Morey, S. L., Schroeder, W. W., O'Brien, J. J., & Zavala-Hidalgo, J. (2003). The annual cycle of riverine influence in the eastern Gulf of Mexico basin. Geophys. Res. Lett. , 30 (16).
Morey, S. L., Shriver, J. F., & O'Brien, J. J. (1999). The effects of Halmahera on the Indonesian throughflow. J. Geophys. Res. , 104 (C10), 23281–23296.
Morrison, T., Dukhovskoy, D. S., McClean, J., Gille, S. T., & Chassignet, E. (2018). Causes of the anomalous heat flux onto the Greenland continental shelf. In American Geophysical Union (Vol. Fall Meeting).
Abstract: On the continental shelf around Greenland, warm-salty Atlantic water at depth fills the deep narrow fjords where Greenland's tidewater glaciers terminate. Changes in the quantity or properties of this water mass starting in the mid 1990s is thought to be largely responsible for increased ocean-driven melting of the Greenland Ice Sheet. Using high-resolution (nominal 0.1-degree) ocean circulation models we cannot accurately resolve small-scale processes on the shelf or within fjords. However, we can assess changes in the flux of heat via Atlantic water onto the continental shelf. To understand the causes of the anomalous heat that has reached the shelf we examine heat content of subtropical gyre water and shifts in the North Atlantic and Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillations.
Morrow, R. M., Ohman, M. D., Goericke, R., Kelly, T. B., Stephens, B. M., & Stukel, M. R. (2018). CCE V: Primary production, mesozooplankton grazing, and the biological pump in the California Current Ecosystem: Variability and response to El Niño. Deep Sea Research Part I: Oceanographic Research Papers , 140 , 52–62.
Abstract: Predicting marine carbon sequestration in a changing climate requires mechanistic understanding of the processes controlling sinking particle flux under different climatic conditions. The recent occurrence of a warm anomaly (2014-2015) followed by an El Nino (2015-2016) in the southern sector of the California Current System presented an opportunity to analyze changes in the biological carbon pump in response to altered climate forcing. We compare primary production, mesozooplankton grazing, and carbon export from the euphotic zone during quasi-Lagrangian experiments conducted in contrasting conditions: two cruises during warm years – one during the warm anomaly in 2014 and one toward the end of El Nino 2016 – and three cruises during El Ninoneutral years. Results showed no substantial differences in the relationships between vertical carbon export and its presumed drivers (primary production, mesozooplankton grazing) between warm and neutral years. Mesozooplankton fecal pellet enumeration and phaeopigment measurements both showed that fecal pellets were the dominant contributor to export in productive upwelling regions. In more oligotrophic regions, fluxes were dominated by amorphous marine snow with negligible pigment content. We found no evidence for a significant shift in the relationship between mesozooplankton grazing rate and chlorophyll concentration. However, massspecific grazing rates were lower at low-to-moderate chlorophyll concentrations during warm years relative to neutral years. We also detected a significant difference in the relationship between phytoplankton primary production and photosynthetically active radiation between years: at similar irradiance and nutrient concentrations, productivity decreased during the warm events. Whether these changes resulted from species composition changes remains to be determined. Overall, our results suggest that the processes driving export remain similar during different climate conditions, but that species compositional changes or other structural changes require further attention.
Morrow, R. M., Ohman, M. D., Goericke, R., Kelly, T. B., Stephens, B. M., & Stukel, M. R. (2018). CCE V: Primary production, mesozooplankton grazing, and the biological pump in the California Current Ecosystem: Variability and response to El Niño. Deep Sea Research Part I: Oceanographic Research Papers , .
