Publication Abstracts

Doddridge et al. 2021

Doddridge, E.W., J. Marshall, H. Song, J.-M. Campin, and M. Kelley, 2021: Southern Ocean heat storage, reemergence, and winter sea ice decline induced by summertime winds. J. Climate, 34, no. 4, 1403-1415, doi:10.1175/JCLI-D-20-0322.1.

The observational record shows a substantial 40-year upward trend in summertime westerly winds over the Southern Ocean, as characterised by the Southern Annular Mode (SAM) index. Enhanced summertime westerly winds have been linked to cold summertime sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies. Previous studies have suggested that Ekman transport or upwelling is responsible for this seasonal cooling. Here, another process is presented in which enhanced vertical mixing, driven by summertime wind anomalies, moves heat downwards, cooling the sea surface and simultaneously warming the subsurface waters. The anomalously cold SSTs draw heat from the atmosphere into the ocean, leading to increased depth-integrated ocean heat content. The subsurface heat is returned to the surface mixed layer during the autumn and winter as the mixed layer deepens, leading to anomalously warm SSTs and potentially reducing sea ice cover. Observational analyses and numerical experiments support our proposed mechanism, showing that enhanced vertical mixing produces subsurface warming and cools the surface mixed layer. Nevertheless, the dominant driver of surface cooling remains uncertain; the relative importance of advective and mixing contributions to the surface cooling is model dependent. Modeling results suggest that sea ice volume is more sensitive to summertime winds than sea ice extent, implying that enhanced summertime westerly winds may lead to thinner sea ice in the following winter, if not lesser ice extent. Thus, strong summertime winds could precondition the sea ice cover for a rapid retreat in the following melt season.

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BibTeX Citation

@article{do06300k,
  author={Doddridge, E. W. and Marshall, J. and Song, H. and Campin, J.-M. and Kelley, M.},
  title={Southern Ocean heat storage, reemergence, and winter sea ice decline induced by summertime winds},
  year={2021},
  journal={Journal of Climate},
  volume={34},
  number={4},
  pages={1403--1415},
  doi={10.1175/JCLI-D-20-0322.1},
}

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RIS Citation

TY  - JOUR
ID  - do06300k
AU  - Doddridge, E. W.
AU  - Marshall, J.
AU  - Song, H.
AU  - Campin, J.-M.
AU  - Kelley, M.
PY  - 2021
TI  - Southern Ocean heat storage, reemergence, and winter sea ice decline induced by summertime winds
JA  - J. Climate
JO  - Journal of Climate
VL  - 34
IS  - 4
SP  - 1403
EP  - 1415
DO  - 10.1175/JCLI-D-20-0322.1
ER  -

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