Xu, X., Chassignet, E. P., Price, J. F., Özgökmen, T. M., & Peters, H. (2007). A regional modeling study of the entraining Mediterranean outflow. J. Geophys. Res. , 112 (C12).
Xu, X., Rhines, P. B., & Chassignet, E. P. (2016). Temperature-Salinity Structure of the North Atlantic Circulation and Associated Heat and Freshwater Transports. J. Climate , 29 (21), 7723–7742.
Xu, X., Rhines, P. B., & Chassignet, E. P. (2018). On Mapping the Diapycnal Water Mass Transformation of the Upper North Atlantic Ocean. J. Phys. Oceanogr. , 48 (10), 2233–2258.
Abstract: Diapycnal water mass transformation is the essence behind the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) and the associated heat/freshwater transports. Existing studies have mostly focused on the transformation that is forced by surface buoyancy fluxes, and the role of interior mixing is much less known. This study maps the three-dimensional structure of the diapycnal transformation, both surface forced and mixing induced, using results of a high-resolution numerical model that have been shown to represent the large-scale structure of the AMOC and the North Atlantic subpolar/subtropical gyres well. The analyses show that 1) annual mean transformation takes place seamlessly from the subtropical to the subpolar North Atlantic following the surface buoyancy loss along the northward-flowing upper AMOC limb; 2) mixing, including wintertime convection and warm-season restratification by mesoscale eddies in the mixed layer and submixed layer diapycnal mixing, drives transformations of (i) Subtropical Mode Water in the southern part of the subtropical gyre and (ii) Labrador Sea Water in the Labrador Sea and on its southward path in the western Newfoundland Basin; and 3) patterns of diapycnal transformations toward lighter and denser water do not align zonally�the net three-dimensional transformation is significantly stronger than the zonally integrated, two-dimensional AMOC streamfunction (50% in the southern subtropical North Atlantic and 60% in the western subpolar North Atlantic).
Xu, X., Rhines, P. B., Chassignet, E. P., & Schmitz Jr., W. J. (2015). Spreading of Denmark Strait Overflow Water in the Western Subpolar North Atlantic: Insights from Eddy-Resolving Simulations with a Passive Tracer. J. Phys. Oceanogr. , 45 (12), 2913–2932.
Xu, X., Schmitz Jr., W. J., Hurlburt, H. E., Hogan, P. J., & Chassignet, E. P. (2010). Transport of Nordic Seas overflow water into and within the Irminger Sea: An eddy-resolving simulation and observations. J. Geophys. Res. , 115 (C12).
Yan, Y., Chassignet, E. P., Qi, Y., & Dewar, W. K. (2013). Freshening of Subsurface Waters in the Northwest Pacific Subtropical Gyre: Observations and Dynamics. J. Phys. Oceanogr. , 43 (12), 2733–2751.
Zavala-Romero, O., Ahmed, A., Chassignet, E. P., Zavala-Hidalgo, J., Fernández Eguiarte, A., & Meyer-Baese, A. (2014). An open source Java web application to build self-contained web GIS sites. Environmental Modelling & Software , 62 , 210–220.
Zeng, L., Chassignet, E. P., Schmitt, R. W., Xu, X., & Wang, D. (2018). Salinification in the South China Sea Since Late 2012: A Reversal of the Freshening Since the 1990s. Geophys. Res. Lett. , 45 (6), 2744–2751.
Özgökmen, T., Chassignet, E., Dawson, C., Dukhovskoy, D., Jacobs, G., Ledwell, J., et al. (2016). Over What Area Did the Oil and Gas Spread During the 2010 Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill? Oceanog , 29 (3), 96–107.