Numerical Simulation of the Cretaceous Tethys Circumglobal Current

Certain paleobiogeographical reconstructions of ocean currents during the Cretaceous (about 144 to 65 million years ago) suggest that a circumglobal tropical current flowed westward through the continental configuration of that time. Although some numerical climate models failed in initial attempts to simulate this current, simulations with a coupled atmosphere-ocean model with relatively high spatial resolution and a late Cretaceous continental distribution show that a circumglobal current is a robust feature even though local surface currents in the Tethys Seaway reverse during the south Eurasian monsoon months.     

Ocean circulation: its effects on seasonal sea-ice simulations

A diagnostic ice-ocean model of the Arctic, Greenland, and Norwegian seas is constructed and used to examine the role of ocean circulation in seasonal sea-ice simulations. The model includes lateral ice motion and three-dimensional ocean circulation. The ocean portion of the model is weakly forced by observed temperature and salinity data. Simulation results show that including modeled ocean circulation in seasonal sea-ice simulations substantially improves the predicted ice drift and ice margin location. Simulations that do not include lateral ocean movment predict a much less realistic ice edge.     

Long-term sea-level fluctuations driven by ocean basin dynamics

Earth's long-term sea-level history is characterized by widespread continental flooding in the Cretaceous period (approximately 145 to 65 million years ago), followed by gradual regression of inland seas. However, published estimates of the Late Cretaceous sea-level high differ by half an order of magnitude, from approximately 40 to approximately 250 meters above the present level. The low estimate is based on the stratigraphy of the New Jersey margin. By assimilating marine geophysical data into reconstructions of ancient ocean basins, we model a Late Cretaceous sea level that is 170 (85 to 270) meters higher than it is today. We use a mantle convection model to suggest that New Jersey subsided by 105 to 180 meters in the past 70 million years because of North America's westward passage over the subducted Farallon plate. This mechanism reconciles New Jersey margin-based sea-level estimates with ocean basin reconstructions.     

南极普里兹湾关键物理海洋学问题研究进展及未来趋势

南极普里兹湾及其邻近海域关键物理海洋学问题包括水团特性、环流特征和冰架 海洋 海冰相互作用过程等。该海域水团可以分为南极表层水、绕极深层水、南极底层水、南极陆架水和南极冰架水等,受外部条件影响,这些水团时空变化显著。普里兹湾区域的环流以普里兹湾流涡,西向的沿岸流和东向的绕极流,以及两者之间的南极辐散带的环流为主要特征,地形是环流特征的关键影响因素。埃默里冰架 海洋的相互作用过程显著影响普里兹湾海域的水团特性和环流状况。冰泵机制,是埃默里冰架外海水进入冰穴,并引起冰架底部消融和冻结的重要原因。冰架 海洋 海冰相互作用形成的低温高盐水,是普里兹湾形成南极底层水的潜在因素之一。加强现场观测,并建立高分辨率的冰架 海洋 海冰耦合模型系统是研究普里兹湾海域物理海洋学关键过程和变化机制的重要手段,是南极研究的发展趋势。     

Anthropogenic warming of Earth's climate system

We compared the temporal variability of the heat content of the world ocean, of the global atmosphere, and of components of Earth's cryosphere during the latter half of the 20th century. Each component has increased its heat content (the atmosphere and the ocean) or exhibited melting (the cryosphere). The estimated increase of observed global ocean heat content (over the depth range from 0 to 3000 meters) between the 1950s and 1990s is at least one order of magnitude larger than the increase in heat content of any other component. Simulation results using an atmosphere-ocean general circulation model that includes estimates of the radiative effects of observed temporal variations in greenhouse gases, sulfate aerosols, solar irradiance, and volcanic aerosols over the past century agree with our observation-based estimate of the increase in ocean heat content. The results we present suggest that the observed increase in ocean heat content may largely be due to the increase of anthropogenic gases in Earth's atmosphere.     

The influence of vegetation-atmosphere-ocean interaction on climate during the mid-holocene

Simulations with a synchronously coupled atmosphere-ocean-vegetation model show that changes in vegetation cover during the mid-Holocene, some 6000 years ago, modify and amplify the climate system response to an enhanced seasonal cycle of solar insolation in the Northern Hemisphere both directly (primarily through the changes in surface albedo) and indirectly (through changes in oceanic temperature, sea-ice cover, and oceanic circulation). The model results indicate strong synergistic effects of changes in vegetation cover, ocean temperature, and sea ice at boreal latitudes, but in the subtropics, the atmosphere-vegetation feedback is most important. Moreover, a reduction of the thermohaline circulation in the Atlantic Ocean leads to a warming of the Southern Hemisphere.     

