Open AccessEmploying Satellite-Derived Sea Ice Concentration to Constrain Upper-Ocean Temperature in a Global Ocean GCM
Author(s) -
Achim Stössel
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
journal of climate
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.315
H-Index - 287
eISSN - 1520-0442
pISSN - 0894-8755
DOI - 10.1175/2008jcli2256.1
Subject(s) - climatology , sea ice , ocean heat content , geology , satellite , sea surface temperature , ocean general circulation model , sea ice thickness , sea ice concentration , ocean current , gcm transcription factors , thermohaline circulation , deep sea , environmental science , ocean dynamics , ocean surface topography , cryosphere , oceanography , general circulation model , climate change , engineering , aerospace engineering
The quality of Southern Ocean sea ice simulations in a global ocean general circulation model (GCM) depends decisively on the simulated upper-ocean temperature. This is confirmed by assimilating satellite-derived sea ice concentration to constrain the upper-layer temperature of a sea ice–ocean GCM. The resolution of the model’s sea ice component is about 22 km and thus comparable to the pixel resolution of the satellite data. The ocean component is coarse resolution to afford long-term integrations for investigations of the deep-ocean equilibrium response. Besides improving the sea ice simulation considerably, the simulations with constrained upper-ocean temperature yield much more realistic global deep-ocean properties, in particular when combined with glacial freshwater input. Both outcomes are relatively insensitive to the passive-microwave algorithm used to retrieve the ice concentration being assimilated. The sensitivity of the long-term global deep-ocean properties and circulation to the possible freshwater input from ice shelves and to the parameterization of vertical mixing in the Southern Ocean is reevaluated under the new constraint.