Ocean Science
Ocean Science
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Articles | Volume 21, issue 4
Articles | Volume 21, issue 4
https://doi.org/10.5194/os-21-1237-2025
© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/os-21-1237-2025
© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Articles | Volume 21, issue 4
Research article
 | Highlight paper
 | 
07 Jul 2025
Research article | Highlight paper |  | 07 Jul 2025

Local versus far-field control on South Pacific Subantarctic mode water variability

Ciara Pimm, Andrew J. S. Meijers, Dani C. Jones, and Richard G. Williams

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Boland, E. J., Jones, D. C., Meijers, A. J., Forget, G., and Josey, S. A.: Local and remote influences on the heat content of Southern Ocean mode water formation regions, J. Geophys. Res.-Oceans, 126, e2020JC016585, https://doi.org/10.1029/2020JC016585, 2021a. a, b, c, d
Boland, E. J. D., Jones, D. C., Meijers, A. J. S., Forget, G., and Josey, S. A.: Local and Remote Influences on the Heat Content of Southern Ocean Mode Water Formation Regions, J. Geophys. Res.-Oceans, 126, e2020JC016585, https://doi.org/10.1029/2020JC016585, 2021b. a
Bugnion, V., Hill, C., and Stone, P. H.: An Adjoint Analysis of the Meridional Overturning Circulation in an Ocean Model, J. Climate, 19, 3732–3750, https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI3787.1, 2006. a
Campin, J.-M., Heimbach, P., Losch, M., Forget, G., edhill3, Adcroft, A., amolod, Menemenlis, D., dfer22, Hill, C., Jahn, O., Scott, J., stephdut, Mazloff, M., Fox-Kemper, B., Doddridge, E., antnguyen13, Fenty, I., Bates, M., AndrewEichmann-NOAA, Smith, T., mitllheisey, Martin, T., Lauderdale, J., Abernathey, R., samarkhatiwala, Wang, O., dngoldberg, hongandyan, and Deremble, B.: MITgcm/MITgcm: checkpoint68i (Version checkpoint68i), Zenodo [software], https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6498956, 2022. a, b, c
Campin, J.-M., Heimbach, P., Losch, M., Forget, G., edhill3, Adcroft, A., amolod, Menemenlis, D., dfer22, Jahn, O., Hill, C., Scott, J., stephdut, Mazloff, M., Fox-Kemper, B., antnguyen13, Doddridge, E., Fenty, I., Bates, M., Smith, T., AndrewEichmann-NOAA, mitllheisey, Lauderdale, J., Martin, T., Abernathey, R., Wang, O., samarkhatiwala, dngoldberg, hongandyan, and Deremble, B.: MITgcm/MITgcm: ckeckpoint68r (Version checkpoint68r), Zenodo [software], https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8208482, 2023. a, b
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This paper highlights a new implementation of density co-ordinate functionality within an adjoint ocean model, the MITgcm ECCO adjoint. This is illustrated accordingly with a science application investigating the variability of Subantarctic Mode Water. The use of adjoints helps to trace causal links within the ocean, and the density-following feature is of particular interest for the ocean community with many possible further applications.
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Subantarctic mode water in the South Pacific Ocean is important due to its role in the uptake and transport of anthropogenic heat and carbon. The Subantarctic mode water region can be split into two pools using mixed-layer-depth properties. Sensitivity experiments are used to understand the effects of heating and wind on each pool. It is found that the optimal conditions to form large amounts of Subantarctic mode water in the South Pacific are local cooling and upstream warming combined.
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