Low-Frequency SST and Upper-Ocean Heat Content Variability in the North Atlantic
A recent state estimate covering the period 1992–2010 from the Estimating the Circulation and Climate of the Ocean (ECCO) project is utilized to quantify the upper-ocean heat budget in the North Atlantic on monthly to interannual time scales (seasonal cycle removed). Three novel techniques are intro...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | en_US |
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American Meteorological Society
2015
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/93889 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3925-6161 |
| _version_ | 1811076038968475648 |
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| author | Buckley, Martha Weaver Ponte, Rui M. Forget, Gael Heimbach, Patrick |
| 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 Buckley, Martha Weaver Ponte, Rui M. Forget, Gael Heimbach, Patrick |
| author_sort | Buckley, Martha Weaver |
| collection | MIT |
| description | A recent state estimate covering the period 1992–2010 from the Estimating the Circulation and Climate of the Ocean (ECCO) project is utilized to quantify the upper-ocean heat budget in the North Atlantic on monthly to interannual time scales (seasonal cycle removed). Three novel techniques are introduced: 1) the heat budget is integrated over the maximum climatological mixed layer depth (integral denoted as H), which gives results that are relevant for explaining SST while avoiding strong contributions from vertical diffusion and entrainment; 2) advective convergences are separated into Ekman and geostrophic parts, a technique that is successful away from ocean boundaries; and 3) air–sea heat fluxes and Ekman advection are combined into one local forcing term. The central results of our analysis are as follows: 1) In the interior of subtropical gyre, local forcing explains the majority of H variance on all time scales resolved by the ECCO estimate. 2) In the Gulf Stream region, low-frequency H anomalies are forced by geostrophic convergences and damped by air–sea heat fluxes. 3) In the interior of the subpolar gyre, diffusion and bolus transports play a leading order role in H variability, and these transports are correlated with low-frequency variability in wintertime mixed layer depths. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T10:15:08Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/93889 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | en_US |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T10:15:08Z |
| publishDate | 2015 |
| publisher | American Meteorological Society |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/938892022-09-26T16:43:09Z Low-Frequency SST and Upper-Ocean Heat Content Variability in the North Atlantic Buckley, Martha Weaver Ponte, Rui M. Forget, Gael Heimbach, Patrick Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences Forget, Gael Heimbach, Patrick A recent state estimate covering the period 1992–2010 from the Estimating the Circulation and Climate of the Ocean (ECCO) project is utilized to quantify the upper-ocean heat budget in the North Atlantic on monthly to interannual time scales (seasonal cycle removed). Three novel techniques are introduced: 1) the heat budget is integrated over the maximum climatological mixed layer depth (integral denoted as H), which gives results that are relevant for explaining SST while avoiding strong contributions from vertical diffusion and entrainment; 2) advective convergences are separated into Ekman and geostrophic parts, a technique that is successful away from ocean boundaries; and 3) air–sea heat fluxes and Ekman advection are combined into one local forcing term. The central results of our analysis are as follows: 1) In the interior of subtropical gyre, local forcing explains the majority of H variance on all time scales resolved by the ECCO estimate. 2) In the Gulf Stream region, low-frequency H anomalies are forced by geostrophic convergences and damped by air–sea heat fluxes. 3) In the interior of the subpolar gyre, diffusion and bolus transports play a leading order role in H variability, and these transports are correlated with low-frequency variability in wintertime mixed layer depths. United States. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA Grant NA10OAR4310135) United States. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOPP/NASA Grant NNX08AV89G) United States. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NA13OAR4310134 (Climate Variability and Predictability)) United States. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA Grant NA10OAR4310199) United States. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA Physical Oceanography Program) 2015-02-06T15:29:48Z 2015-02-06T15:29:48Z 2014-07 2013-05 Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 0894-8755 1520-0442 http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/93889 Buckley, Martha W., Rui M. Ponte, Gaël Forget, and Patrick Heimbach. “Low-Frequency SST and Upper-Ocean Heat Content Variability in the North Atlantic.” J. Climate 27, no. 13 (July 2014): 4996–5018. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3925-6161 en_US http://dx.doi.org/10.1175/jcli-d-13-00316.1 Journal of Climate Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use. application/pdf American Meteorological Society American Meteorological Society |
| spellingShingle | Buckley, Martha Weaver Ponte, Rui M. Forget, Gael Heimbach, Patrick Low-Frequency SST and Upper-Ocean Heat Content Variability in the North Atlantic |
| title | Low-Frequency SST and Upper-Ocean Heat Content Variability in the North Atlantic |
| title_full | Low-Frequency SST and Upper-Ocean Heat Content Variability in the North Atlantic |
| title_fullStr | Low-Frequency SST and Upper-Ocean Heat Content Variability in the North Atlantic |
| title_full_unstemmed | Low-Frequency SST and Upper-Ocean Heat Content Variability in the North Atlantic |
| title_short | Low-Frequency SST and Upper-Ocean Heat Content Variability in the North Atlantic |
| title_sort | low frequency sst and upper ocean heat content variability in the north atlantic |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/93889 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3925-6161 |
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