Simulating Water Residence Time in the Coastal Ocean: A Global Perspective

Liu, Xiao; Dunne, John P.; Stock, Charles A.; Harrison, Matthew J.; Adcroft, Alistair; Resplandy, Laure

doi:10.1029/2019gl085097

i

Simulating Water Residence Time in the Coastal Ocean: A Global Perspective

Supporting Files

2019
By Liu, Xiao ; Dunne, John P. ; Stock, Charles A. ; ...

Details

Journal Title:

Geophysical Research Letters
Personal Author:

Liu, Xiao ; Dunne, John P. ; Stock, Charles A. ; Harrison, Matthew J. ; Adcroft, Alistair ; Resplandy, Laure
NOAA Program & Office:

GFDL (Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory) ; OAR (Oceanic and Atmospheric Research)
Description:

Exchanges between coastal and oceanic waters shape both coastal ecosystem processes and signatures that they impart on global biogeochemical cycles. The timescales of these exchanges, however, are poorly represented in current‐generation, coarse‐grid climate models. Here we provide a novel global perspective on coastal residence time (CRT) and its spatio‐temporal variability using a new age tracer implemented in global ocean models. Simulated CRTs range widely from several days in narrow boundary currents to multiple years on broader shelves and in semi‐enclosed seas, in agreement with available observations. Overall, CRT is better characterized in high‐resolution models (1/8° and 1/4°) than in the coarser (1° and 1/2°) versions. This is in large part because coastal and open ocean grid cells are more directly connected in coarse models, prone to erroneous coastal flushing and an underestimated CRT. Additionally, we find that geometric enclosure of a coastal system places an important constraint on CRT.
Keywords:

General Earth And Planetary Sciences Geophysics General Earth And Planetary Sciences General Earth And Planetary Sciences
Source:

Geophysical Research Letters, 46(23), 13910-13919
DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1029/2019gl085097
ISSN:

0094-8276 ; 1944-8007
Format:

PDF
Publisher:

American Geophysical Union (AGU)
Document Type:

Journal Article
Funding:

Grant no. NA14OAR4320106
License:

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Rights Information:

CC BY
Compliance:

Library
Main Document Checksum:

urn:sha-512:feb0f3fa5b7560f512cf22e06807bb68376463297b19ea51b74ff518a07426bb3c2590a504d241c623fc832a6c39033124e6b9b5c6b7834cc0e4890138b4a1a8
Download URL:

https://repository.library.noaa.gov/view/noaa/63940/noaa_63940_DS1.pdf
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[PDF - 2.96 MB ]

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