Using satellite altimetry to correct mean temperature and salinity fields derived from Argo floats in the ocean regions around Australia

We present results from a suite of methods using in situ temperature and salinity data, and satellite altimetric observations to obtain an enhanced set of mean fields of temperature, salinity (down to 2000-m depth) and steric height (0/2000 m) for a time-specific period (1992–2007). Firstly, the improved global sampling resulting from the introduction of the Argo program, enables a representative determination of the large-scale mean oceanic structure. However, shortcomings in the coverage remain. High variability western boundary current eddy fields, continental slope and shelf boundaries may all be below their optimal sampling requirements. We describe a simple method to supplement and improve standard spatial interpolation schemes and apply them to the available data within the waters surrounding Australia (100°E–180°W; 50°S–10°N). This region includes a major current system, the East Australian Current (EAC), complex topography, unique boundary currents such as the Leeuwin Current, and large ENSO related interannual variability in the southwest Pacific. We use satellite altimetry sea level anomalies (SLA) to directly correct sampling errors in in situ derived mean surface steric height and subsurface temperature and salinity fields. The surface correction is projected through the water column (using an empirical model) to modify the mean subsurface temperature and salinity fields. The errors inherent in all these calculations are examined. The spatial distribution of the barotropic–baroclinic balance is obtained for the region and a ‘baroclinic factor’ to convert the altimetry SLA into an equivalent in situ height is determined. The mean fields in the EAC region are compared with independent estimates on repeated XBT sections, a mooring array and full-depth CTD transects.     

Estimation of eddy heat transport in the global ocean from Argo data

The Argo data are used to calculate eddy(turbulence)heat transport(EHT)in the global ocean and analyze its horizontal distribution and vertical structure.We calculate the EHT by averaging all the v′,T′profiles within each 2×2 bin.The velocity and temperature anomalies are obtained by removing their climatological values from the Argo"instantaneous"values respectively.Through the Student’s t-test and an error evaluation,we obtained a total of 87%Argo bins with significant depth-integrated EHTs(D-EHTs).The results reveal a positive-and-negative alternating D-EHT pattern along the western boundary currents(WBC)and Antarctic Circumpolar Current(ACC).The zonally-integrated D-EHT(ZI-EHT)of the global ocean reaches 0.12 PW in the northern WBC band and–0.38 PW in the ACC band respectively.The strong ZI-EHT across the ACC in the global ocean is mainly caused by the southern Indian Ocean.The ZI-EHT in the above two bands accounts for a large portion of the total oceanic heat transport,which may play an important role in regulating the climate.The analysis of vertical structures of the EHT along the 35 N and45 S section reveals that the oscillating EHT pattern can reach deep in the northern WBC regions and the Agulhas Return Current(ARC)region.It also shows that the strong EHT could reach 600 m in the WBC regions and 1 000 m in the ARC region,with the maximum mainly located between 100 and 400 m depth.The results would provide useful information for improving the parameterization scheme in models.     

Line P ocean temperature and salinity, 1956-2005

Vertical profiles of temperature and salinity have been measured for 50 years along Line P between the North American west coast and mid Gulf of Alaska. These measurements extend 1425 km into the gulf at 13 or more sampling stations. The 10-50-m deep layer of Line P increased in temperature by 0.9 °C from 1958 to 2005, but is significant only at the 90% level due to large interannual variability. Most of this increase in temperature accompanies the 1977 shift in wind patterns. Temperature changes at 100-150 m and salinity changes in both layers are not statistically significant. Much of the variance in temperature is in the upper 50 m of Line P, and temperature changes tend to be uniform along Line P except for waters on the continental margin. Salinity changes are dominated by variability in the halocline between 100 and 150 m depth and are less uniform along Line P. Largest oscillations in temperature and salinity are between 1993 and 2003. These events can be understood by considering changes in eastward wind speed and wind patterns that are revealed in the first two modes of the Pacific Decadal Oscillation. Changes in these patterns are indicators for both Ekman surface forcing (Surface ocean currents flow to the right of the wind direction) and Ekman pumping (Surface waters diverge away from regions of positive wind stress curl, leading to upwelling of colder saltier water). Changes in temperature along the nearshore part of Line P suggest Ekman surface forcing is the stronger of the two processes in the upper layer. The change in salinity anomalies in the halocline along the seaward end of Line P, following the wind shift in 1977, is in agreement with enhanced upwelling caused by stronger Ekman pumping in this region.     

