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Constraining Southern Ocean air-sea-ice fluxes through enhanced observations

Constraining Southern Ocean air-sea-ice fluxes through enhanced observations
Constraining Southern Ocean air-sea-ice fluxes through enhanced observations
Air-sea and air-sea-ice fluxes in the Southern Ocean play a critical role in global climate through their impact on the overturning circulation and oceanic heat and carbon uptake. The challenging conditions in the Southern Ocean have led to sparse spatial and temporal coverage of observations. This has led to a “knowledge gap” that increases uncertainty in atmosphere and ocean dynamics and boundary-layer thermodynamic processes, impeding improvements in weather and climate models. Improvements will require both process-based research to understand the mechanisms governing air-sea exchange and a significant expansion of the observing system. This will improve flux parameterizations and reduce uncertainty associated with bulk formulae and satellite observations. Improved estimates spanning the full Southern Ocean will need to take advantage of ships, surface moorings, and the growing capabilities of autonomous platforms with robust and miniaturized sensors. A key challenge is to identify observing system sampling requirements. This requires models, Observing System Simulation Experiments (OSSEs), and assessments of the specific spatial-temporal accuracy and resolution required for priority science and assessment of observational uncertainties of the mean state and direct flux measurements. Year-round, high-quality, quasi-continuous in situ flux measurements and observations of extreme events are needed to validate, improve and characterize uncertainties in blended reanalysis products and satellite data as well as to improve parameterizations. Building a robust observing system will require community consensus on observational methodologies, observational priorities, and effective strategies for data management and discovery.
2296-7745
Swart, Sebastiaan
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Gille, Sarah T.
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Delille, Bruno
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Josey, Simon
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Mazloff, Matthew
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Newman, Louise
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Thompson, Andrew F.
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Thomson, Jim
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Ward, Brian
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Du Plessis, Marcel D.
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Kent, Elizabeth C.
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Girton, James
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Gregor, Luke
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Heil, Petra
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Hyder, Patrick
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Pezzi, Luciano Ponzi
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De Souza, Ronald Buss
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Tamsitt, Veronica
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Weller, Robert A.
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Zappa, Christopher J.
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Swart, Sebastiaan
fde95c7c-1399-46d7-9a7a-11478174ac84
Gille, Sarah T.
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Delille, Bruno
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Josey, Simon
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Mazloff, Matthew
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Newman, Louise
fad90c55-26b3-4f49-a800-d264a541bf73
Thompson, Andrew F.
43088ecf-ad9e-4f8f-a241-b443be5890f1
Thomson, Jim
7042f77f-fe09-482b-86cf-7a6f54863ff2
Ward, Brian
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Du Plessis, Marcel D.
6ee41925-d299-45f6-8cb9-852516068868
Kent, Elizabeth C.
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Girton, James
83fb0c2f-484c-443b-afca-5342108a5638
Gregor, Luke
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Heil, Petra
21e14410-e85a-4c01-9777-75df4fb32a4e
Hyder, Patrick
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Pezzi, Luciano Ponzi
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De Souza, Ronald Buss
57a24f0e-bb65-4f09-aba5-5ab1a434f586
Tamsitt, Veronica
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Weller, Robert A.
27c97c11-3d05-4ac2-88c9-3ceaec7f7d2c
Zappa, Christopher J.
7baab595-0d35-4559-b206-b0dbe184a9f2

Swart, Sebastiaan, Gille, Sarah T., Delille, Bruno, Josey, Simon, Mazloff, Matthew, Newman, Louise, Thompson, Andrew F., Thomson, Jim, Ward, Brian, Du Plessis, Marcel D., Kent, Elizabeth C., Girton, James, Gregor, Luke, Heil, Petra, Hyder, Patrick, Pezzi, Luciano Ponzi, De Souza, Ronald Buss, Tamsitt, Veronica, Weller, Robert A. and Zappa, Christopher J. (2019) Constraining Southern Ocean air-sea-ice fluxes through enhanced observations. Frontiers in Marine Science, 6. (doi:10.3389/fmars.2019.00421).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Air-sea and air-sea-ice fluxes in the Southern Ocean play a critical role in global climate through their impact on the overturning circulation and oceanic heat and carbon uptake. The challenging conditions in the Southern Ocean have led to sparse spatial and temporal coverage of observations. This has led to a “knowledge gap” that increases uncertainty in atmosphere and ocean dynamics and boundary-layer thermodynamic processes, impeding improvements in weather and climate models. Improvements will require both process-based research to understand the mechanisms governing air-sea exchange and a significant expansion of the observing system. This will improve flux parameterizations and reduce uncertainty associated with bulk formulae and satellite observations. Improved estimates spanning the full Southern Ocean will need to take advantage of ships, surface moorings, and the growing capabilities of autonomous platforms with robust and miniaturized sensors. A key challenge is to identify observing system sampling requirements. This requires models, Observing System Simulation Experiments (OSSEs), and assessments of the specific spatial-temporal accuracy and resolution required for priority science and assessment of observational uncertainties of the mean state and direct flux measurements. Year-round, high-quality, quasi-continuous in situ flux measurements and observations of extreme events are needed to validate, improve and characterize uncertainties in blended reanalysis products and satellite data as well as to improve parameterizations. Building a robust observing system will require community consensus on observational methodologies, observational priorities, and effective strategies for data management and discovery.

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Accepted/In Press date: 5 July 2019
Published date: 31 July 2019

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 432961
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/432961
ISSN: 2296-7745
PURE UUID: 0cd9a09c-1dce-46ea-9225-638fa056ab70

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Date deposited: 05 Aug 2019 16:30
Last modified: 16 Mar 2024 03:18

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Contributors

Author: Sebastiaan Swart
Author: Sarah T. Gille
Author: Bruno Delille
Author: Simon Josey
Author: Matthew Mazloff
Author: Louise Newman
Author: Andrew F. Thompson
Author: Jim Thomson
Author: Brian Ward
Author: Marcel D. Du Plessis
Author: Elizabeth C. Kent
Author: James Girton
Author: Luke Gregor
Author: Petra Heil
Author: Patrick Hyder
Author: Luciano Ponzi Pezzi
Author: Ronald Buss De Souza
Author: Veronica Tamsitt
Author: Robert A. Weller
Author: Christopher J. Zappa

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