The effect of salinity on ocean circulation and ice-ocean interaction on Enceladus

Observational data suggest that the ice shell on Enceladus is thicker at the equator than at the pole, indicating an equator-to-pole ice flow. If the ice shell is in an equilibrium state, the mass transport of the ice flow must be balanced by the freezing and melting of the ice shell, which in turn is modulated by the ocean heat transport. Here we use a numerical ocean model to study the ice-ocean interaction and ocean circulation on Enceladus with different salinities. We find that salinity fundamentally determines the ocean stratification. A stratified layer forms in the low salinity ocean, affecting the ocean circulation and heat transport. However, in the absence of tidal heating in the ice shell, the ocean heat transport is found to always be towards lower latitudes, resulting in freezing at the poles, which cannot maintain the ice shell geometry against the equator-to-pole ice flow. The simulation results suggest that either the ice shell on Enceladus is not in an equilibrium state, or tidal dissipation in the ice shell is important in maintaining the ice shell geometry. The simulations also suggest that a positive feedback between cross-equatorial ocean heat transport and ice melting results in spontaneous symmetry breaking between the two hemispheres. This feedback may play a role in the observed interhemispheric asymmetry in the ice shell

The Global Overturning Circulation and the Role of Non-Equilibrium Effects in ECCOv4r4

We quantify the volume transport and watermass transformation rates of the global overturning circulation using the Estimating the Circulation and Climate of the Ocean version 4 release 4 (ECCOv4r4) reanalysis product. The ECCO solution shows large rates of intercell exchange between the mid-depth and abyssal cells, consistent with other recent inferences. About 10 Sv of North Atlantic deep water enters the abyssal cell in the Southern Ocean and is balanced by a similar amount of apparrent diapycnal upwelling in the Indo-Pacific. However, much of the upwelling in ECCO's deep ocean is not associated with irreversible watermass transformations, as typically assumed in theoretical models. Instead, a dominant portion of the abyssal circulation in ECCO is associated with isopycnal volume tendencies, reflecting a deep ocean in a state of change and a circulation in which transient tendencies play a leading role in the watermass budget. These volume tendencies are particularly prominent in the Indo-Pacific, where ECCO depicts a cooling and densifying deep ocean with relatively little mixing-driven upwelling, in disagreement with recent observations of deep Indo-Pacific warming trends. Although abyssal ocean observations are insufficient to exclude the trends modeled by ECCO, we note that ECCO's parameterized diapycnal mixing in the abyssal ocean is much smaller than observational studies suggest and may lead to an under-representation of Antarctic Bottom Water consumption in the abyssal ocean. Whether or not ECCO's tendencies are realistic, they are a key part of its abyssal circulation and hence need to be taken into consideration when interpreting the ECCO solution

On freshwater fluxes and the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation

We address the role of freshwater forcing in the modern day ocean. Specifically, we ask the question of whether an amplification of the global freshwater forcing pattern leads to a strengthening or weakening of the steady‐state Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC). While the role of freshwater forcing in the AMOC has received much attention, this question remains unresolved, in part because past studies have primarily investigated idealized models, large regime shifts away from the modern ocean state, or coupled atmosphere–ocean simulations on shorter timescales than required for the deep ocean to equilibrate. Here we study the AMOC's sensitivity at equilibrium to small perturbations in the magnitude of the global freshwater fluxes in simulations performed with a realistically configured ocean circulation model. Our results robustly suggest that for the equilibrium state of the modern ocean, freshwater fluxes strengthen the AMOC, in the sense that an amplification of the existing freshwater flux‐forcing pattern leads to a strengthening of the AMOC and vice versa. A simple physical argument explains these results: the North Atlantic is anomalously salty at depth and increased freshwater fluxes act to amplify that salinity pattern, resulting in enhanced AMOC transport

