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An assessment of Southern Ocean water masses and sea ice during 1988–2007 in a suite of interannual CORE-II simulations
Citation
Downes, SM and Farneti, R and Uotila, P and Griffies, SM and Marsland, SJ and Bailey, D and Behrens, E and Bi, D and Biastoch, A and Boning, C and Bozec, A and Canuto, VM and Chassignet, E and Danabasoglu, G and Danilov, S and Diansky, N and Drange, H and Fogli, PG and Gusev, A and Howard, A and Ilicak, M and Jung, T and Kelley, M and Large, WG and Leboissetier, A and Long, M and Lu, J and Masina, S and Mishra, A and Navarra, A and Nurser, AJG and Patara, L and Samuels, BL and Sidorenko, D and Spence, P and Tsujino, H and Wang, Q and Yeager, SG and Bentsen, M, An assessment of Southern Ocean water masses and sea ice during 1988-2007 in a suite of interannual CORE-II simulations, Ocean Modelling, 94 pp. 67-94. ISSN 1463-5003 (2015) [Refereed Article]
Copyright Statement
Copyright 2015 Elsevier Ltd.
DOI: doi:10.1016/j.ocemod.2015.07.022
Abstract
We characterise the representation of the Southern Ocean water mass structure and sea ice within a suite of 15 global ocean-ice models run with the Coordinated Ocean-ice Reference Experiment Phase II (CORE-II) protocol. The main focus is the representation of the present (1988–2007) mode and intermediate waters, thus framing an analysis of winter and summer mixed layer depths; temperature, salinity, and potential vorticity structure; and temporal variability of sea ice distributions. We also consider the interannual variability over the same 20 year period. Comparisons are made between models as well as to observation-based analyses where available.
The CORE-II models exhibit several biases relative to Southern Ocean observations, including an underestimation of the model mean mixed layer depths of mode and intermediate water masses in March (associated with greater ocean surface heat gain), and an overestimation in September (associated with greater high latitude ocean heat loss and a more northward winter sea-ice extent). In addition, the models have cold and fresh/warm and salty water column biases centred near 50°S. Over the 1988–2007 period, the CORE-II models consistently simulate spatially variable trends in sea-ice concentration, surface freshwater fluxes, mixed layer depths, and 200–700 m ocean heat content. In particular, sea-ice coverage around most of the Antarctic continental shelf is reduced, leading to a cooling and freshening of the near surface waters. The shoaling of the mixed layer is associated with increased surface buoyancy gain, except in the Pacific where sea ice is also influential. The models are in disagreement, despite the common CORE-II atmospheric state, in their spatial pattern of the 20-year trends in the mixed layer depth and sea-ice.
Item Details
Item Type: | Refereed Article |
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Keywords: | CORE-II experiments, Southern Ocean, water masses, sea ice, ocean model intercomparison, |
Research Division: | Earth Sciences |
Research Group: | Oceanography |
Research Field: | Physical oceanography |
Objective Division: | Environmental Policy, Climate Change and Natural Hazards |
Objective Group: | Understanding climate change |
Objective Field: | Climate change models |
UTAS Author: | Downes, SM (Dr Stephanie Downes) |
ID Code: | 103137 |
Year Published: | 2015 |
Web of Science® Times Cited: | 54 |
Deposited By: | CRC-Antarctic Climate & Ecosystems |
Deposited On: | 2015-09-22 |
Last Modified: | 2017-11-17 |
Downloads: | 0 |
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