The zonal dimension of the Indian Ocean meridional overturning circulation
The zonal dimension of the Indian Ocean meridional overturning circulation
The three-dimensional structure of the meridional overturning circulation (MOC) in the deep Indian Ocean is investigated with an eddy-permitting ocean model. The amplitude of the modeled deep Indian Ocean MOC is 5.6 Sv (1 Sv 106 m3 s?1), a broadly realistic but somewhat weak overturning. Although the model parameterization of diapycnal mixing is inaccurate, the model’s short spinup allows the effective diapycnal velocity (the sum of model drift and the explicitly modeled diapycnal velocity) to resemble the true, real-ocean diapycnal velocity. For this reason, the model is able to recover the broad zonal asymmetry in the turbulent buoyancy flux that is suggested by observations. The model features a substantial deep, depth-reversing zonal circulation of nearly 50% of the MOC. The existence of this circulation, brought about by the zonally asymmetric distribution of diapycnal mixing, implies a much slower ventilation of the deep Indian Ocean (by a factor of 5–6) than would be in place without zonal interbasin exchanges. It is concluded that the zonal asymmetry in the distribution of diapycnal mixing must have a major impact on the deep Indian Ocean’s capacity to store and transform climatically significant physical and biogeochemical tracers.
359-379
Drijfhout, Sybren S.
a5c76079-179b-490c-93fe-fc0391aacf13
Naveira Garabato, Alberto C.
97c0e923-f076-4b38-b89b-938e11cea7a6
February 2008
Drijfhout, Sybren S.
a5c76079-179b-490c-93fe-fc0391aacf13
Naveira Garabato, Alberto C.
97c0e923-f076-4b38-b89b-938e11cea7a6
Drijfhout, Sybren S. and Naveira Garabato, Alberto C.
(2008)
The zonal dimension of the Indian Ocean meridional overturning circulation.
Journal of Physical Oceanography, 38 (2), .
(doi:10.1175/2007JPO3640.1).
Abstract
The three-dimensional structure of the meridional overturning circulation (MOC) in the deep Indian Ocean is investigated with an eddy-permitting ocean model. The amplitude of the modeled deep Indian Ocean MOC is 5.6 Sv (1 Sv 106 m3 s?1), a broadly realistic but somewhat weak overturning. Although the model parameterization of diapycnal mixing is inaccurate, the model’s short spinup allows the effective diapycnal velocity (the sum of model drift and the explicitly modeled diapycnal velocity) to resemble the true, real-ocean diapycnal velocity. For this reason, the model is able to recover the broad zonal asymmetry in the turbulent buoyancy flux that is suggested by observations. The model features a substantial deep, depth-reversing zonal circulation of nearly 50% of the MOC. The existence of this circulation, brought about by the zonally asymmetric distribution of diapycnal mixing, implies a much slower ventilation of the deep Indian Ocean (by a factor of 5–6) than would be in place without zonal interbasin exchanges. It is concluded that the zonal asymmetry in the distribution of diapycnal mixing must have a major impact on the deep Indian Ocean’s capacity to store and transform climatically significant physical and biogeochemical tracers.
This record has no associated files available for download.
More information
Published date: February 2008
Organisations:
Physical Oceanography
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 38098
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/38098
ISSN: 0022-3670
PURE UUID: 805ec960-a8ed-423b-a02d-d7ebf6c1213c
Catalogue record
Date deposited: 02 Jun 2006
Last modified: 16 Mar 2024 04:12
Export record
Altmetrics
Download statistics
Downloads from ePrints over the past year. Other digital versions may also be available to download e.g. from the publisher's website.
View more statistics