Sensitivity of amplitude-phase characteristics of the surface air temperature annual cycle to variations in annual mean temperature

The ERA40 and NCEP/NCAR data over 1958–1998 were used to estimate the sensitivity of amplitude-phase characteristics (APCs) of the annual cycle (AC) of the surface air temperature (SAT) T _s. The results were compared with outputs of the ECHAM4/OPYC3, HadCM3, and INM RAS general circulation models and the IAP RAS climate model of intermediate complexity, which were run with variations in greenhouse gases and sulfate aerosol specified over 1860–2100. The analysis was performed in terms of the linear regression coefficients b of SAT AC APCs on the local annual mean temperature and in terms of the sensitivity characteristic D = br ², which takes into account not only the linear regression coefficient but also its statistical significance (via the correlation coefficient r). The reanalysis data were used to reveal the features of the tendencies of change in the SAT AC APCs in various regions, including areas near the snow-ice boundary, storm-track ocean regions, large desert areas, and the tropical Pacific. These results agree with earlier observations. The model computations are in fairly good agreement with the reanalysis data in regions of statistically significant variations in SAT AC APCs. The differences between individual models and the reanalysis data can be explained, in particular, in terms of the features of the sea-ice schemes used in the models. Over the land in the middle and high latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere, the absolute values of D for the fall phase time and the interval of exceeding exhibit a positive intermodel correlation with the absolute value of D for the annual-harmonic amplitude. Over the ocean, the models reproducing larger (in modulus) sensitivity parameters of the SAT annual-harmonic amplitude are generally characterized by larger (in modulus) negative sensitivity values of the semiannual-harmonic amplitude T _{s, 2}, especially at latitudes characteristic of the sea-ice boundary. In contrast to the averaged fields of AC APCs and their interannual standard deviations, the sensitivity parameters of the SAT AC APCs on a regional scale vary noticeably for various types of anthropogenic forcing.     

Spatial and seasonal variability of global ocean diapycnal transport inferred from Argo profiles

The global diapycnal transport in the ocean interior is one of the significant branches to return the deep water back toward near-surface. However, the amount of the diapycnal transport and the seasonal variations are not determined yet. This paper estimates the dissipation rate and the associated diapycnal transports at 500 m, 750 m and 1 000 m depth throughout the global ocean from the wide-spread Argo profiles, using the finescale parameterizations and classic advection-diff usion balance. The net upwelling is ~5.2±0.81 Sv (Sverdrup) which is approximately one fifth in magnitude of the formation of the deep water. The Southern Ocean is the major region with the upward diapycnal transport, while the downwelling emerges mainly in the northern North Atlantic. The upwelling in the Southern Ocean accounts for over 50% of the amount of the global summation. The seasonal cycle is obvious at 500 m and vanishes with depth, indicating the energy source at surface. The enhancement of diapycnal transport occurs at 1000min the Southern Ocean, which is pertinent with the internal wave generation due to the interaction between the robust deep-reaching flows and the rough topography. Our estimates of the diapycnal transport in the ocean interior have implications for the closure of the oceanic energy budget and the understanding of global Meridional Overturning Circulation.     

The energy conversion rates from eddies and mean flow into internal lee waves in the global ocean

Internal lee waves play an important role in transferring energy from eddies to small scale mixing. However, the energy conversion from eddies into lee waves in the global ocean remains poorly understood. Conversion rates from eddies and from mean flow in the global ocean were differentiated using single beam sounding data, stratification from climatology, eddy velocity, and mean flow from a global ocean model. The global integral energy conversion from eddies is estimated to be 0.083 TW and is ...     

全球海洋Argo网格资料集及其验证

简要介绍了全球海洋Argo 网格资料集的制作过程,并着重探讨了该数据集与历史观测资料集（如WOA09 和TAO）, 以及同类型的Argo 网格数据集等进行的比较与验证结果,发现利用逐步订正法构建的Argo 网格资料与其他数据集相比,除 了相互间吻合程度较高,能较客观地呈现出全球海洋中的一些大、中尺度海洋特征外,由Argo 资料揭示的一些重要物理海 洋特征的结构显得更细致,更能反映这些现象的演变过程和变化规律;加上Argo 资料严格的质量控制过程,确保了重构的 网格数据集的质量和可靠性。该资料集不仅可以作为研究全球海洋状况或揭示物理海洋现象的基础资料,还可为海洋数值模 式的开边界和初始场提供参考依据。     

Effects of interannual salinity variability on the dynamic height in the western equatorial Pacific as diagnosed by Argo

In this paper, interannual variations of the ocean dynamic height over the tropical Pacific are diagnosed using three-dimensional temperature and salinity fields from Argo profiles, with a focus on the...     

