Global upper ocean heat content and climate variability

Observational data from the Global Temperature and Salinity Profile Program were used to calculate the upper ocean heat content (OHC) anomaly. The thickness of the upper layer is taken as 300 m for the Pacific/Atlantic Ocean and 150 m for the Indian Ocean since the Indian Ocean has shallower thermoclines. First, the optimal spectral decomposition scheme was used to build up monthly synoptic temperature and salinity dataset for January 1990 to December 2009 on 1° × 1° grids and the same 33 vertical levels as the World Ocean Atlas. Then, the monthly varying upper layer OHC field (H) was obtained. Second, a composite analysis was conducted to obtain the total-time mean OHC field ([`([`(H)])] \bar{\bar{H}} ) and the monthly mean OHC variability ( [(\textH)\tilde] \widetilde{\text{H}} ), which is found an order of magnitude smaller than [^(\textH)] \widehat{\text{H}} . Third, an empirical orthogonal function (EOF) method is conducted on the residue data ( [^(\textH)] \widehat{\text{H}} ), deviating from [(\textH)\tilde] \widetilde{\text{H}}  +  [(\textH)\tilde] \widetilde{\text{H}} , in order to obtain interannual variations of the OHC fields for the three oceans. In the Pacific Ocean, the first two EOF modes account for 51.46% and 13.71% of the variance, representing canonical El Nino/La Nina (EOF-1) and pseudo-El Nino/La Nina (i.e., El Nino Modoki; EOF-2) events. In the Indian Ocean, the first two EOF modes account for 24.27% and 20.94% of the variance, representing basin-scale cooling/warming (EOF-1) and Indian Ocean Dipole (EOF-2) events. In the Atlantic Ocean, the first EOF mode accounts for 49.26% of the variance, representing a basin-scale cooling/warming (EOF-1) event. The second EOF mode accounts for 8.83% of the variance. Different from the Pacific and Indian Oceans, there is no zonal dipole mode in the tropical Atlantic Ocean. Fourth, evident lag correlation coefficients are found between the first principal component of the Pacific Ocean and the Southern Oscillation Index with a maximum correlation coefficient (0.68) at 1-month lead of the EOF-1 and between the second principal component of the Indian Ocean and the Dipole Mode Index with maximum values (around 0.53) at 1–2-month advance of the EOF-2. It implies that OHC anomaly contains climate variability signals.     

Solar activity and dynamic processes in the atmosphere and world ocean heat content

The scenario of climatic changes in the 20th century has been presented in the scope of the developed model concerning the effect of solar activity on the parameters of the climatic system governing the energy flux, outgoing from the Earth into space in the high-latitude regions. The regularities of changes in the circulation in the atmosphere and ocean are discussed. Specific attention is paid to the causes of a “cold snap” in 1940–1976 in the Northern Hemisphere and the nature of an anomalous increase in the heat content in the Earth climatic system (ocean) in 1969–1980. It has been indicated that these phenomena result from changes in the circulation in the atmosphere and ocean (specifically, a change in the thermohaline circulation in the Northern Atlantic), heat exchange between the ocean and the atmosphere and cryosphere.     

联合卫星测高和模式资料研究海水热含量变化

本文在考虑洋底压力变化的情况下,利用2003~2008年融合多颗卫星的测高资料估计了全球和中国近海的海水热含量变化.顾及洋底压力(OBP)变化以及热膨胀系数随海水深度变化的影响,提出的改进方法提高了对中高纬度地区热含量变化的估算精度.在OBP变化较为明显的北太平洋区域I(30°N~50°N,170°E~190°E)、南印度洋区域II(40°S~60°S,100°E~120°E)和南太平洋区域III(40°S~60°S,100°W~120°W),改进方法的均方差较传统方法分别降低了16.3%、60.5%和48.4%.同时研究表明,卫星测高的精度以及盐度变化是影响中高纬度地区热含量估计精度的重要因素.在中国近海地区,东海和黄海的热含量主要表现为周年变化;南海区域的热含量除周年变化外,还存在半周年项和年际变化项,且南海的海水热含量近年有增加的趋势.     

