The ocean's role in climate
The oceans represent an important part of the memory of the climate system. As the top two meters of ocean water contain much heat as the entire column of air above them in the atmosphere, it is in the ocean that long-term changes in heat are stored. The movement of ocean water transports significant amounts of heat. Similarly, the oceans also store almost 50 times as much carbon dioxide as the atmosphere, so that on multi-millennial time scales it is the oceans that determine atmospheric carbon dioxide.
Researchers within the Oceans and Climate Group are interested in understanding the dynamics driving this large-scale overturning circulation. Areas of particular interest include
- The role of Southern Ocean winds and eddies in controlling ocean overturning.
- The role of dense overflows from marginal seas in overturning
circulation. Such overflows are poorly resolved in the current
generation of climate models.
- Role of spatially dependent mixing in determining large-scale
circulation, pathways of upwelling and climate.
- Role of the ocean overturning in determining atmospheric carbon dioxide
- Impacts of model physics on climate change and variability
- Idealized models of global climate
Scientists with interest in this area:
Alistair Adcroft (model physics and numerics)
Anand Gnanadesikan (role of Southern Ocean model physics and numerics, overturning and carbon dioxide)
Steve Griffies (model physics and numerics, predictability of the overturning)
Robert Hallberg (model physics and numerics, role of Southern Ocean)
Maxim Nikurashin (Spatially dpendent mixing)
Sonya Legg (overflows, spatially dependent mixing)
Robbie Toggweiler (role of the Southern Ocean, overturning and carbon dioxide, idealized models of global climate)
Geoff Vallis (idealized models of global climate, impacts of model physics)
Links
Climate Process Team on Gravity Current Entrainment (S. Legg, co-PI)
Anand Gnanadesikan's annotated bibliography on the ocean overturning.
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