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Mean circulation and internal variability in an ocean primitive equation model

Mean circulation and internal variability in an ocean primitive equation model
Mean circulation and internal variability in an ocean primitive equation model
A primitive equation World Ocean model has been integrated with restoring boundary conditions to reach a steady state. The global distribution of potential temperature, salinity, and meridional streamfunction are consistent with observations. In steady state, the effective freshwater fluxes were diagnosed, and the model has been integrated further prescribing these freshwater fluxes.

The ocean circulation undergoes self-sustained oscillations over a wide range of timescales, ranging from decadal to millennium. Most pronounced are self-sustained oscillations with a timescale of 20, 300, and 1000 years. The latter two oscillations are coupled. They consist of density (salinity) anomalies that circulate through the global conveyor belt, periodically enhancing convection in the Southern Ocean and limiting convection in the northern North Atlantic. The timescale is set by the vertical diffusion, which destabilizes the stratification in the Southern Ocean when convection is weak. The 20-yr oscillation is a coupled salinity and sea ice thickness anomaly propagating around Antarctica.
0022-3670
559-580
Drijfhout, Sybren
a5c76079-179b-490c-93fe-fc0391aacf13
Heinze, Christoph
1dcb6d4a-b564-46a4-a079-646670cf2307
Latif, Mojib
d9455f24-b4f7-4579-a11c-9dc700e789d6
Maier-Reimer, Ernst
341f5ff0-b65d-4a00-9fc3-82358144a708
Drijfhout, Sybren
a5c76079-179b-490c-93fe-fc0391aacf13
Heinze, Christoph
1dcb6d4a-b564-46a4-a079-646670cf2307
Latif, Mojib
d9455f24-b4f7-4579-a11c-9dc700e789d6
Maier-Reimer, Ernst
341f5ff0-b65d-4a00-9fc3-82358144a708

Drijfhout, Sybren, Heinze, Christoph, Latif, Mojib and Maier-Reimer, Ernst (1996) Mean circulation and internal variability in an ocean primitive equation model. Journal of Physical Oceanography, 26 (4), 559-580. (doi:10.1175/1520-0485(1996)026<0559:MCAIVI>2.0.CO;2).

Record type: Article

Abstract

A primitive equation World Ocean model has been integrated with restoring boundary conditions to reach a steady state. The global distribution of potential temperature, salinity, and meridional streamfunction are consistent with observations. In steady state, the effective freshwater fluxes were diagnosed, and the model has been integrated further prescribing these freshwater fluxes.

The ocean circulation undergoes self-sustained oscillations over a wide range of timescales, ranging from decadal to millennium. Most pronounced are self-sustained oscillations with a timescale of 20, 300, and 1000 years. The latter two oscillations are coupled. They consist of density (salinity) anomalies that circulate through the global conveyor belt, periodically enhancing convection in the Southern Ocean and limiting convection in the northern North Atlantic. The timescale is set by the vertical diffusion, which destabilizes the stratification in the Southern Ocean when convection is weak. The 20-yr oscillation is a coupled salinity and sea ice thickness anomaly propagating around Antarctica.

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More information

Published date: April 1996
Organisations: Ocean and Earth Science

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 349204
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/349204
ISSN: 0022-3670
PURE UUID: 97b579eb-96fd-4242-889e-68a017b6e30a
ORCID for Sybren Drijfhout: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0001-5325-7350

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Date deposited: 26 Feb 2013 12:24
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 03:44

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Contributors

Author: Christoph Heinze
Author: Mojib Latif
Author: Ernst Maier-Reimer

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