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Regional cooling in the South Pacific sector of the Southern Ocean due to global warming
Author(s) -
Kim DongHoon,
Nakashiki Norikazu,
Yoshida Yoshikatsu,
Maruyama Koki,
Bryan Frank O.
Publication year - 2005
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 - 10.1029/2005gl023708
Subject(s) - climatology , circumpolar star , ocean heat content , advection , oceanography , ocean current , effects of global warming on oceans , thermohaline circulation , climate change , environmental science , pacific ocean , geology , global warming , physics , thermodynamics
This study investigates processes leading to regional cooling in global warming experiments conducted with the NCAR fully coupled Community Climate System Model (CCSM3). While several previous studies have investigated regional cooling in the South Pacific sector of the Southern Ocean, the mechanism leading to this response remains unclear. We find that changes in ocean circulation offer the key to understanding the regional cooling. The regional cooling in the South Pacific sector of the Southern Ocean, especially the area north of the Ross Sea, results mainly through an advective mechanism. The ocean topography contributes strongly to the change of ocean circulation through changes in bottom vortex stretching associated with a decrease in the Antarctic Circumpolar Current transport.