Articles | Volume 16, issue 2
https://doi.org/10.5194/os-16-323-2020
© Author(s) 2020. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/os-16-323-2020
© Author(s) 2020. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
12 Mar 2020
Research article |
| 12 Mar 2020
Tracking the spread of a passive tracer through Southern Ocean water masses
School of Mathematics and Statistics, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
Jean-Baptiste Sallée
CNRS, LOCEAN Laboratory, Sorbonne Université, Paris, France
Andrew J. S. Meijers
British Antarctic Survey, Cambridge, UK
Alberto C. Naveira-Garabato
National Oceanography Centre, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK
Andrew J. Watson
College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter, Exeter, UK
Marie-Jose Messias
College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter, Exeter, UK
Brian A. King
National Oceanography Centre, Southampton, UK
Related authors
No articles found.
Karina von Schuckmann, Audrey Minière, Flora Gues, Francisco José Cuesta-Valero, Gottfried Kirchengast, Susheel Adusumilli, Fiammetta Straneo, Michaël Ablain, Richard P. Allan, Paul M. Barker, Hugo Beltrami, Alejandro Blazquez, Tim Boyer, Lijing Cheng, John Church, Damien Desbruyeres, Han Dolman, Catia M. Domingues, Almudena García-García, Donata Giglio, John E. Gilson, Maximilian Gorfer, Leopold Haimberger, Maria Z. Hakuba, Stefan Hendricks, Shigeki Hosoda, Gregory C. Johnson, Rachel Killick, Brian King, Nicolas Kolodziejczyk, Anton Korosov, Gerhard Krinner, Mikael Kuusela, Felix W. Landerer, Moritz Langer, Thomas Lavergne, Isobel Lawrence, Yuehua Li, John Lyman, Florence Marti, Ben Marzeion, Michael Mayer, Andrew H. MacDougall, Trevor McDougall, Didier Paolo Monselesan, Jan Nitzbon, Inès Otosaka, Jian Peng, Sarah Purkey, Dean Roemmich, Kanako Sato, Katsunari Sato, Abhishek Savita, Axel Schweiger, Andrew Shepherd, Sonia I. Seneviratne, Leon Simons, Donald A. Slater, Thomas Slater, Andrea K. Steiner, Toshio Suga, Tanguy Szekely, Wim Thiery, Mary-Louise Timmermans, Inne Vanderkelen, Susan E. Wjiffels, Tonghua Wu, and Michael Zemp
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 15, 1675–1709, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-1675-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-1675-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Earth's climate is out of energy balance, and this study quantifies how much heat has consequently accumulated over the past decades (ocean: 89 %, land: 6 %, cryosphere: 4 %, atmosphere: 1 %). Since 1971, this accumulated heat reached record values at an increasing pace. The Earth heat inventory provides a comprehensive view on the status and expectation of global warming, and we call for an implementation of this global climate indicator into the Paris Agreement’s Global Stocktake.
Dan(i) Jones, Maike Sonnewald, Shenjie Zhou, Ute Hausmann, Andrew J. S. Meijers, Isabella Rosso, Lars Boehme, Michael P. Meredith, and Alberto C. Naveira Garabato
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2022-1484, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2022-1484, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Machine learning is transforming oceanography. For example, unsupervised classification approaches help researchers identify under-appreciated structures in ocean data, helping to generate new hypotheses. In this work, we use a type of unsupervised classification to identify structures in the temperature and salinity structure of the Weddell Gyre, which is an important region for global ocean circulation and for climate. We use our method to generate new ideas about mixing in the Weddell Gyre.
Stefanie L. Ypma, Quinten Bohte, Alexander Forryan, Alberto C. Naveira Garabato, Andy Donnelly, and Erik van Sebille
Ocean Sci., 18, 1477–1490, https://doi.org/10.5194/os-18-1477-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/os-18-1477-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
In this research we aim to improve cleanup efforts on the Galapagos Islands of marine plastic debris when resources are limited and the distribution of the plastic on shorelines is unknown. Using a network that describes the flow of macroplastic between the islands we have identified the most efficient cleanup locations, quantified the impact of targeting these locations and showed that shorelines where the plastic is unlikely to leave are likely efficient cleanup locations.
