Current Research in EEPS: Dr. Madeleine Youngs, NOAA Climate & Global Change Postdoctoral Fellow, NYU Courant
Southern Ocean Circulation and Climate: The Localizing Effect of Topography
Abstract:
The Southern Ocean plays a major role in the global air-sea carbon fluxes, with some estimates suggesting it takes up 40\% of the oceanic anthropogenic carbon dioxide. Understanding the Southern Ocean overturning transport is particularly important because the overturning transport fluxes tracers between the depth and the surface. Recent work shows that this vertical transport preferentially occurs downstream of bottom topography, but there is further work to understand how this relates to the theory of overturning circulation. This study uses an idealized Southern Ocean-like MITgcm channel and particle tracking in the thickness-weighted circulation to develop a new understanding of the three dimensional-nature of the overturning. This study evaluates the overturning transport by splitting the flow into the main driving forces behind the transport. The existence of the ridge weakens the response of the overturning to changes in wind, especially in the lower cell. In addition, carbon transport is enhanced over the topography as well. The localization of the vertical flow shows the necessity of careful modeling of these specific regions in the Southern Ocean to understand the transport and carbon export.
Zoom Information:
https://riceuniversity.zoom.us/j/96725073123?pwd=clpnMnMydXZNTFR3dmVWSnI5YzQ1QT09
Passcode: 683127
Webinar ID: 967 2507 3123