Simulated effects of interactions between ocean acidification,marine organism calcification,and organic carbon export on ocean carbon and oxygen cycles

Ocean acidification caused by oceanic uptake of anthropogenic carbon dioxide(CO_2) tends to suppress the calcification of some marine organisms. This reduced calcification then enhances surface ocean alkalinity and increases oceanic CO_2 uptake, a process that is termed calcification feedback. On the other hand, decreased calcification also reduces the export flux of calcium carbonate(Ca CO_3), potentially reducing Ca CO_3-bound organic carbon export flux and CO_2 uptake, a process that is termed ballast feedback. In this study, we incorporate a range of different parameterizations of the links between organic carbon export, calcification, and ocean acidification into an Earth system model, in order to quantify the long-term effects on oceanic CO_2 uptake that result from calcification and ballast feedbacks. We utilize an intensive CO_2 emission scenario to drive the model in which an estimated fossil fuel resource of 5000 Pg C is burnt out over the course of just a few centuries. Simulated results show that, in the absence of both calcification and ballast feedbacks, by year 3500, accumulated oceanic CO_2 uptake is2041 Pg C. Inclusion of calcification feedback alone increases the simulated uptake by 629 Pg C(31%), while the inclusion of both calcification and ballast feedbacks increase simulated uptake by 449–498 Pg C(22–24%), depending on the parameter values used in the ballast feedback scheme. These results indicate that ballast effect counteracts calcification effect in oceanic CO_2 uptake. Ballast effect causes more organic carbon to accumulate and decompose in the upper ocean, which in turn leads to decreased oxygen concentration in the upper ocean and increased oxygen at depths. By year 2600, the inclusion of ballast effect would decrease oxygen concentration by 11% at depth of ca. 200 m in tropics. Our study highlights the potentially critical effects of interactions between ocean acidification, marine organism calcification, and Ca CO3-bound organic carbon export on the ocean carbon and oxygen cycles.     

Dissolved inorganic carbon in the ocean and climate

Changes in the climate conditions in the recent decade arouse the heightened interest to the problem of the greenhouse effect and consequently to studying the dynamics of CO₂ concentration in the ocean-atmosphere system. The modern changes in CO₂ concentration and temperature can result both from the anthropogenic influence and from the rhythms of natural processes. The results of modelling carbon equilibrium in the World Ocean water for the Quaternary suggest that the modern climate change is a part of natural climate variations having taken place for at least more than 400 thousand years.     

Mercury partition in the interface between a contaminated lagoon and the ocean: The role of particulate load and composition

After having estimated the patterns of flow to the ocean and found some seasonal and tidal differences, mainly with regard to the relative importance of dissolved and particulate fractions, mercury partitioning at the interface between a contaminated lagoon and the Atlantic Ocean was investigated during four tidal cycles in contrasting season and tidal regimes. Mercury was found to be located predominantely in the particulate fraction throughout the year, contributing to its retention within the system. Seasonal conditions, variations in marine and fluvial signals and processes affecting bed sediment resuspension influenced the character and concentration of suspended particulate matter in the water column. Variation in the nature, levels and partitioning of organic carbon in the particulate fraction affected levels of particulate mercury as well as mercury partitioning. These results highlight the dominant role of suspended particulate matter in the distribution of anthropogenic mercury and reinforce the importance of competitive behavior related to organic carbon in mercury scavenging.     

Transient ocean warming and shifts in carbon reservoirs during the early Danian

A long-standing question in Paleogene climate concerns the frequency and mechanism of transient greenhouse gas-driven climate shifts (hyperthermals). The discovery of the greenhouse gas-driven Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM; ～ 55 Ma) has spawned a search for analogous events in other parts of the Paleogene record. On the basis of high-resolution bulk sediment and foraminiferal stable isotope analyses performed on three lower Danian sections of the Atlantic Ocean, we report the discovery of a possible greenhouse gas-driven climatic event in the earliest Paleogene. This event – that we term the Dan-C2 event – is characterized by a conspicuous double negative excursion in δ¹³C and δ¹⁸O, associated with a double spike in increased clay content and decreased carbonate content. This suggests a double period of transient greenhouse gas-driven warming and dissolution of carbonates on the seafloor analogous to the PETM in the early Paleocene at ～ 65.2 Ma. However, the shape of the two negative carbon isotope excursions that make up the Dan-C2 event is different from the PETM carbon isotope profile. In the Dan-C2 event, these excursions are fairly symmetrical and each persisted for about ～ 40 ky and are separated by a short plateau that brings the combined duration to ～ 100 ky, suggesting a possible orbital control on the event. Because of the absence of a long recovery phase, we interpret the Dan-C2 event to have been associated with a redistribution of carbon that was already in the biosphere. The Dan-C2 event and other early Paleogene hyperthermals such as the short-lived early Eocene ELMO event may reflect amplification of a regular cycle in the size and productivity of the marine biosphere and the balance between burial of organic and carbonate carbon.     