Pierre Friedlingstein, Matthew W. Jones, Michael O'Sullivan, Robbie M. Andrew, Dorothee C. E. Bakker, Judith Hauck, Corinne Le Quéré, Glen P. Peters, Wouter Peters, Julia Pongratz, Stephen Sitch, Josep G. Canadell, Philippe Ciais, Rob B. Jackson, Simone R. Alin, Peter Anthoni, Nicholas R. Bates, Meike Becker, Nicolas Bellouin, Laurent Bopp, Thi Tuyet Trang Chau, Frédéric Chevallier, Louise P. Chini, Margot Cronin, Kim I. Currie, Bertrand Decharme, Laique M. Djeutchouang, Xinyu Dou, Wiley Evans, Richard A. Feely, Liang Feng, Thomas Gasser, Dennis Gilfillan, Thanos Gkritzalis, Giacomo Grassi, Luke Gregor, Nicolas Gruber, Özgür Gürses, Ian Harris, Richard A. Houghton, George C. Hurtt, Yosuke Iida, Tatiana Ilyina, Ingrid T. Luijkx, Atul Jain, Steve D. Jones, Etsushi Kato, Daniel Kennedy, Kees Klein Goldewijk, Jürgen Knauer, Jan Ivar Korsbakken, Arne Körtzinger, Peter Landschützer, Siv K. Lauvset, Nathalie Lefèvre, Sebastian Lienert, Junjie Liu, Gregg Marland, Patrick C. McGuire, Joe R. Melton, David R. Munro, Julia E. M. S. Nabel, Shin-Ichiro Nakaoka, Yosuke Niwa, Tsuneo Ono, Denis Pierrot, Benjamin Poulter, Gregor Rehder, Laure Resplandy, Eddy Robertson, Christian Rödenbeck, Thais M. Rosan, Jörg Schwinger, Clemens Schwingshackl, Roland Séférian, Adrienne J. Sutton, Colm Sweeney, Toste Tanhua, Pieter P. Tans, Hanqin Tian, Bronte Tilbrook, Francesco Tubiello, Guido R. van der Werf, Nicolas Vuichard, Chisato Wada, Rik Wanninkhof, Andrew J. Watson, David Willis, Andrew J. Wiltshire, Wenping Yuan, Chao Yue, Xu Yue, Sönke Zaehle, and Jiye Zeng
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 14, 1917–2005, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-1917-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-1917-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
The Global Carbon Budget 2021 describes the data sets and methodology used to quantify the emissions of carbon dioxide and their partitioning among the atmosphere, land, and ocean. These living data are updated every year to provide the highest transparency and traceability in the reporting of CO2, the key driver of climate change.
Richard P. Sims, Michael Bedington, Ute Schuster, Andrew J. Watson, Vassilis Kitidis, Ricardo Torres, Helen S. Findlay, James R. Fishwick, Ian Brown, and Thomas G. Bell
Biogeosciences, 19, 1657–1674, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-1657-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-1657-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
The amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) being absorbed by the ocean is relevant to the earth's climate. CO2 values in the coastal ocean and estuaries are not well known because of the instrumentation used. We used a new approach to measure CO2 across the coastal and estuarine zone. We found that CO2 and salinity were linked to the state of the tide. We used our CO2 measurements and model salinity to predict CO2. Previous studies overestimate how much CO2 the coastal ocean draws down at our site.
Zhaohui Chen, Parvadha Suntharalingam, Andrew J. Watson, Ute Schuster, Jiang Zhu, and Ning Zeng
Biogeosciences, 18, 4549–4570, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-4549-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-4549-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
As the global temperature continues to increase, carbon dioxide (CO2) is a major driver of this global warming. The increased CO2 is mainly caused by emissions from fossil fuel use and land use. At the same time, the ocean is a significant sink in the carbon cycle. The North Atlantic is a critical ocean region in reducing CO2 concentration. We estimate the CO2 uptake in this region based on a carbon inverse system and atmospheric CO2 observations.