Abstract: Predicting marine carbon sequestration in a changing climate requires mechanistic understanding of the processes controlling sinking particle flux under different climatic conditions. The recent occurrence of a warm anomaly (2014�2015) followed by an El Niño (2015�2016) in the southern sector of the California Current System presented an opportunity to analyze changes in the biological carbon pump in response to altered climate forcing. We compare primary production, mesozooplankton grazing, and carbon export from the euphotic zone during quasi-Lagrangian experiments conducted in contrasting conditions: two cruises during warm years – one during the warm anomaly in 2014 and one toward the end of El Niño 2016 � and three cruises during El Niño-neutral years. Results showed no substantial differences in the relationships between vertical carbon export and its presumed drivers (primary production, mesozooplankton grazing) between warm and neutral years. Mesozooplankton fecal pellet enumeration and phaeopigment measurements both showed that fecal pellets were the dominant contributor to export in productive upwelling regions. In more oligotrophic regions, fluxes were dominated by amorphous marine snow with negligible pigment content. We found no evidence for a significant shift in the relationship between mesozooplankton grazing rate and chlorophyll concentration. However, mass-specific grazing rates were lower at low-to-moderate chlorophyll concentrations during warm years relative to neutral years. We also detected a significant difference in the relationship between phytoplankton primary production and photosynthetically active radiation between years: at similar irradiance and nutrient concentrations, productivity decreased during the warm events. Whether these changes resulted from species composition changes remains to be determined. Overall, our results suggest that the processes driving export remain similar during different climate conditions, but that species compositional changes or other structural changes require further attention
Morrow, R. M., Ohman, M. D., Goericke, R., Kelly, T. B., Stephens, B. M., & Stukel, M. R. (2018). CCE V: Primary production, mesozooplankton grazing, and the biological pump in the California Current Ecosystem: Variability and response to El Niño. Deep Sea Research Part I: Oceanographic Research Papers , 140 , 52–62.
Abstract: Predicting marine carbon sequestration in a changing climate requires mechanistic understanding of the processes controlling sinking particle flux under different climatic conditions. The recent occurrence of a warm anomaly (2014-2015) followed by an El Nino (2015-2016) in the southern sector of the California Current System presented an opportunity to analyze changes in the biological carbon pump in response to altered climate forcing. We compare primary production, mesozooplankton grazing, and carbon export from the euphotic zone during quasi-Lagrangian experiments conducted in contrasting conditions: two cruises during warm years – one during the warm anomaly in 2014 and one toward the end of El Nino 2016 – and three cruises during El Ninoneutral years. Results showed no substantial differences in the relationships between vertical carbon export and its presumed drivers (primary production, mesozooplankton grazing) between warm and neutral years. Mesozooplankton fecal pellet enumeration and phaeopigment measurements both showed that fecal pellets were the dominant contributor to export in productive upwelling regions. In more oligotrophic regions, fluxes were dominated by amorphous marine snow with negligible pigment content. We found no evidence for a significant shift in the relationship between mesozooplankton grazing rate and chlorophyll concentration. However, massspecific grazing rates were lower at low-to-moderate chlorophyll concentrations during warm years relative to neutral years. We also detected a significant difference in the relationship between phytoplankton primary production and photosynthetically active radiation between years: at similar irradiance and nutrient concentrations, productivity decreased during the warm events. Whether these changes resulted from species composition changes remains to be determined. Overall, our results suggest that the processes driving export remain similar during different climate conditions, but that species compositional changes or other structural changes require further attention.
Nelson, A. D., Arbic, B. K., Zaron, E. D., Savage, A. C., Richman, J. G., Buijsman, M. C., et al. (2019). Toward Realistic Nonstationarity of Semidiurnal Baroclinic Tides in a Hydrodynamic Model. J. Geophys. Res. Oceans , 124 (9), 6632–6641.
Abstract: Semidiurnal baroclinic tide sea surface height (SSH) variance and semidiurnal nonstationary variance fraction (SNVF) are compared between a hydrodynamic model and altimetry for the low- to middle-latitude global ocean. Tidal frequencies are aliased by similar to 10-day altimeter sampling, which makes it impossible to unambiguously identify nonstationary tidal signals from the observations. In order to better understand altimeter sampling artifacts, the model was analyzed using its native hourly outputs and by subsampling it in the same manner as altimeters. Different estimates of the semidiurnal nonstationary and total SSH variance are obtained with the model depending on whether they are identified in the frequency domain or wave number domain and depending on the temporal sampling of the model output. Five sources of ambiguity in the interpretation of the altimetry are identified and briefly discussed. When the model and altimetry are analyzed in the same manner, they display qualitatively similar spatial patterns of semidiurnal baroclinic tides. The SNVF typically correlates above 80% at all latitudes between the different analysis methods and above 60% between the model and altimetry. The choice of analysis methodology was found to have a profound effect on estimates of the semidiurnal baroclinic SSH variance with the wave number domain methodology underestimating the semidiurnal nonstationary and total SSH variances by 68% and 66%, respectively. These results produce a SNVF estimate from altimetry that is biased low by a factor of 0.92. This bias is primarily a consequence of the ambiguity in the separation of tidal and mesoscale signals in the wave number domain.
