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Article Type:
Research Article

A Region of Enhanced Northward Antarctic Intermediate Water Transport in a Coupled Climate Model

Oleg A. Saenko1, Andrew J. Weaver1, and Matthew H. England2
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  • 1 School of Earth and Ocean Sciences, University of Victoria, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
  • | 2 Centre for Environmental Modelling and Prediction, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Print Publication:
01 Jul 2003
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0485(2003)033<1528:AROENA>2.0.CO;2
Page(s):
1528–1535
Restricted access

Abstract

A global coupled model is used to examine pathways of freshwater transport in the Southern Ocean. On the background of a strong zonal freshwater transport along the pathway of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC), there are meridional freshwater flows distributed nonuniformly around the globe, including in the upper ocean. The analysis does not support a simple two-dimensional scheme of Antarctic Intermediate Water (AAIW) formation, according to which the fresh AAIW forms uniformly around the circumpolar ocean. Rather, a more complex three-dimensional picture of the freshwater transport in the Southern Ocean is revealed, with enhanced AAIW formation in the southeast Pacific Ocean both north and south of the Drake Passage latitudes. Freshened by intense precipitation and surface waters from around Antarctica, the ACC transports freshwater from the northwest to the southeast toward Drake Passage. There, a fraction of this freshwater is transported southward across 60°S with the subsurface ACC and the eddy-induced flow. West of the Antarctic Peninsula, the freshwater subducts to intermediate depths and turns northward, following the ACC and contributing to the formation of AAIW. This analysis supports previous results of enhanced subduction localized to the southern tip of South America.

Corresponding author address: Dr. Oleg A. Saenko, School of Earth and Ocean Sciences, University of Victoria, P.O. Box 3055, Victoria, BC V8W 3P6, Canada. Email: oleg@ocean.seos.uvic.ca

Abstract

A global coupled model is used to examine pathways of freshwater transport in the Southern Ocean. On the background of a strong zonal freshwater transport along the pathway of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC), there are meridional freshwater flows distributed nonuniformly around the globe, including in the upper ocean. The analysis does not support a simple two-dimensional scheme of Antarctic Intermediate Water (AAIW) formation, according to which the fresh AAIW forms uniformly around the circumpolar ocean. Rather, a more complex three-dimensional picture of the freshwater transport in the Southern Ocean is revealed, with enhanced AAIW formation in the southeast Pacific Ocean both north and south of the Drake Passage latitudes. Freshened by intense precipitation and surface waters from around Antarctica, the ACC transports freshwater from the northwest to the southeast toward Drake Passage. There, a fraction of this freshwater is transported southward across 60°S with the subsurface ACC and the eddy-induced flow. West of the Antarctic Peninsula, the freshwater subducts to intermediate depths and turns northward, following the ACC and contributing to the formation of AAIW. This analysis supports previous results of enhanced subduction localized to the southern tip of South America.

Corresponding author address: Dr. Oleg A. Saenko, School of Earth and Ocean Sciences, University of Victoria, P.O. Box 3055, Victoria, BC V8W 3P6, Canada. Email: oleg@ocean.seos.uvic.ca

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