Quaternary deepwater paleoceanography

During the past decade, geochemical paleoceanographers have begun to explore the changes in the circulation of the deep ocean that occurred during the glacial-interglacial cycles of the earth's recent history. The deep ocean was significantly colder during the glacial maximum. The distributions of biologically utilized elements (such as carbon and phosphorus) were significantly different as well; higher concentrations of these elements occurred in the deep (>2500 meters depth) North Atlantic, and lower concentrations occurred in the upper (<2500 meters depth) waters of the North Atlantic and possibly in all of the major ocean basins. In contrast, relatively subtle changes have been observed in the radiocarbon ages of deep waters. Slow deepwater changes are statistically linked to variations in the earth's orbit, but rapid changes in deepwater circulation also have occurred. Deepwater chemistry and circulation changes may control the variability in atmospheric CO(2) levels that have been documented from studies of air bubbles in polar ice cores.     

Atmospheric blocking and Atlantic multidecadal ocean variability

Atmospheric blocking over the northern North Atlantic, which involves isolation of large regions of air from the westerly circulation for 5 days or more, influences fundamentally the ocean circulation and upper ocean properties by affecting wind patterns. Winters with clusters of more frequent blocking between Greenland and western Europe correspond to a warmer, more saline subpolar ocean. The correspondence between blocked westerly winds and warm ocean holds in recent decadal episodes (especially 1996 to 2010). It also describes much longer time scale Atlantic multidecadal ocean variability (AMV), including the extreme pre-greenhouse-gas northern warming of the 1930s to 1960s. The space-time structure of the wind forcing associated with a blocked regime leads to weaker ocean gyres and weaker heat exchange, both of which contribute to the warm phase of AMV.     

Changes in Atmospheric Circulation and Ocean Ice Cover over the North Atlantic During the Last 41,000 Years

High-resolution, continuous multivariate chemical records from a central Greenland ice core provide a sensitive measure of climate change and chemical composition of the atmosphere over the last 41,000 years. These chemical series reveal a record of change in the relative size and intensity of the circulation system that transported air masses to Greenland [defined here as the polar circulation index (PCI)] and in the extent of ocean ice cover. Massive iceberg discharge events previously defined from the marine record are correlated with notable expansions of ocean ice cover and increases in PCI. During stadials without discharge events, ocean ice cover appears to reach some common maximum level. The massive aerosol loadings and dramatic variations in ocean ice cover documented in ice cores should be included in climate modeling.     

A two-tiered approach to long-range climate forecasting

Long-range global climate forecasts were made by use of a model for predicting a tropical Pacific sea-surface temperature (SST) in tandem with an atmospheric general circulation model. The SST is predicted first at long lead times into the future. These ocean forecasts are then used to force the atmospheric model and so produce climate forecasts at lead times of the SST forecasts. Prediction of seven large climatic events of the 1970s to 1990s by this technique are in good agreement with observations over many regions of the globe.     

Temporal relationships of carbon cycling and ocean circulation at glacial boundaries

Evidence from high-sedimentation-rate South Atlantic deep-sea cores indicates that global and Southern Ocean carbon budget shifts preceded thermohaline circulation changes during the last ice age initiation and termination and that these were preceded by ice-sheet growth and retreat, respectively. No consistent lead-lag relationships are observed during abrupt millennial warming events during the last ice age, allowing for the possibility that ocean circulation triggered some millenial climate changes. At the major glacial-interglacial transitions, the global carbon budget and thermohaline ocean circulation responded sequentially to the climate changes that forced the growth and decline of continental ice sheets.     

Anthropogenic CO2 uptake by the ocean based on the global chlorofluorocarbon data set

We estimated the oceanic inventory of anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO2) from 1980 to 1999 using a technique based on the global chlorofluorocarbon data set. Our analysis suggests that the ocean stored 14.8 petagrams of anthropogenic carbon from mid-1980 to mid-1989 and 17.9 petagrams of carbon from mid-1990 to mid-1999, indicating an oceanwide net uptake of 1.6 and 2.0 +/- 0.4 petagrams of carbon per year, respectively. Our results provide an upper limit on the solubility-driven anthropogenic CO2 flux into the ocean, and they suggest that most ocean general circulation models are overestimating oceanic anthropogenic CO2 uptake over the past two decades.     

气候模式研究进展

首先介绍了气候模式的发展历史、基本结构及其组成成分之间的耦合,然后阐述了大气环流模式、海洋环流模式、海冰模式和陆地表面模式,并依次介绍了零维模式、辐射对流模式、较高维模式、中度复杂的地球系统模式、全球气候模式以及区域气候模式,最后对气候模式的未来发展做了概括与论述,并针对其存在的不足提出了相关的建议和发展目标。     

Compensation of horizontal temperature and salinity gradients in the ocean mixed layer

Establishment of the temperature-salinity relationship in the ocean has concerned oceanographers for decades because of its importance for understanding ocean circulation. High-resolution measurements in the ocean mixed layer are used to show that temperature and salinity gradients on horizontal scales of 20 meters to 10 kilometers tend to compensate in their effect on density. These observations support the notion of a horizontal mixing in the mixed layer that depends on density gradient.     