The overlooked role of the ocean in mercury cycling in the Arctic

The rapid and high bioaccumulation of mercury in marine mammals and its spatial and temporal variations have been a major puzzle in the Arctic. While extensive efforts have been focussed on the monitoring and chemistry of atmospheric mercury depletion events, a recent mass budget estimate of mercury in the Arctic suggests that we have overlooked the role of the ocean itself. Only through focussed studies on Hg dynamics in the Arctic Ocean under a changing climate are we going to understand what the risk of mercury is to those marine ecosystems and the people who rely on them.     

The roles of surface heat flux and ocean heat transport convergence in determining Atlantic Ocean temperature variability

The temperature variability of the Atlantic Ocean is investigated using an eddy-permitting (1/4°) global ocean model (ORCA-025) forced with historical surface meteorological fields from 1958 to 2001. The simulation of volume-averaged temperature and the vertical structure of the zonally averaged temperature trends are compared with those from observations. In regions with a high number of observations, in particular above a depth of 500 m and between 22° N and 65° N, the model simulation and the dataset are in good agreement. The relative contribution of variability in ocean heat transport (OHT) convergence and net surface heat flux to changes in ocean heat content is investigated with a focus on three regions: the subpolar and subtropical gyres and the tropics. The surface heat flux plays a relatively minor role in year-to-year changes in the subpolar and subtropical regions, but in the tropical North Atlantic, its role is of similar significance to the ocean heat transport convergence. The strongest signal during the study period is a cooling of the subpolar gyre between 1970 and 1990, which subsequently reversed as the mid-latitude OHT convergence transitioned from an anomalously weak to an anomalously strong state. We also explore whether model OHT anomalies can be linked to surface flux anomalies through a Hovmöller analysis of the Atlantic sector. At low latitudes, increased ocean heat gain coincides with anomalously strong northward transport, whereas at mid-high latitudes, reduced ocean heat loss is associated with anomalously weak heat transport.     

On the interaction between ocean surface waves and seamounts

Of the many topographic features, more specifically seamounts, that are ubiquitous in the ocean floor, we focus our attention on those with relatively shallow summits that can interact with wind-generated surface waves. Among these, especially relatively long waves crossing the oceans (swells) and stormy seas are able to affect the water column up to a considerable depth and therefore interact with these deep-sea features. We quantify this interaction through numerical experiments using a numerical wave model (SWAN), in which a simply shaped seamount is exposed to waves of different length. The results show a strong interaction that leads to significant changes in the wave field, creating wake zones and regions of large wave amplification. This is then exemplified in a practical case where we analyze the interaction of more realistic sea conditions with a very shallow rock in the Yellow Sea. Potentially important for navigation and erosion processes, mutatis mutandis, these results are also indicative of possible interactions with emerged islands and sand banks in shelf seas.     

Coccolith chemistry reveals secular variations in the global ocean carbon cycle?

The mismatch between the 100 and 400 k.y. components of Pleistocene climate and the relative power of those terms from the eccentricity of the Earth's orbit remains a challenge to the Milankovitch hypothesis. Coccolithophores have the potential to respond to parameters of orbital forcing other than insolation, and, as a critical component of the ocean carbon cycle, can act to modify the climate response. The first direct comparison of coccolith fraction Sr/Ca, alkenone abundance and automated coccolithophore counts, shows that CF Sr/Ca is largely driven by changing production of bloom species, with unusually high Sr/Ca ratios. The periods of high CF Sr/Ca and high bloom production mark periods of high global coccolithophore production, which correlate inversely with the low amplitude 100 and higher amplitude 400 k.y. eccentricity orbital frequency. ∼ 400 k.y. cycles of coccolithophore bloom production correspond to periods of enhanced carbonate accumulation in some parts of the ocean, deep ocean dissolution in others, positive shifts in global ocean δ¹³C, and acmes of Gephyrocapsa caribbeanica and Emiliania huxleyi. The link between production of coccolithophore blooms and eccentricity may be due to orbital control of silica leakage from the Southern Ocean, to the orbitally defined inverse correlation between insolation and growing season length and the asymptotic growth response to these parameters, or to changes in nutrient input from weathering. During the Pleistocene, the eccentricity induced coccolithophore acmes have no apparent influence on atmospheric carbon dioxide (pCO₂) due to the shift towards small bloom coccolithophores, or to coupling with increased diatom productivity, or the ballast effect of the calcium carbonate rain, such that Pleistocene climate has no significant variance at the largest amplitude eccentricity forcing of 400 k.y. Coccolithophores and their influence on the carbon cycle may act as a filter between the incident orbital forcing and resultant climate.     

