Editorial Type:
Article
Article Type:
Research Article

The Force Balance of the Southern Ocean Meridional Overturning Circulation

Matthew R. Mazloff Scripps Institution of Oceanography, La Jolla, California

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Raffaele Ferrari Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts

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Tapio Schneider California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California

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Print Publication:
01 Jun 2013
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The Diapycnal and Isopycnal Mixing Experiment in the Southern Ocean (DIMES)
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1175/JPO-D-12-069.1
Page(s):
1193–1208
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Abstract

The Southern Ocean (SO) limb of the meridional overturning circulation (MOC) is characterized by three vertically stacked cells, each with a transport of about 10 Sv (Sv ≡ 106 m3 s−1). The buoyancy transport in the SO is dominated by the upper and middle MOC cells, with the middle cell accounting for most of the buoyancy transport across the Antarctic Circumpolar Current. A Southern Ocean state estimate for the years 2005 and 2006 with ⅙° resolution is used to determine the forces balancing this MOC. Diagnosing the zonal momentum budget in density space allows an exact determination of the adiabatic and diapycnal components balancing the thickness-weighted (residual) meridional transport. It is found that, to lowest order, the transport consists of an eddy component, a directly wind-driven component, and a component in balance with mean pressure gradients. Nonvanishing time-mean pressure gradients arise because isopycnal layers intersect topography or the surface in a circumpolar integral, leading to a largely geostrophic MOC even in the latitude band of Drake Passage. It is the geostrophic water mass transport in the surface layer where isopycnals outcrop that accomplishes the poleward buoyancy transport.

Current affiliation: Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich, Switzerland.

Corresponding author address: Matthew Mazloff, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UCSD, Mail Code 0230, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA 92093. E-mail: mmazloff@ucsd.edu

Abstract

The Southern Ocean (SO) limb of the meridional overturning circulation (MOC) is characterized by three vertically stacked cells, each with a transport of about 10 Sv (Sv ≡ 106 m3 s−1). The buoyancy transport in the SO is dominated by the upper and middle MOC cells, with the middle cell accounting for most of the buoyancy transport across the Antarctic Circumpolar Current. A Southern Ocean state estimate for the years 2005 and 2006 with ⅙° resolution is used to determine the forces balancing this MOC. Diagnosing the zonal momentum budget in density space allows an exact determination of the adiabatic and diapycnal components balancing the thickness-weighted (residual) meridional transport. It is found that, to lowest order, the transport consists of an eddy component, a directly wind-driven component, and a component in balance with mean pressure gradients. Nonvanishing time-mean pressure gradients arise because isopycnal layers intersect topography or the surface in a circumpolar integral, leading to a largely geostrophic MOC even in the latitude band of Drake Passage. It is the geostrophic water mass transport in the surface layer where isopycnals outcrop that accomplishes the poleward buoyancy transport.

Current affiliation: Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich, Switzerland.

Corresponding author address: Matthew Mazloff, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UCSD, Mail Code 0230, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA 92093. E-mail: mmazloff@ucsd.edu
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