Prediction of surface ocean pCO2 from observations of salinity, temperature and nitrate: The empirical model perspective

This paper evaluates whether a thermodynamic ocean-carbon model can be used to predict the monthly mean global fields of the surface-water partial pressure of CO₂ (pCO_2SEA) from sea surface salinity (SSS), temperature (SST), and/or nitrate (NO₃) concentration using previously published regional total inorganic carbon (C_T) and total alkalinity (A_T) algorithms. The obtained pCO_2SEA values and their amplitudes of seasonal variability are in good agreement with multi-year observations undertaken at the sites of the Bermuda Atlantic Timeseries Study (BATS) (31°50’N, 60°10’W) and the Hawaiian Ocean Time-series (HOT) (22°45’N, 158°00’W). By contrast, the empirical models predicted C_T less accurately at the Kyodo western North Pacific Ocean Time-series (KNOT) site (44°N, 155°E) than at the BATS and HOT sites, resulting in greater uncertainties in pCO_2SEA predictions. Our analysis indicates that the previously published empirical C_T and A_T models provide reasonable predictions of seasonal variations in surface-water pCO_2SEA within the (sub) tropical oceans based on changes in SSS and SST; however, in high-latitude oceans where ocean biology affects C_T to a significant degree, improved C_T algorithms are required to capture the full biological effect on C_T with greater accuracy and in turn improve the accuracy of predictions of pCO_2SEA.     

Global mapping of 10-day differences of temperature and salinity in the intermediate layer observed with Argo floats

Journal of Oceanography - The authors examine small-scale spatiotemporal variability of the layer nearly 2000-m depth, which is the “bottom” of the present Argo observation system,...     

基于Argo网格产品资料的台湾以东海域海温场结构与温跃层特征分析

基于2005年1月~2009年12月中国Argo实时数据中心发布的Argo网格化产品,对台湾以东海域的表层和深层海温进行了分析,证实了日本南部海域存在北太平洋副热带模态水,提出暖水团概念,分析了其成因和垂直结构,并利用SODA(Simple Ocean Data Assimilation)数据和WOA09(World Ocean Atlas 2005)数据对暖水团进行验证。揭示出台湾以东海域各层次温度大面分布大体呈3个模态特征,并依此将台湾以东海域分为热带、副热带和温带三个海区;对各海域截取断面图,对其温跃层进行分析,归纳出永久性温跃层和季节性温跃层在垂直方向上的分布和季节性变化,并对其成因进行了讨论。     

Relative contributions of temperature and salinity to steric sea level over the South China Sea

The relative contributions of surface temperature and salinity to steric sea-level variations are investigated using satellite observations and reanalysis datasets. By defining a contribution factor, the relative roles of thermal and haline steric height variations are quantified over the South China Sea(SCS). The thermosteric height dominates the steric sea level variation in the northern SCS deep basin, while the contribution of the halosteric height increases southward. Further investigation ...     

2003-2008年全球海平面变化评估

导致全球海平面短时间尺度变化主要有海水密度和海水质量这两方面的变化因素。通过重力校正和气候试验（GRACE）对地球重力场进行观测,并联合卫星测高SA、ARGO系统的观测结果可推知：自2003年以来,海平面的上升主要是因为海水质量的增加。     

Evaluating the contribution of satellite measurements to the re-construction of three-dimensional ocean temperature fields in combination with Argo profiles

Assimilation systems absorb both satellite measurements and Argo observations. This assimilation is essential to diagnose and evaluate the contribution from each type of data to the reconstructed analysis, allowing for better configuration of assimilation parameters. To achieve this, two comparative reconstruction schemes were designed under the optimal interpolation framework. Using a static scheme, an in situ-only field of ocean temperature was derived by correcting climatology with only Argo ...     

Sea-floor observations in the tongue of the ocean,Bahamas: An Argo/SeaMARC survey

SeaMARC side-scan sonographs and Argo video and photographic data suggest that the recent sedimentary environment of the floor of the Tongue of the Ocean is controlled by an interplay of turbidity current flow from the south, sediment spill-over from the carbonate platform to the east (windward side), and rock falls from the west carbonate escarpment (lee side). The spill-over forms a sandy sedimentary deposit that acts as a topographic obstruction to the turbidity current flow from the south. This obstruction is expressed by the westward migration of a northwest-southeast oriented turbidity-current-cut channel.     

