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Contribution of Ocean Physics and Dynamics at Different Scales to Heat Uptake in Low-Resolution AOGCMs
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2021
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Source: Journal of Climate, 34(6), 2017-2035
[PDF-2.75 MB]
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Journal Title:Journal of Climate
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Description:Using an ensemble of atmosphere–ocean general circulation models (AOGCMs) in an idealized climatechange experiment, this study quantifies the contributions to ocean heat uptake (OHU) from ocean physical parameteri-zations and resolved dynamical processes operating at different scales. Analysis of heat budget diagnostics reveals a leading-order global heat balance in the subsurface upper ocean in a steady state between the large-scale circulation warming it andmesoscale processes cooling it, and shows that there are positive contributions from processes on all scales to the subsurfaceOHU during climate change. There is better agreement among the AOGCMs in the net OHU than in the individual scales/processes contributing to it. In the upper ocean and at high latitudes, OHU is dominated by small-scale diapycnal processes.Below 400 m, OHU is dominated by the superresidual transport, representing large-scale ocean dynamics combined with allparameterized mesoscale and submesoscale eddy effects. Weakening of the AMOC leads to less heat convergence in thesubpolar North Atlantic and less heat divergence at lower latitudes, with a small overall effect on the net Atlantic heat content.At low latitudes, the dominance of advective heat redistribution is contrary to the diffusive OHU mechanism assumed by thecommonly used upwelling-diffusion model. Using a density water-mass framework, it is found that most of the OHU occursalong isopycnal directions. This feature of OHU is used to accurately reconstruct the global vertical ocean warming profile fromthe surface heat flux anomalies, supporting advective (rather than diffusive) models of OHU and sea level rise.
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Source:Journal of Climate, 34(6), 2017-2035
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