Pierre Friedlingstein, Michael O'Sullivan, Matthew W. Jones, Robbie M. Andrew, Judith Hauck, Are Olsen, Glen P. Peters, Wouter Peters, Julia Pongratz, Stephen Sitch, Corinne Le Quéré, Josep G. Canadell, Philippe Ciais, Robert B. Jackson, Simone Alin, Luiz E. O. C. Aragão, Almut Arneth, Vivek Arora, Nicholas R. Bates, Meike Becker, Alice Benoit-Cattin, Henry C. Bittig, Laurent Bopp, Selma Bultan, Naveen Chandra, Frédéric Chevallier, Louise P. Chini, Wiley Evans, Liesbeth Florentie, Piers M. Forster, Thomas Gasser, Marion Gehlen, Dennis Gilfillan, Thanos Gkritzalis, Luke Gregor, Nicolas Gruber, Ian Harris, Kerstin Hartung, Vanessa Haverd, Richard A. Houghton, Tatiana Ilyina, Atul K. Jain, Emilie Joetzjer, Koji Kadono, Etsushi Kato, Vassilis Kitidis, Jan Ivar Korsbakken, Peter Landschützer, Nathalie Lefèvre, Andrew Lenton, Sebastian Lienert, Zhu Liu, Danica Lombardozzi, Gregg Marland, Nicolas Metzl, David R. Munro, Julia E. M. S. Nabel, Shin-Ichiro Nakaoka, Yosuke Niwa, Kevin O'Brien, Tsuneo Ono, Paul I. Palmer, Denis Pierrot, Benjamin Poulter, Laure Resplandy, Eddy Robertson, Christian Rödenbeck, Jörg Schwinger, Roland Séférian, Ingunn Skjelvan, Adam J. P. Smith, Adrienne J. Sutton, Toste Tanhua, Pieter P. Tans, Hanqin Tian, Bronte Tilbrook, Guido van der Werf, Nicolas Vuichard, Anthony P. Walker, Rik Wanninkhof, Andrew J. Watson, David Willis, Andrew J. Wiltshire, Wenping Yuan, Xu Yue, and Sönke Zaehle
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 12, 3269–3340, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-12-3269-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-12-3269-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
The Global Carbon Budget 2020 describes the data sets and methodology used to quantify the emissions of carbon dioxide and their partitioning among the atmosphere, land, and ocean. These living data are updated every year to provide the highest transparency and traceability in the reporting of CO2, the key driver of climate change.
Karina von Schuckmann, Lijing Cheng, Matthew D. Palmer, James Hansen, Caterina Tassone, Valentin Aich, Susheel Adusumilli, Hugo Beltrami, Tim Boyer, Francisco José Cuesta-Valero, Damien Desbruyères, Catia Domingues, Almudena García-García, Pierre Gentine, John Gilson, Maximilian Gorfer, Leopold Haimberger, Masayoshi Ishii, Gregory C. Johnson, Rachel Killick, Brian A. King, Gottfried Kirchengast, Nicolas Kolodziejczyk, John Lyman, Ben Marzeion, Michael Mayer, Maeva Monier, Didier Paolo Monselesan, Sarah Purkey, Dean Roemmich, Axel Schweiger, Sonia I. Seneviratne, Andrew Shepherd, Donald A. Slater, Andrea K. Steiner, Fiammetta Straneo, Mary-Louise Timmermans, and Susan E. Wijffels
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 12, 2013–2041, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-12-2013-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-12-2013-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
Understanding how much and where the heat is distributed in the Earth system is fundamental to understanding how this affects warming oceans, atmosphere and land, rising temperatures and sea level, and loss of grounded and floating ice, which are fundamental concerns for society. This study is a Global Climate Observing System (GCOS) concerted international effort to obtain the Earth heat inventory over the period 1960–2018.
Pieter Demuynck, Toby Tyrrell, Alberto Naveira Garabato, Mark Christopher Moore, and Adrian Peter Martin
Biogeosciences, 17, 2289–2314, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-17-2289-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-17-2289-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
The availability of macronutrients N and Si is of key importance to sustain life in the Southern Ocean. N and Si are available in abundance at the southern boundary of the Southern Ocean due to constant supply from the deep ocean. In the more northern regions of the Southern Ocean, a decline in macronutrient concentration is noticed, especially strong for Si rather than N. This paper uses a simplified biogeochemical model to investigate processes responsible for this decline in concentration.
Alexander Forryan, Sheldon Bacon, Takamasa Tsubouchi, Sinhué Torres-Valdés, and Alberto C. Naveira Garabato
The Cryosphere, 13, 2111–2131, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-2111-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-2111-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
We compare control volume and geochemical tracer-based methods of estimating the Arctic Ocean freshwater budget and find both methods in good agreement. Inconsistencies arise from the distinction between
Atlanticand
Pacificwaters in the geochemical calculations. The definition of Pacific waters is particularly problematic due to the non-conservative nature of the nutrients underpinning the definition and the low salinity characterizing waters entering the Arctic through Bering Strait.