全球海洋碳循环模式MOM4_L40对碳和营养物自然分布的模拟

本文介绍了国家气候中心发展的一个全球海洋碳循环环流模式,并分析评估了该模式的基本性能.该模式是在美国地球物理流体动力学实验室(GFDL,Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory)的全球海洋环流模式MOM4(Modular Ocean Model Version 4)基础上发展的一个垂直方向40层、包含生物地球化学过程的全球三维海洋碳循环环流模式,简称为MOM4_L40(Modular Ocean Model Version 4 With 40Levels).该模式在气候场强迫下长期积分1000年,结果分析表明,与观测相比,模式较好地模拟了海洋温度、盐度、总二氧化碳、总碱、总磷酸盐的表面和垂直分布特征.模拟的海洋总二氧化碳分布与观测基本相符,表层为低值区,其下为高值区,高值区域位于10°S—60°N之间,但2000m以上模拟值较观测偏小,2000m以下模拟值较观测偏大.总体来说,MOM4_L40模式是一个可信赖的海洋碳循环过程模拟研究工具.     

The linear relation between temperatures based on the silica content of groundwater and regional heat flow: A new heat flow map of the United States

Application of the silica geothermometer to over 70,000 non-thermal groundwaters from the United States has shown that there is a correlation between the average silica geotemperatures for a region (T SiO₂ in °C) and the known regional heat flow (q in mW m^?2) of the form: 1 $$TSiO_2 = mq + b$$ wherem andb are constants determined to be 0.67°C m² mW^?1 and 13.2°C respectively. The physical significance of ‘b’ is the mean annual air temperature. The slope ‘m’ is related to the minimum average depth to which the groundwaters may circulate. This minimum depth is estimated to be between 1.4 and 2.0 km depending on the rock type. A preliminary heat flow map based on equation (1) is presented using theT SiO₂ for new estimates of regional heat flow where conventional data are lacking. Anomalously high localT SiO₂ values indicate potential geothermal areas.     

Modelling the uptake and release of carbon dioxide in the Baltic Sea surface water

We present and analyse a fully coupled physical–biogeochemical model of the uptake and release of carbon dioxide in the Baltic Sea. The modelling includes the interaction between physical (stratification, temperature, salinity, penetration of solar radiation, and ice), chemical (total alkalinity, pH, dissolved inorganic carbon, oxygen, and nutrients), and biological processes (plankton and dissolved organic carbon (DOC)). These processes have been built into an advanced process-oriented coupled basin ocean model that has been extensively explored and validated for the Baltic Sea.     

On the question of carbon dioxide heat radiation in the atmosphere

Summary The new, more reliable data on transmisson function of the atmosphere in the region of 12–18 carbon dioxide absorption band are obtained. The radiation chart for calculations of atmospheric heat radiation is built on the base of this data. The dependence of atmospheric heat radiation on CO₂ and H₂O contents and also on temperature vertical distribution is investigated with the help of the radiation chart. It is shown, that the heat radiation of the atmosphere almost doesn't depend on variations of carbon dioxide content in the atmosphere. The income of atmospheric heat radiation in the region of spectra from 12 to 18 in integrated atmospheric radiation is determined.

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, 12–18. . , . , . 12–18 .