Neto, A. G., Palter, J., Bower, A., Furey, H., & Xu. X. (2020). Labrador Sea Water transport across the Charlie-Gibbs Fracture Zone. J. Geophys. Res. Oceans , Accepted .
Abstract: Labrador Sea Water (LSW) is a major component of the deep limb of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, yet LSW transport pathways and their variability lack a complete description. A portion of the LSW exported from the subpolar gyre is advected eastward along the North Atlantic Current and must contend with the Mid‐Atlantic Ridge before reaching the eastern basins of the North Atlantic. Here, we analyze observations from a mooring array and satellite altimetry, together with outputs from a hindcast ocean model simulation, to estimate the mean transport of LSW across the Charlie Gibbs Fracture Zone (CGFZ), a primary gateway for the eastward transport of the water mass. The LSW transport estimated from the 25‐year altimetry record is 5.3 ± 2.9 Sv, where the error represents the combination of observational variability and the uncertainty in the projection of the surface velocities to the LSW layer. Current velocities modulate the interannual to higher frequency variability of the LSW transport at the CGFZ, while the LSW thickness becomes important on longer time scales. The modeled mean LSW transport for 1993‐2012 is higher than the estimate from altimetry, at 8.2 ± 4.1 Sv. The modeled LSW thickness decreases substantially at the CGFZ between 1996 and 2009, consistent with an observed decline in LSW volume in the Labrador Sea after 1994. We suggest that satellite altimetry and continuous hydrographic measurements in the central Labrador Sea, supplemented by profiles from Argo floats, could be sufficient to quantify the LSW transport at the CGFZ.
Nyadjro, E. S., Rydbeck, A. V., Jensen, T. G., Richman, J. G., & Shriver, J. F. (2020). On the Generation and Salinity Impacts of Intraseasonal Westward Jets in the Equatorial Indian Ocean. J. Geophys. Res. Oceans , 125 (6), e2020JC016066.
Abstract: While westerly winds dominate the equatorial Indian Ocean and generate the well‐known eastward flowing Wyrtki Jets during boreal spring and fall, there is evidence of a strong westward surface jet during winter that is swifter than eastward currents during that season. A weaker westward jet is found in summer. In this study, we report the occurrence, characteristics, and intraseasonal variability of this westward jet and its impact on mixed layer salinity in the equatorial Indian Ocean using the HYbrid Coordinate Ocean Model (HYCOM) reanalysis with the Navy Coupled Ocean Data Assimilation (NCODA). The westward jet typically occurs in the upper 50 m, above an eastward flowing equatorial undercurrent, with peak westward volume transport of approximately −8 Sv. The westward jet builds up gradually, decays rapidly, and is primarily forced by local intraseasonal wind stress anomalies generated by atmospheric intraseasonal convection. Westward acceleration of the jet occurs when the dominant intraseasonal westward wind anomaly is not balanced by the zonal pressure gradient (ZPG) force. The intraseasonal westward jet generates strong horizontal advection and is the leading cause of mixed layer freshening in the western equatorial Indian Ocean. Without it, a saltier mixed layer would persist and weaken any barrier layers. Existing barrier layers are strengthened following the passage of freshwater‐laden westward jets. Deceleration of the westward jet occurs when the eastward ZPG becomes increasingly important and the westward intraseasonal wind anomalies weaken. A rapid reversal of atmospheric intraseasonal convection‐driven surface winds eventually terminates the westward jet.
O'Brien, J. J., Bourassa, M. A., & Smith, S. R. (2005). Climate variability in ocean surface turbulent fluxes . Annual Report: The State of the Ocean and the Ocean Observing System for Climate. Silver Spring, MD, 20910. USA: NOAA Office of Climate Observation.