Corinne Le Quéré, Robbie M. Andrew, Pierre Friedlingstein, Stephen Sitch, Julia Pongratz, Andrew C. Manning, Jan Ivar Korsbakken, Glen P. Peters, Josep G. Canadell, Robert B. Jackson, Thomas A. Boden, Pieter P. Tans, Oliver D. Andrews, Vivek K. Arora, Dorothee C. E. Bakker, Leticia Barbero, Meike Becker, Richard A. Betts, Laurent Bopp, Frédéric Chevallier, Louise P. Chini, Philippe Ciais, Catherine E. Cosca, Jessica Cross, Kim Currie, Thomas Gasser, Ian Harris, Judith Hauck, Vanessa Haverd, Richard A. Houghton, Christopher W. Hunt, George Hurtt, Tatiana Ilyina, Atul K. Jain, Etsushi Kato, Markus Kautz, Ralph F. Keeling, Kees Klein Goldewijk, Arne Körtzinger, Peter Landschützer, Nathalie Lefèvre, Andrew Lenton, Sebastian Lienert, Ivan Lima, Danica Lombardozzi, Nicolas Metzl, Frank Millero, Pedro M. S. Monteiro, David R. Munro, Julia E. M. S. Nabel, Shin-ichiro Nakaoka, Yukihiro Nojiri, X. Antonio Padin, Anna Peregon, Benjamin Pfeil, Denis Pierrot, Benjamin Poulter, Gregor Rehder, Janet Reimer, Christian Rödenbeck, Jörg Schwinger, Roland Séférian, Ingunn Skjelvan, Benjamin D. Stocker, Hanqin Tian, Bronte Tilbrook, Francesco N. Tubiello, Ingrid T. van der Laan-Luijkx, Guido R. van der Werf, Steven van Heuven, Nicolas Viovy, Nicolas Vuichard, Anthony P. Walker, Andrew J. Watson, Andrew J. Wiltshire, Sönke Zaehle, and Dan Zhu
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 10, 405–448, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-10-405-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-10-405-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
The Global Carbon Budget 2017 describes data sets and methodology to quantify the five major components of the global carbon budget and their uncertainties. It is the 12th annual update and the 6th published in this journal.
Richard P. Sims, Ute Schuster, Andrew J. Watson, Ming Xi Yang, Frances E. Hopkins, John Stephens, and Thomas G. Bell
Ocean Sci., 13, 649–660, https://doi.org/10.5194/os-13-649-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/os-13-649-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
This paper describes a near-surface ocean profiler (NSOP) that is deployed from a research vessel. The NSOP is used to sample the top 10 m of the ocean and pumps water back to the research ship for scientific analyses such as for trace gases. The precision in the depth of the seawater collection improves upon previous methods. The NSOP has been used to observe vertical gradients in the upper 5 m for temperature, carbon dioxide and dimethylsulfide.
M. Dolores Pérez-Hernández, Alonso Hernández-Guerra, Isis Comas-Rodríguez, Verónica M. Benítez-Barrios, Eugenio Fraile-Nuez, Josep L. Pelegrí, and Alberto C. Naveira Garabato
Ocean Sci., 13, 577–587, https://doi.org/10.5194/os-13-577-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/os-13-577-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
The decadal differences between the ALBATROSS (April 1999) and MOC2-Austral (February 2010) hydrographic cruises are analyzed. Changes in the intermediate water masses beneath seem to be very sensitive to the wind conditions existing in their formation area. The Subantarctic Front is wider and weaker in 2010 than in 1999, while the Polar Front remains in the same position and strengthens.
