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Projected Future Changes of Meridional Heat Transport and Heat Balance of the Indian Ocean
Author(s) -
Ma Jie,
Feng Ming,
Lan Jian,
Hu Dunxin
Publication year - 2020
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 - 10.1029/2019gl086803
Subject(s) - ocean gyre , ocean heat content , throughflow , climatology , boundary current , oceanography , ocean current , environmental science , thermohaline circulation , downscaling , indian ocean dipole , indian ocean , effects of global warming on oceans , climate change , subtropics , global warming , geology , fishery , soil science , biology
An ocean downscaling model product, forced under the Representative Concentration Pathway 8.5 future climate change scenario, has been used to understand the ocean heat balance of the Indian Ocean in a warming climate. Toward the end of the 21th century, the model simulates a significant reduction of Indonesian throughflow (ITF) transport, which reduces the Pacific to Indian Ocean heat transport by 0.20 PW, whereas across 32°S in the Southern Indian Ocean (SIO), the southward heat transport is reduced by 0.28 PW, mainly contributed from the weakening western boundary current, the Agulhas Current (0.21 PW). The projected weakening of the Agulhas Current is to compensate for the reduction of the ITF transport, with additional contribution from the spin‐down of the SIO subtropical gyre. Thus, being amplified by the ocean circulation changes in the SIO, the projected Indian Ocean warming trend will be faster than the direct air‐sea heat flux input.