Thermally forced transients in the thermohaline circulation

Author Posting. © American Meteorological Society, 2015. This article is posted here by permission of American Meteorological Society for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Physical Oceanography 45 (2015): 2820–2835, doi:10.1175/JPO-D-15-0101.1.The response of a convective ocean basin to variations in atmospheric temperature is explored using numerical models and theory. The results indicate that the general behavior depends strongly on the frequency at which the atmosphere changes relative to the local response time to air–sea heat flux. For high-frequency forcing, the convective region in the basin interior is essentially one-dimensional and responds to the integrated local surface heat flux anomalies. For low-frequency forcing, eddy fluxes from the boundary current into the basin interior become important and act to suppress variability forced by the atmosphere. A theory is developed to quantify this time-dependent response and its influence on various oceanic quantities. The amplitude and phase of the temperature and salinity of the convective water mass, the meridional overturning circulation, the meridional heat flux, and the air–sea heat flux predicted by the theory compare well with that diagnosed from a series of numerical model calculations in both strongly eddying and weakly eddying regimes. Linearized analytic solutions provide direct estimates of each of these quantities and demonstrate their dependence on the nondimensional numbers that characterize the domain and atmospheric forcing. These results highlight the importance of mesoscale eddies in modulating the mean and time-dependent ocean response to atmospheric variability and provide a dynamical framework with which to connect ocean observations with changes in the atmosphere and surface heat flux.This study was supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant OCE-1232389.2016-05-0

Buoyancy-forced circulations in shallow marginal seas

Author Posting. © Sears Foundation for Marine Research, 2005. This article is posted here by permission of Sears Foundation for Marine Research for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Marine Research 63 (2005): 729-752, doi:10.1357/0022240054663204.The properties of water mass transformation and the thermohaline circulation in shallow marginal seas with topography and subject to surface cooling are discussed in the context of an eddy-resolving primitive equation model and an analytic planetary geostrophic model. A unique and important aspect of the model configuration is that the geostrophic contours, or characteristics of the system, extend from a region where temperature is restored toward a uniform value, providing a source of heat, through the cooling region. This removes a degree of symmetry that has often been imposed in previous studies of deep convection. The heat loss within the marginal sea is balanced by lateral advection from the restoring region. The planetary geostrophic model shows that the basic temperature distribution can be well predicted by integrating along geostrophic contours from their entry into the marginal sea to their exit. Scaling estimates for the exchange rate and density of the waters formed within the marginal sea are derived and compare well with a series of numerical model calculations. In contrast to many previous buoyancy-forced deep convection problems, basin-scale cooling is balanced mainly by the mean flow, with mesoscale eddies serving primarily to restratify locally but not to provide a net heat flux to balance cooling. However, eddy fluxes and the mean flow are locally of comparable importance for cases with a localized patch of surface cooling.This work was supported by the Office of Naval Research under Grant N00014-03-1-0338 and by the National Science Foundation under Grant OCE-0240978

Buoyancy-forced circulations around islands and ridges

Observations, theory, and modeling studies indicate that dominant components of both the upwelling and downwelling limbs of the thermohaline circulation take place near boundaries and in regions of steep and/or rough topography. Analytic and numerical results are used here to show that the interaction of upwelling regions with lateral boundaries fundamentally alters the resulting large-scale circulation compared to cases of open ocean upwelling. For narrow upwelling regions, viscous fluxes emerge as a leading term in the potential vorticity budget. The strong horizontal recirculation gyres that are found for sub-basin-scale open ocean upwelling (β-plumes) are replaced by weak, unidirectional flow into or out of the region of vertical motion. If the upwelling is located near an island or mid-ocean ridge, potential vorticity budgets require that a strong, large-scale recirculation develop around the topography, sometimes far from the region of mixing. The resulting boundary layers provide an important dynamic link between the large-scale horizontal components of the thermohaline circulation and the small-scale regions of strong vertical motions

Wind-driven flow over topography

The space and time scales over which wind forcing can directly drive flows over regions of closed topographic contours are explored using an idealized numerical model and theory. It is shown that stratification limits the vertical scale of the mean flow but also results in an enhanced recirculation strength in shallow water by distorting the isopycnals in the bottom boundary layer. Time-dependent forcing can drive flows that extend deeper than the mean flow because the initial response is primarily barotropic. This response is limited at low frequencies by baroclinic Rossby wave propagation. It is expected that these wind-driven flows might be important in the vicinity of islands and over large-scale topographic features

