Premium
Impact of Transmission Scheme of Visible Solar Radiation on Temperature and Mixing in the Upper Water Column With Inputs for Transmission Derived From Ocean Color Remote Sensing
Author(s) -
Liu Tongtong,
Lee Zhongping,
Shang Shaoping,
Xiu Peng,
Chai Fei,
Jiang Mingshun
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
journal of geophysical research: oceans
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2169-9291
pISSN - 2169-9275
DOI - 10.1029/2020jc016080
Subject(s) - ocean color , water column , sea surface temperature , environmental science , remote sensing , ocean current , transmission (telecommunications) , phytoplankton , transmission loss , satellite , meteorology , geology , oceanography , optics , physics , computer science , telecommunications , chemistry , astronomy , organic chemistry , nutrient
The penetration of visible solar radiation (VSR) in the upper ocean contributes to heating in the upper water column, and this process is modulated by constituents in water such as phytoplankton. Various schemes have been developed to propagate surface VSR to deeper depths, which are incorporated in ocean circulation models to study basin‐scale impacts on ocean and atmosphere by phytoplankton. However, none of these studies evaluated sensitivity of the schemes of VSR transmission to upper‐water dynamics, especially when the required input is derived from ocean color remote sensing. We used an idealized one‐dimensional (1‐D) Regional Ocean Modeling System (ROMS) to simulate profiles of upper water column temperature at six locations with different ocean color characteristics (containing different water constituents). We incorporated and tested four different schemes of VSR transmission: the default water‐type scheme within the ROMS, two schemes based on concentrations of chlorophyll (Chl), and one scheme based on water's inherent optical properties (IOPs). The results showed that, although using the same ocean color information and the same circulation model, the IOPs‐ and Chl‐based schemes resulted in very different vertical temperature and upper‐water mixing compared to those using the default scheme, with differences in sea surface temperature up to 1.5–2°C. These results highlight the importance of developing and incorporating more appropriate VSR transmission schemes into large‐scale ocean circulation simulations, where the inputs for the transmission are inherently estimates from ocean color—the actual measurement from satellite remote sensing.