Equilibration of an atmosphere by geostrophic turbulence

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, 2013.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (p. 183-187).A major question for climate studies is to quantify the role of turbulent eddy fluxes in maintaining the observed atmospheric mean state. It has been argued that eddy fluxes keep the mid-latitude atmosphere in a state that is marginally critical to the deepest mode of baroclinic instability, which provides a powerful constraint on the response of the atmosphere to changes in external forcing. A similar criterion does, however not hold in the Southern Ocean, a region whose dynamics are otherwise very similar to the mid-latitude atmosphere. This thesis resolves this apparent contradiction, using a combination of theoretical considerations and eddy-resolving numerical simulations. It is shown that the adjustment of the extra-tropical troposphere to states of marginal criticality does not follow from a fundamental constraint, but is rather the result of the particular parameters characterizing Earth's troposphere. Both marginally critical and strongly supercritical zonal mean flows can be obtained in planetary atmospheres if external parameters are varied. We argue that changes in the equilibrated mean state over a wide range of simulations can better be understood in terms of a balance between the diabatic forcing and the eddy driven overturning circulation. Using a diffusive closure for the eddy flux of potential vorticity, we can relate the eddy-driven overturning transport to properties of the mean flow, and derive scaling relations for both the baroclinicity and vertical stratification of the equilibrated state.by Malte F. Jansen.Ph.D

Global cooling linked to increased glacial carbon storage via changes in Antarctic sea ice

Palaeo-oceanographic reconstructions indicate that the distribution of global ocean water masses has undergone major glacial–interglacial rearrangements over the past ~2.5 million years. Given that the ocean is the largest carbon reservoir, such circulation changes were probably key in driving the variations in atmospheric CO2 concentrations observed in the ice-core record. However, we still lack a mechanistic understanding of the ocean’s role in regulating CO2 on these timescales. Here, we show that glacial ocean–sea ice numerical simulations with a single-basin general circulation model, forced solely by atmospheric cooling, can predict ocean circulation patterns associated with increased atmospheric carbon sequestration in the deep ocean. Under such conditions, Antarctic bottom water becomes more isolated from the sea surface as a result of two connected factors: reduced air–sea gas exchange under sea ice around Antarctica and weaker mixing with North Atlantic Deep Water due to a shallower interface between southern- and northern-sourced water masses. These physical changes alone are sufficient to explain ~40 ppm atmospheric CO2 drawdown—about half of the glacial–interglacial variation. Our results highlight that atmospheric cooling could have directly caused the reorganization of deep ocean water masses and, thus, glacial CO2 drawdown. This provides an important step towards a consistent picture of glacial climates

Connecting Antarctic sea ice to deep-ocean circulation in modern and glacial climate simulations

Antarctic sea‐ice formation plays a key role in shaping the abyssal overturning circulation and stratification in all ocean basins, by driving surface buoyancy loss through the associated brine rejection. Changes in Antarctic sea ice have therefore been suggested as drivers of major glacial‐interglacial ocean circulation rearrangements. Here, the relationship between Antarctic sea ice, buoyancy loss, deep‐ocean stratification, and overturning circulation is investigated in Last Glacial Maximum and preindustrial simulations from the Paleoclimate Modelling Intercomparison Project (PMIP). The simulations show substantial intermodel differences in their representation of the glacial deep‐ocean state and circulation, which is often at odds with the geological evidence. We argue that these apparent inconsistencies can largely be attributed to differing (and likely insufficient) Antarctic sea‐ice formation. Discrepancies can be further amplified by short integration times. Deep‐ocean equilibration and sea‐ice representation should, therefore, be carefully evaluated in the forthcoming PMIP4 simulations

Why are Mountaintops Cold? The Transition of Surface Lapse Rate on Dry Planets

Understanding surface temperature is important for habitability. Recent work on Mars has found that the dependence of surface temperature on elevation (surface lapse rate) converges to zero in the limit of a thin CO2 atmosphere. However, the mechanisms that control the surface lapse rate are still not fully understood. It remains unclear how the surface lapse rate depends on both greenhouse effect and surface pressure. Here, we use climate models to study when and why "mountaintops are cold". We find the tropical surface lapse rate increases with the greenhouse effect and with surface pressure. The greenhouse effect dominates the surface lapse rate transition and is robust across latitudes. The pressure effect is important at low latitudes in moderately opaque atmospheres. A simple model provides insights into the mechanisms of the transition. Our results suggest that topographic cold-trapping may be important for the climate of arid planets.Comment: 14 pages, 4 figures; accepted for publication on Geophysical Research Letter