Generation of strong mesoscale eddies by weak ocean gyres

The generation of strong mesoscale variability through instability of the large-scale circulation in the interior of oceanic gyres is addressed. While previous studies have shown that eddies generated from weakly sheared zonal flows are generally weak, the present results demonstrate that weakly sheared meridional flows typical of wind-forced gyres can generate very strong mesoscale variability. Meridional flows are effective at generating strong eddies because the reduced influence of the planetary vorticity gradient allows the potential energy stored in the zonal potential vorticity gradient to be converted to eddy kinetic energy. A simple scaling theory based on a balance between turbulent cascade and baroclinic energy production yields an estimate of the equilibration amplitude of the eddy kinetic energy. Nonlinear quasi-geostrophic model calculations configured in both a periodic meridional channel and a wind-driven subtropical gyre agree well with the scaling theory

Potential vorticity dynamics of the arctic halocline

Author Posting. © American Meteorological Society, 2020. This article is posted here by permission of American Meteorological Society for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Physical Oceanography 50(9), (2020): 2491-2506, doi:10.1175/JPO-D-20-0056.1.An idealized two-layer shallow water model is applied to the study of the dynamics of the Arctic Ocean halocline. The model is forced by a surface stress distribution reflective of the observed wind stress pattern and ice motion and by an inflow representing the flow of Pacific Water through Bering Strait. The model reproduces the main elements of the halocline circulation: an anticyclonic Beaufort Gyre in the western basin (representing the Canada Basin), a cyclonic circulation in the eastern basin (representing the Eurasian Basin), and a Transpolar Drift between the two gyres directed from the upwind side of the basin to the downwind side of the basin. Analysis of the potential vorticity budget shows a basin-averaged balance primarily between potential vorticity input at the surface and dissipation at the lateral boundaries. However, advection is a leading-order term not only within the anticyclonic and cyclonic gyres but also between the gyres. This means that the eastern and western basins are dynamically connected through the advection of potential vorticity. Both eddy and mean fluxes play a role in connecting the regions of potential vorticity input at the surface with the opposite gyre and with the viscous boundary layers. These conclusions are based on a series of model runs in which forcing, topography, straits, and the Coriolis parameter were varied.This study was supported by National Science Foundation Grant OPP-1822334. Comments and suggestions from two anonymous referees greatly helped to improve the paper.2021-02-1

Midlatitude wind stress–sea surface temperature coupling in the vicinity of oceanic fronts

Author Posting. © American Meteorological Society, 2007. This article is posted here by permission of American Meteorological Society for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Climate 20 (2007): 3785–3801, doi:10.1175/JCLI4234.1The influences of strong gradients in sea surface temperature on near-surface cross-front winds are explored in a series of idealized numerical modeling experiments. The atmospheric model is the Naval Research Laboratory Coupled Ocean–Atmosphere Mesoscale Prediction System (COAMPS) model, which is fully coupled to the Regional Ocean Modeling System (ROMS) ocean model. A series of idealized, two-dimensional model calculations is carried out in which the wind blows from the warm-to-cold side or the cold-to-warm side of an initially prescribed ocean front. The evolution of the near-surface winds, boundary layer, and thermal structure is described, and the balances in the momentum equation are diagnosed. The changes in surface winds across the front are consistent with previous models and observations, showing a strong positive correlation with the sea surface temperature and boundary layer thickness. The coupling arises mainly as a result of changes in the flux Richardson number across the front, and the strength of the coupling coefficient grows quadratically with the strength of the cross-front geostrophic wind. The acceleration of the winds over warm water results primarily from the rapid change in turbulent mixing and the resulting unbalanced Coriolis force in the vicinity of the front. Much of the loss/gain of momentum perpendicular to the front in the upper and lower boundary layer results from acceleration/deceleration of the flow parallel to the front via the Coriolis term. This mechanism is different from the previously suggested processes of downward mixing of momentum and adjustment to the horizontal pressure gradient, and is active for flows off the equator with sufficiently strong winds. Although the main focus of this work is on the midlatitude, strong wind regime, calculations at low latitudes and with weak winds show that the pressure gradient and turbulent mixing terms dominate the cross-front momentum budget, consistent with previous work.This work was supported by the Office of Naval Research Grant N00014-05-1-0300