Dorothee C. E. Bakker, Benjamin Pfeil, Camilla S. Landa, Nicolas Metzl, Kevin M. O'Brien, Are Olsen, Karl Smith, Cathy Cosca, Sumiko Harasawa, Stephen D. Jones, Shin-ichiro Nakaoka, Yukihiro Nojiri, Ute Schuster, Tobias Steinhoff, Colm Sweeney, Taro Takahashi, Bronte Tilbrook, Chisato Wada, Rik Wanninkhof, Simone R. Alin, Carlos F. Balestrini, Leticia Barbero, Nicholas R. Bates, Alejandro A. Bianchi, Frédéric Bonou, Jacqueline Boutin, Yann Bozec, Eugene F. Burger, Wei-Jun Cai, Robert D. Castle, Liqi Chen, Melissa Chierici, Kim Currie, Wiley Evans, Charles Featherstone, Richard A. Feely, Agneta Fransson, Catherine Goyet, Naomi Greenwood, Luke Gregor, Steven Hankin, Nick J. Hardman-Mountford, Jérôme Harlay, Judith Hauck, Mario Hoppema, Matthew P. Humphreys, Christopher W. Hunt, Betty Huss, J. Severino P. Ibánhez, Truls Johannessen, Ralph Keeling, Vassilis Kitidis, Arne Körtzinger, Alex Kozyr, Evangelia Krasakopoulou, Akira Kuwata, Peter Landschützer, Siv K. Lauvset, Nathalie Lefèvre, Claire Lo Monaco, Ansley Manke, Jeremy T. Mathis, Liliane Merlivat, Frank J. Millero, Pedro M. S. Monteiro, David R. Munro, Akihiko Murata, Timothy Newberger, Abdirahman M. Omar, Tsuneo Ono, Kristina Paterson, David Pearce, Denis Pierrot, Lisa L. Robbins, Shu Saito, Joe Salisbury, Reiner Schlitzer, Bernd Schneider, Roland Schweitzer, Rainer Sieger, Ingunn Skjelvan, Kevin F. Sullivan, Stewart C. Sutherland, Adrienne J. Sutton, Kazuaki Tadokoro, Maciej Telszewski, Matthias Tuma, Steven M. A. C. van Heuven, Doug Vandemark, Brian Ward, Andrew J. Watson, and Suqing Xu
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 8, 383–413, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-8-383-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-8-383-2016, 2016
Short summary
Short summary
Version 3 of the Surface Ocean CO2 Atlas (www.socat.info) has 14.5 million CO2 (carbon dioxide) values for the years 1957 to 2014 covering the global oceans and coastal seas. Version 3 is an update to version 2 with a longer record and 44 % more CO2 values. The CO2 measurements have been made on ships, fixed moorings and drifting buoys. SOCAT enables quantification of the ocean carbon sink and ocean acidification, as well as model evaluation, thus informing climate negotiations.
U. Schuster, A. J. Watson, D. C. E. Bakker, A. M. de Boer, E. M. Jones, G. A. Lee, O. Legge, A. Louwerse, J. Riley, and S. Scally
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 6, 175–183, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-6-175-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-6-175-2014, 2014
Related subject area
Depth range: Deep Ocean | Approach: In situ Observations | Geographical range: Deep Seas: Southern Ocean | Phenomena: Temperature, Salinity and Density Fields
Influence of Ross Sea Bottom Water changes on the warming and freshening of the Antarctic Bottom Water in the Australian-Antarctic Basin
K. Shimada, S. Aoki, K. I. Ohshima, and S. R. Rintoul
Ocean Sci., 8, 419–432, https://doi.org/10.5194/os-8-419-2012, https://doi.org/10.5194/os-8-419-2012, 2012
Cited articles
Gnanadesikan, A., Pradal, M.-A., and Abernathey, R.: Isopycnal mixing by
mesoscale eddies significantly impacts oceanic anthropogenic carbon uptake,
Geophys. Res. Lett., 42, 4249–4255, 2015. a
Gregory, J. M.: Vertical heat transports in the ocean and their effect on
time-dependent climate change, Clim. Dynam., 16, 501–515, 2000. a
Ho, D. T., Ledwell, J. R., and Smethie Jr., W. M.: Use of SF5CF3 for ocean
tracer release experiments, Geophys. Res. Lett., 35, L04602, https://doi.org/10.1029/2007GL032799,
2008. a
Iselin, C. O.: The influence of vertical and lateral turbulence on the characteristics of the waters at mid‐depths, Eos Trans. AGU, 20, 414–417, https://doi.org/10.1029/TR020i003p00414, 1939. a
Killworth, P.: An equivalent barotropic mode in the fine resolution