The effect of eurasian snow cover on global climate

Numerical simulations with a global atmospheric circulation model suggest that largescale variations in the amount of snowfall over Eurasia in the springtime are linked to the subsequent strength of the Asian summer monsoon. Large-scale changes in Eurasian snow cover are coupled to larger scale changes in the global climate system. There is a large, strong teleconnection to the atmospheric field over North America. The model results also show snow cover effects to subsequently alter other climatic fields known to be intimately associated with the El Ni?o-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) phenomenon. Thus the model results seem to challenge the current dogma that the ENSO phenomenon is solely the result of close coupling between the atmosphere and ocean by suggesting that processes over continental land masses may also have to be considered.     

Dike injection and the formation of megaplumes at ocean ridges

A simple hydrologic model of seawater circulation at ocean ridge axes implies that the transient occurrence of large volumes of buoyant, heated water in the oceanic water column (megaplumes) can be attributed to the emplacement of dikes in oceanic crust. For dikes to generate megaplume flow, the permeability of both the recharge areas and the upflow zone must be greater than that required for ordinary black smokers. An increase in permeability in the upflow zone by several orders of magnitude results from dike emplacement, and megaplume discharge ceases as the dike cools. Vigorous black smoker venting may not persist very long at a megaplume site after the event occurs.     

The position of the gulf stream during quaternary glaciations

Ocean general circulation theories predict that the position of the boundary between subtropical and subpolar gyres (and therefore the position of the Gulf Stream-North Atlantic Current system and the subpolar-subtropical front) is set by the line of zero "Ekman pumping," where there is no convergence or divergence of water in the directly wind-forced surface layer of the ocean. In the present-day North Atlantic Ocean this line runs southwest to northeast, from off the Carolinas to off Ireland. However, during the last ice age (18,000 years ago) the subpolar-subtropical boundary ran more zonally, directly toward Gibraltar. A numerical atmospheric general circulation model indicates that the field of Ekman pumping 18,000 years ago was modified by the presence of a continental ice cap more than 3 kilometers thick such that the line of zero Ekman pumping overlaid the paleogyre boundary. These results demonstrate that the presence of a thick continental ice sheet could have caused changes in sea surface temperatures in the North Atlantic during Quaternary glaciations by altering wind patterns.     

Ocean science. Enhanced: internal tides and ocean mixing

Recent satellite and in situ observations have shown that at ocean ridges and other seafloor topographic features, a substantial amount of energy is transferred from the main ocean tides into "internal tides." In his Perspective, Garrett explains how these internal waves with tidal periods propagate through the density-stratified deep ocean and eventually break down into turbulence. The resulting mixing affects ocean stratification and ocean circulation. It thus influences climate as well as biological production. The energy for the internal tides is derived from the rotational energy of the Earth-Moon system changes of the length of the day and the distance to the Moon.     

Regional synthesis of Mediterranean atmospheric circulation during the Last Glacial Maximum

Atmospheric circulation leaves few direct traces in the geological record, making reconstructions of this crucial element of the climate system inherently difficult. We produced a regional Mediterranean synthesis of paleo-proxy data from the sea surface to alpine altitudes. This provides a detailed observational context for change in the three-dimensional structure of atmospheric circulation between the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM, approximately 23,000 to 19,000 years ago) and the present. The synthesis reveals evidence for frequent cold polar air incursions, topographically channeled into the northwestern Mediterranean. Anomalously steep vertical temperature gradients in the central Mediterranean imply local convective precipitation. We find the LGM patterns to be analogous, though amplified, to previously reconstructed phases of enhanced meridional winter circulation during the Maunder Minimum (the Little Ice Age).     

Latitudinal gradients in greenhouse seawater δ(18) O: evidence from Eocene sirenian tooth enamel

The Eocene greenhouse climate state has been linked to a more vigorous hydrologic cycle at mid- and high latitudes; similar information on precipitation levels at low latitudes is, however, limited. Oxygen isotopic fluxes track moisture fluxes and, thus, the δ(18)O values of ocean surface waters can provide insight into hydrologic cycle changes. The offset between tropical δ(18)O values from sampled Eocene sirenian tooth enamel and modern surface waters is greater than the expected 1.0 per mil increase due to increased continental ice volume. This increased offset could result from suppression of surface-water δ(18)O values by a tropical, annual moisture balance substantially wetter than that of today. Results from an atmospheric general circulation model support this interpretation and suggest that Eocene low latitudes were extremely wet.