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On the response of Southern Ocean water‐masses to atmospheric meridional moisture advection
Author(s) -
Saenko Oleg A.,
England Matthew H.
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2002gl016516
Subject(s) - advection , zonal and meridional , climatology , moisture , stratification (seeds) , water mass , environmental science , atmospheric sciences , geology , salinity , oceanography , meteorology , geography , seed dormancy , physics , germination , botany , dormancy , biology , thermodynamics
We investigate the role of atmospheric moisture advection in determining Southern Ocean water‐mass properties in a coupled climate model. Two sensitivity experiments are presented in which the winds advecting moisture are either reduced or enhanced south of 45°S. It is shown that a variation in meridional winds in the Southern Ocean can generate large anomalies of subsurface potential temperature ( T ) and salinity ( S ). A reduction (increase) in southward atmospheric moisture advection tends to be balanced by a corresponding reduction (increase) in northward freshwater transport in Antarctic Intermediate Water. The response of both T and S is larger in the case of reduced southward moisture advection, as this corresponds to an overall reduction of Southern Ocean stratification. The interior ocean T – S response is not always density‐compensating, particularly in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. This is unlike zonal wind variations which have a tendency to change T – S in a density‐conserving manner. Our study suggests that variability in meridional winds over the Southern Ocean can alter local water‐mass formation rates significantly.