AntArctic model, J. Phys. Oceanogr., 22, 1379–1387, 1992. a
Ledwell, J., Watson, A., and Law, C.: Mixing of a tracer in the pycnocline,
J. Geophys. Res., 103, 21499–21529, 1998. a
Lee, M.-M., Nurser, A. G., Coward, A. C., and De Cuevas, B. A.: Effective eddy
diffusivities inferred from a point release tracer in an eddy-resolving ocean
model, J. Phys. Oceanogr., 39, 894–914, 2009. a
Marshall, J. and Speer, K.: Closure of the meridional overturning circulation
through Southern Ocean upwelling, Nat. Geosci., 5, 171–180, 2012. a
Marshall, J., Shuckburgh, E., Jones, H., and Hill, C.: Estimates and
implications of surface eddy diffusivity in the Southern Ocean derived from
tracer transport, J. Phys. Oceanogr., 36, 1806–1821, 2006. a
Morris, M. Y., Hall, M. M., St. Laurent, L. C., and Hogg, N. G.: Abyssal
mixing in the Brazil basin, J. Phys. Oceanogr., 31,
3331–3348, 2001. a
Naveira Garabato, A. C., Ferrari, R., and Polzin, K. L.: Eddy stirring in the
Southern Ocean, J. Geophys. Res.-Oceans, 116, https://doi.org/10.1029/2010JC006818,
2011. a, b
Rudnick, D. L. and Martin, J. P.: On the horizontal density ratio in the upper
ocean, Dynam. Atmos. Oceans, 36, 3–21, 2002. a
Sallée, J. B., Speer, K., Rintoul, S., and Wijffels, S.: Southern Ocean
thermocline ventilation, J. Phys. Oceanogr., 40, 509–529,
2010. a
Sallée, J.-B., Matear, R. J., Rintoul, S. R., and Lenton, A.: Localized
subduction of anthropogenic carbon dioxide in the Southern Hemisphere oceans,
Nat. Geosci., 5, 579–584, 2012. a
Sijp, W. P., Bates, M., and England, M. H.: Can isopycnal mixing control the
stability of the Thermohaline Circulation in ocean climate models?, J. Climate, 19, 5637–5651, 2006. a
Sokolov, S. and Rintoul, S. R.: Circumpolar structure and distribution of the
Antarctic Circumpolar Current fronts: 1. Mean circumpolar paths, J.
Geophys. Res.-Oceans, 114, https://doi.org/10.1029/2008JC005108, 2009. a
Sundermeyer, M. A. and Price, J. F.: Lateral mixing and the North Atlantic
Tracer Release Experiment: Observations and numerical simulations of
Lagrangian particles and a passive tracer, J. Geophys. Res.-Oceans, 103, 21481–21497, 1998. a
Taylor, G. I.: Diffusion by continuous movements, P. Lond.
Math. Soc., 2, 196–212, 1922. a
Toole, J. M. and McDougall, T. J.: Mixing and stirring in the ocean interior. Ocean Circulation and Climate, International Geophysics Series, Academic Press, 77, 337–355, 2001. a
Veronis, G.: On properties of seawater defined by temperature, salinity, and
pressure, J. Marine Res., 30, 227–255,, 1972. a
Young, W., Rhines, P., and Garrett, C.: Shear flow dispersion, internal waves
and horizontal mixing in the ocean, J. Phys. Oceanogr., 12,
515–527, 1982. a
Zika, J. D., McDougall, T. J., and Sloyan, B. M.: A tracer-contour inverse
method for estimating ocean circulation and mixing, J. Phys.
Oceanogr., 40, 26–47, 2009a. a
Zika, J. D., Sloyan, B. M., and McDougall, T. J.: Diagnosing the Southern
Ocean Overturning from tracer fields, J. Phys. Oceanogr., 39,
2926–2940, 2009b. a
Zika, J. D., Sommer, L., Dufour, J., J-M., C. M., B., B., Brasseur, P., Dussin,
R., Penduff, T., D., I., Lenton, A., Madec, G., Mathiot, P., Orr, J.,
Shuckburgh, E., and Vivier, F.: Vertical eddy fluxes in the Southern Ocean,
J. Phys. Oceanogr., 43, 941–955, 2013. a
Short summary
The ocean can regulate climate by distributing heat and carbon dioxide into its interior. This work has resulted from a major experiment aimed at understanding how that distribution occurs. In the experiment an artificial tracer was released into the ocean. After release the tracer was tracked as it was distorted by ocean currents. Using novel methods we reveal how the tracer's distortions follow the movement of the underlying water masses in the ocean and we estimate the rate at which it mixes.
The ocean can regulate climate by distributing heat and carbon dioxide into its interior. This...
