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Global Meridional Overturning Circulation Inferred From a Data‐Constrained Ocean & Sea‐Ice Model
Author(s) -
Lee SangKi,
Lumpkin Rick,
Baringer Molly O.,
Meinen Christopher S.,
Goes Marlos,
Dong Shenfu,
Lopez Hosmay,
Yeager Stephen G.
Publication year - 2019
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 - 10.1029/2018gl080940
Subject(s) - hydrography , upwelling , thermohaline circulation , climatology , water mass , shutdown of thermohaline circulation , ocean current , oceanography , geology , boundary current , environmental science , current (fluid) , sea surface temperature , climate model , zonal and meridional , north atlantic deep water , climate change
Our current understanding of the global meridional overturning circulation (GMOC) is revisited using a surface‐forced ocean model simulation constrained by global hydrographic data. The derived GMOC is qualitatively consistent with previous observation‐based studies and further provides enhanced spatial details in the sources, transformations, and transports of major global water masses including in poorly observed regions. Several important but relatively underexplored aspects of the GMOC are highlighted, including complex but vigorous heavy‐to‐light water mass transformation that occurs in the Indo‐Pacific and Southern Oceans, and the role of the equatorial Pacific upwelling in closing the GMOC circuit. These and other key aspects of the GMOC are poorly captured in a surface‐forced ocean model simulation without the temperature and salinity corrections, suggesting that current climate models do not realistically simulate the GMOC and the associated global heat, salt, and carbon balances.