ocean circulation. Exploiting streamfunctions in specific humidity coordinates for the atmosphere and salt coordinates for the ocean to represent FWT in their respective medium, we find that atmospheric FWT/LH transport is essentially independent of the ocean state. Ocean circulation and salinity distribution adjust to achieve a return freshwater pathway demanded of them by the atmosphere. So, although ocean and atmosphere FWTs are indeed coupled by mass conservation, the ocean is a passive component acting as a reservoir of freshwater. National Science Foundation (U.S.) (Physical Oceanography) 2016-10-03T19:28:16Z 2016-10-03T19:28:16Z 2015-05 2014-11 2016-08-18T15:36:26Z Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 1616-7341 1616-7228 http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/104641 Ferreira, David, and John Marshall. “Freshwater Transport in the Coupled Ocean-Atmosphere System: a Passive Ocean.” Ocean Dynamics 65, no. 7 (May 17, 2015): 1029–1036. https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9230-3591 en http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10236-015-0846-6 Ocean Dynamics Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/ Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg application/pdf Springer Berlin Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg |
| spellingShingle | Ferreira, David Marshall, John C Freshwater transport in the coupled ocean-atmosphere system: a passive ocean |
| title | Freshwater transport in the coupled ocean-atmosphere system: a passive ocean |
| title_full | Freshwater transport in the coupled ocean-atmosphere system: a passive ocean |
| title_fullStr | Freshwater transport in the coupled ocean-atmosphere system: a passive ocean |
| title_full_unstemmed | Freshwater transport in the coupled ocean-atmosphere system: a passive ocean |
| title_short | Freshwater transport in the coupled ocean-atmosphere system: a passive ocean |
| title_sort | freshwater transport in the coupled ocean atmosphere system a passive ocean |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/104641 https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9230-3591 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT ferreiradavid freshwatertransportinthecoupledoceanatmospheresystemapassiveocean AT marshalljohnc freshwatertransportinthecoupledoceanatmospheresystemapassiveocean |