     

Organic carbon isotope gradient and ocean stratification across the late Ediacaran-Early Cambrian Yangtze Platform

Organic carbon isotope(δ13Corg) data from two well-preserved sections across a shallow-to-deep water transect of the late Ediacaran-Early Cambrian Yangtze Platform in South China show significant temporal and spatial variations. In the shallow-water Jiulongwan-Jijiapo section, δ13Corg values of the late Ediacaran Dengying Formation range from -29‰ to -24‰. In the deep-water Longbizui section, δ13Corg values from time-equivalent strata of the Dengying Formation are mostly between –35‰ and -32‰. These new data, in combination with δ13Corg data reported from other sections in South China, reveal a 6‰–8‰ shallow-to-deep water δ13Corg gradient. High δ13Corg values(-30‰) occur mostly in shallow-water carbonate rocks, whereas low δ13Corg values(-32‰) dominate the deep-water black shale and chert. The large temporal and spatial δ13Corg variations imply limited buffering effect from a large dissolved organic carbon(DOC) reservoir that was inferred to have existed in Ediacaran-Early Cambrian oceans. Instead, δ13Corg variations between platform and basin sections are more likely caused by differential microbial biomass contribution to total organic matter. High δ13Corg values(-30‰) documented from shallow-water carbonates are within the range of typical Phanerozoic δ13Corg data and may record the isotope signature of organic matter from primary(photosynthetic) production. In contrast, low δ13Corg values(-32‰) from deep-water sections may have resulted from higher chemoautotrophic or methanotrophic biomass contribution to bulk organic matter in anoxic environments. The δ13Corg data provide indirect evidence for ocean stratification and episodic chemocline fluctuations in the Ediacaran-Early Cambrian Yangtze Platform.     

Recent carbon and nitrogen uptake rates of phytoplankton in Bering Strait and the Chukchi Sea

Cruises to Bering Strait and the Chukchi Sea in US waters from late June in 2002 to early September in 2004 and the Russian–American Long-term Census of the Arctic (RUSALCA) research cruise in 2004 covered all major water masses and contributed to a better understanding of the regional physics, nutrient dynamics, and biological systems. The integrated concentration of the high nitrate pool in the central Chukchi Sea was greater in this study than in previous studies, although the highest nitrate concentration (∼22 μM) in the Anadyr Water mass passing through the western side of Bering Strait was consistent with prior observations. The chlorophyll-a concentrations near the western side of the Diomede Islands ranged from 200 to 400 mg chl-a m⁻² and the range in the central Chukchi Sea was 200–500 mg chl-a m⁻² for the 2002–2004 Alpha Helix (HX) cruises. Chlorophyll-a concentrations for the 2004 RUSALCA cruise were lower than those from previous studies. The mean annual primary production of phytoplankton from this study, using a ¹³C–¹⁵N dual-isotope technique, was 55 g C m⁻² for the whole Chukchi Sea and 145 g C m⁻² for the plume of Anadyr–Bering Shelf Water in the central Chukchi Sea. In contrast, the averages of annual total nitrogen production were 13.9 g N m⁻² (S.D.=±16.2 g N m⁻²) and 33.8 g N m⁻² (S.D.=±14.1 g N m⁻²) for the Chukchi Sea and the plume, respectively. These carbon and nitrogen production rates of phytoplankton were consistently two-or three-fold lower than those from previous studies. We suggest that the lower rates in this study, and consequently more unused nitrate in the water column, were caused by lower phytoplankton biomass in the Bering Strait and the Chukchi Sea. However, we do not know if the lower rate of production from this study is a general decreasing trend or simply temporal variations in the Chukchi Sea, since temporal and geographical variations are substantially large and presently unpredictable.     

Coherent variations of the obliquity components in global ice volume and ocean carbon reservoir over the past 5 Ma

The Milankovi theory stresses that the summer insolation in the high northern latitudes that is dominated by the precession cycle controls the glacial/interglacial cycles in global climate change.If the climate system responds linearly to the external insolation forcing,the precession cycle of 23 or 19 ka should dominate the variations in the climatic proxy records.I performed spectral and evolutive cross spectral analyses on the high resolution benthic 18O and 13C records from the South China Sea and the North Atlantic,the proxies of global ice volume and ocean carbon reservoir respectively.I found that the obliquity instead of the eccentricity or the precession is the most marked cycle in the global ice volume and ocean carbon reservoir variations over the past 5 Ma.The analysis further reveals that only at the obliquity band instead of the eccentricity or the precession band does the global ice volume and ocean carbon reservoir display consistently high coherency and stable phase relationship over the past 5 Ma.The consistently positive or near-zero phases of the benthic 18O relative to the benthic13C at the obliquity band suggest that the global carbon cycle is involved in the polar ice sheet growth as an important internal feedback,not a determinative driving factor.The obliquity instead of the precession or the eccentricity takes the dominant role of driving the global climate change during the Pliocene and Pleistocene.