Effects of the seasonal variation in chlorophyll concentration on sea surface temperature in the global ocean

The effects of biological heating on the upper-ocean temperature of the global ocean are investigated using two ocean-only experiments forced by prescribed atmospheric fields during 1990–2007, on with fixed constant chlorophyll concentration, and the other with seasonally varying chlorophyll concentration. Although the existence of high chlorophyll concentrations can trap solar radiation in the upper layer and warm the surface, cooling sea surface temperature (SST) can be seen in some regions and seasons. Seventeen regions are selected and classified according to their dynamic processes, and the cooling mechanisms are investigated through heat budget analysis. The chlorophyll-induced SST variation is dependent on the variation in chlorophyll concentration and net surface heat flux and on such dynamic ocean processes as mixing, upwelling and advection. The mixed layer depth is also an important factor determining the effect. The chlorophyll-induced SST warming appears in most regions during the local spring to autumn when the mixed layer is shallow, e.g., low latitudes without upwelling and the mid-latitudes. Chlorophyll-induced SST cooling appears in regions experiencing strong upwelling, e.g., the western Arabian Sea, west coast of North Africa, South Africa and South America, the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean, and strong mixing (with deep mixed layer depth), e.g., the mid-latitudes in winter.     

The long-term trend of the sea surface wind speed and the wave height (wind wave, swell, mixed wave)in global ocean during the last 44 a

Utilizing the 45 a European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts(ECMWF)reanalysis wave data(ERA-40),the long-term trend of the sea surface wind speed and(wind wave,swell,mixed wave)wave height in the global ocean at grid point 1.5×1.5 during the last 44 a is analyzed.It is discovered that a majority of global ocean swell wave height exhibits a significant linear increasing trend(2–8 cm/decade),the distribution of annual linear trend of the significant wave height(SWH)has good consistency with that of the swell wave height.The sea surface wind speed shows an annually linear increasing trend mainly concentrated in the most waters of Southern Hemisphere westerlies,high latitude of the North Pacific,Indian Ocean north of 30 S,the waters near the western equatorial Pacific and low latitudes of the Atlantic waters,and the annually linear decreasing mainly in central and eastern equator of the Pacific,Juan.Fernandez Archipelago,the waters near South Georgia Island in the Atlantic waters.The linear variational distribution characteristic of the wind wave height is similar to that of the sea surface wind speed.Another find is that the swell is dominant in the mixed wave,the swell index in the central ocean is generally greater than that in the offshore,and the swell index in the eastern ocean coast is greater than that in the western ocean inshore,and in year-round hemisphere westerlies the swell index is relatively low.     

大洋溶解铁的物质来源及其同位素示踪

铁（Fe）作为海洋初级生产所必需的微量和限制性营养元素影响着海洋生物群落结构、生态功能以及碳循环,理解溶解Fe的物质来源及其对气候变化的响应具有重要的科学意义。早期研究多强调风尘输入是维持大洋Fe循环的主要机制。近年来,随着海水Fe分析数据的积累,尤其是痕量元素及其同位素海洋生物地球化学循环研究计划（GEOTRACES）的开展,陆架沉积物和热液活动所释放Fe的贡献开始越来越受到重视。尽管如此,不同物源对开阔大洋溶解Fe的影响依然存在相当的不确定性。以海水溶解Fe的化学组分为出发点,强调有机配体对大洋Fe循环的决定性作用,综述了不同来源Fe的通量估计和第四纪大洋Fe来源的研究争议。铁同位素为理解大洋Fe的物源演变提供了新的工具。讨论了不同物源的Fe同位素特征,并提出结合沉积物的活动性Fe同位素和组分研究可能为理解过去陆架-热液活动-风尘输出与输运Fe的机制提供全新视角。     

连续台风对海表温度和海表高度的影响

利用多卫星观测资料,分析了2008年9月3个连续台风前后的海表温度(SST)和海表高度距平(SSHA)的时空变化特征,并探讨了影响其变化的主要因子。结果表明:(1)3个台风引起了强烈的上升流(1×10-5~150×10-5 m/s),海表显著降温(1~6 ℃),海表高度也有不同程度降低(10~50 cm);(2)台风引起的SST最大降温中心与SSHA负值或中尺度冷涡的区域中心十分吻合,同时台风使得先前存在的海洋中尺度冷涡得到加强;(3)同一区域台风对SST影响程度大小受台风的强度、移动速度以及台风对海面强迫时间等因素控制;(4)在原先SSHA为正值的海域,3个台风连续强迫下使得局地洋面形成一个SSHA为负值的中尺度涡,这与单一"打转"台风强迫海洋生成中尺度涡的现象不同。因此,对于西北太平洋海域而言,频发的台风在中尺度涡生消演变过程中的影响应不容忽视。