Processes controlling the Southern Ocean temperature change
- DOI
- Language of the publication
- English
- Date
- 2022-11-16
- Type
- Article
- Author(s)
- Chen, Jia-Jia
- Swart, Neil C.
- Cheng, Xuhua
- Publisher
- American Meteorological Society
Abstract
Observations show that since the 1950s, the subsurface Southern Ocean has been rapidly warming in the south and cooling in the north. However, what drives these opposing latitudinal patterns of change is not well understood. By analyzing the outputs of atmosphere–ocean general circulation models, we examine and quantify the processes controlling the temperature change in the Southern Ocean. We find that subsurface cooling in the north results from the combined effect of weak warming driven by greenhouse gases and cooling forced by aerosols. Contrary to previous work, we find that the influence of stratospheric ozone forcing is small and unnecessary to explain the observed patterns. Analysis of heat budget diagnostics shows that ocean heat content change between 400 and 1200 m in the Southern Ocean is primarily driven by slight imbalances between the large and opposing changes in residual mean advection and isopycnal diffusion. We show that while surface heat flux anomalies are the main contributor to the warming in the Southern Ocean, changes in wind stress are also required to produce the observed pattern of temperature change. These results highlight the importance of ocean dynamics in subsurface ocean heat content change. The counterbalancing effects of aerosols and greenhouse gases on ocean heat content change in the Southern Ocean will change with aerosols declining in the future, while our results suggest that changes in stratospheric ozone forcing will have only a minor effect on future patterns of Southern Ocean thermohaline structure.
Description
Copyright 2022 American Meteorological Society (AMS). For permission to reuse any portion of this Work, please contact permissions@ametsoc.org. Any use of material in this Work that is determined to be “fair use” under Section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Act (17 U.S. Code § 107) or that satisfies the conditions specified in Section 108 of the U.S. Copyright Act (17 USC § 108) does not require the AMS’s permission. Republication, systematic reproduction, posting in electronic form, such as on a website or in a searchable database, or other uses of this material, except as exempted by the above statement, requires written permission or a license from the AMS. All AMS journals and monograph publications are registered with the Copyright Clearance Center (https://www.copyright.com). Additional details are provided in the AMS Copyright Policy statement, available on the AMS website (https://www.ametsoc.org/PUBSCopyrightPolicy)
Droit d'auteur 2022 American Meteorological Society (AMS). Pour obtenir l'autorisation de réutiliser toute partie de cette œuvre, veuillez contacter permissions@ametsoc.org. Toute utilisation d'un élément de cette œuvre considérée comme une "utilisation équitable" par l'article 107 de la loi américaine sur le droit d'auteur (U.S. Copyright Act, 17 U.S. Code § 107) ou satisfaisant aux conditions énoncées à l'article 108 de la loi américaine sur le droit d'auteur (U.S. Copyright Act, 17 U.S. Code § 108) ne requiert pas l'autorisation de l'AMS. La republication, la reproduction systématique, l'affichage sous forme électronique, par exemple sur un site web ou dans une base de données interrogeable, ou toute autre utilisation de ce matériel, à l'exception de ce qui est exempté par la déclaration ci-dessus, nécessite une autorisation écrite ou une licence de la part de l'AMS. Toutes les revues et monographies de l'AMS sont enregistrées auprès du Copyright Clearance Center (https://www.copyright.com). Des détails supplémentaires sont prévu dans la déclaration de politique de droit d'auteur de l'AMS, disponible sur le site web de l'AMS (https://www.ametsoc.org/PUBSCopyrightPolicy)
Subject
- Nature and environment,
- Water,
- Science and technology,
- Climate
Pagination
7739–7749
Peer review
Yes
Open access level
Green
Identifiers
- ISSN
-
0894-8755
- 1520-0442
Article
- Journal title
- Journal of Climate
- Journal volume
- 35
- Journal issue
- 23
- Accepted date
- 2022-08-12
- Submitted date
- 2022-02-18