Some influences of remote topography on western boundary currents

Author Posting. © Sears Foundation for Marine Research, 2014. This article is posted here by permission of Sears Foundation for Marine Research for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Marine Research 72 (2014): 73-94.The influence of topography in a basin interior on the separation and time-dependence of strongly nonlinear western boundary currents is explored using a shallow water numerical model and scaling theory. In the linear limit, the western boundary current follows the western boundary to the latitude of the gap in the interior topography where it then separates from the coast and flows eastward in a narrow jet. As nonlinearity is increased, the flow initially remains steady but develops a series of stationary meanders extending off the western boundary at the separation latitude. For strongly nonlinear flows the solutions become time-dependent. The mean separation latitude continues to be tied to the interior topography even though the mean zonal flow far exceeds the baroclinic wave speed. In most cases, the variability is dominated by westward-propagating cyclonic and anticyclonic meanders of the separated western boundary current. The behavior on the western boundary alternates between an overshoot of the western boundary current with an anticyclonic meander and a premature separation of the western boundary current with the poleward formation of an anticyclonic eddy. The mean flow is consistent with the separation latitude of the North Atlantic Current to the west of the Charlie Gibbs Fracture Zone and the time-dependence shows many similarities with the observed variability of the East Australian Current to the west of New Zealand. The wave length of the meanders and the frequency and amplitude of the oscillations are well predicted by a simple scaling that accounts for wave propagation, nonlinear advection, and a viscous sublayer along the western boundary.This study was supported by the National Science Foundation under Grants OCE-0826656, OCE-0959381 and OCE-1232389

An idealized modeling study of the midlatitude variability of the wind-driven meridional overturning circulation

Author Posting. © American Meteorological Society, 2021. This article is posted here by permission of American Meteorological Society for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Physical Oceanography 51(8),(2021): 2425–2441, https://doi.org/10.1175/JPO-D-20-0317.1.The frequency and latitudinal dependence of the midlatitude wind-driven meridional overturning circulation (MOC) is studied using theory and linear and nonlinear applications of a quasigeostrophic numerical model. Wind forcing is varied either by changing the strength of the wind or by shifting the meridional location of the wind stress curl pattern. At forcing periods of less than the first-mode baroclinic Rossby wave basin crossing time scale, the linear response in the middepth and deep ocean is in phase and opposite to the Ekman transport. For forcing periods that are close to the Rossby wave basin crossing time scale, the upper and deep MOC are enhanced, and the middepth MOC becomes phase shifted, relative to the Ekman transport. At longer forcing periods the deep MOC weakens and the middepth MOC increases, but eventually for long enough forcing periods (decadal) the entire wind-driven MOC spins down. Nonlinearities and mesoscale eddies are found to be important in two ways. First, baroclinic instability causes the middepth MOC to weaken, lose correlation with the Ekman transport, and lose correlation with the MOC in the opposite gyre. Second, eddy thickness fluxes extend the MOC beyond the latitudes of direct wind forcing. These results are consistent with several recent studies describing the four-dimensional structure of the MOC in the North Atlantic Ocean.This study was supported by National Science Foundation Grant OCE-1947290.2022-01-1

On the circulation of Atlantic Water in the Arctic Ocean

Author Posting. © American Meteorological Society, 2013. This article is posted here by permission of American Meteorological Society for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Physical Oceanography 43 (2013): 2352–2371, doi:10.1175/JPO-D-13-079.1.An idealized eddy-resolving numerical model and an analytic three-layer model are used to develop ideas about what controls the circulation of Atlantic Water in the Arctic Ocean. The numerical model is forced with a surface heat flux, uniform winds, and a source of low-salinity water near the surface around the perimeter of an Arctic basin. Despite this idealized configuration, the model is able to reproduce many general aspects of the Arctic Ocean circulation and hydrography, including exchange through Fram Strait, circulation of Atlantic Water, a halocline, ice cover and transport, surface heat flux, and a Beaufort Gyre. The analytic model depends on a nondimensional number, and provides theoretical estimates of the halocline depth, stratification, freshwater content, and baroclinic shear in the boundary current. An empirical relationship between freshwater content and sea surface height allows for a prediction of the transport of Atlantic Water in the cyclonic boundary current. Parameters typical of the Arctic Ocean produce a cyclonic boundary current of Atlantic Water of O(1 − 2 Sv; where 1 Sv ≡ 106 m3 s−1) and a halocline depth of O(200 m), in reasonable agreement with observations. The theory compares well with a series of numerical model calculations in which mixing and environmental parameters are varied, thus lending credibility to the dynamics of the analytic model. In these models, lateral eddy fluxes from the boundary and vertical diffusion in the interior are important drivers of the halocline and the circulation of Atlantic Water in the Arctic Ocean.This study was supported by the National Science Foundation under Grants OCE- 0850416, OCE-0959381, and OCE-1232389.2014-05-0