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  • 1
    Publication Date: 2021-03-19
    Description: The influence of mesoscale eddies on the flow field and the water masses, especially the oxygen distribution of the eastern tropical South Pacific, is investigated from a mooring, float, and satellite data set. Two anticyclonic (ACE1/2), one mode-water (MWE), and one cyclonic eddy (CE) are identified and followed in detail with satellite data on their westward transition with velocities of 3.2 to 6.0cms−1 from their generation region, the shelf of the Peruvian and Chilean upwelling regime, across the Stratus Ocean Reference Station (ORS;  ∼ 20°S, 85°W) to their decaying region far west in the oligotrophic open ocean. The ORS is located in the transition zone between the oxygen minimum zone and the well oxygenated South Pacific subtropical gyre. Velocity, hydrographic, and oxygen measurements at the mooring show the impact of eddies on the weak flow region of the eastern tropical South Pacific. Strong anomalies are related to the passage of eddies and are not associated with a seasonal signal in the open ocean. The mass transport of the four observed eddies across 85°W is between 1.1 and 1.8Sv. The eddy type-dependent available heat, salt, and oxygen anomalies are 8.1×1018J (ACE2), 1.0×1018J (MWE), and −8.9×1018J (CE) for heat; 25.2×1010kg (ACE2), −3.1×1010kg (MWE), and −41.5×1010kg (CE) for salt; and −3.6×1016µmol (ACE2), −3.5×1016µmol (MWE), and −6.5×1016µmol (CE) for oxygen showing a strong imbalance between anticyclones and cyclones for salt transports probably due to seasonal variability in water mass properties in the formation region of the eddies. Heat, salt, and oxygen fluxes out of the coastal region across the ORS region in the oligotrophic open South Pacific are estimated based on these eddy anomalies and on eddy statistics (gained out of 23 years of satellite data). Furthermore, four profiling floats were trapped in the ACE2 during its westward propagation between the formation region and the open ocean, which allows for conclusions on lateral mixing of water mass properties with time between the core of the eddy and the surrounding water. The strongest lateral mixing was found between the seasonal thermocline and the eddy core during the first half of the eddy lifetime.
    Type: Article , PeerReviewed
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  • 2
    Publication Date: 2021-03-02
    Description: The eastern tropical North Atlantic (ETNA) is characterized by a highly productive coastal upwelling system and a moderate oxygen minimum zone with lowest open ocean oxygen (O2) concentrations of around 40 μmol kg−1. Only recently, the discovery of re-occurring mesoscale eddies with sometimes close to anoxic O2 concentrations (〈1 μmol kg−1) and located just below the mixed layer challenged our understanding of O2 distribution and biogeochemical processes in this area. Here, we present the first metagenomic dataset from a deoxygenated anticyclonic modewater eddy in the open waters of the ETNA. In the eddy, we observed a significantly lower bacterial diversity compared to surrounding waters, along with a significant community shift. We detected enhanced primary productivity in the surface layer of the eddy indicated by elevated chlorophyll concentrations and increased carbon uptake rates up to three times as high as in surrounding waters. Carbon uptake below the euphotic zone correlated to the presence of a specific high-light ecotype of Prochlorococcus, which is usually underrepresented in the ETNA. Our combined data indicate that high primary production in the eddy fuels export production and the presence of a specific microbial community responsible for enhanced respiration at shallow depths, below the mixed layer base. Progressively decreasing O2 concentrations in the eddy were found to promote transcription of the key gene for denitrification, nirS, in the O2-depleted core waters. This process is usually absent from the open ETNA waters. In the light of future ocean deoxygenation our results show exemplarily that even distinct events of anoxia have the potential to alter microbial community structures and with that critically impact primary productivity and biogeochemical processes of oceanic water bodies.
    Type: Article , PeerReviewed
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  • 3
    Publication Date: 2021-05-19
    Description: Here we present first observations, from instrumentation installed on moorings and a float, of unexpectedly low (〈2 μmol kg−1) oxygen environments in the open waters of the tropical North Atlantic, a region where oxygen concentration does normally not fall much below 40 μmol kg−1. The low-oxygen zones are created at shallow depth, just below the mixed layer, in the euphotic zone of cyclonic eddies and anticyclonic-modewater eddies. Both types of eddies are prone to high surface productivity. Net respiration rates for the eddies are found to be 3 to 5 times higher when compared with surrounding waters. Oxygen is lowest in the centre of the eddies, in a depth range where the swirl velocity, defining the transition between eddy and surroundings, has its maximum. It is assumed that the strong velocity at the outer rim of the eddies hampers the transport of properties across the eddies boundary and as such isolates their cores. This is supported by a remarkably stable hydrographic structure of the eddies core over periods of several months. The eddies propagate westward, at about 4 to 5 km day−1, from their generation region off the West African coast into the open ocean. High productivity and accompanying respiration, paired with sluggish exchange across the eddy boundary, create the "dead zone" inside the eddies, so far only reported for coastal areas or lakes. We observe a direct impact of the open ocean dead zones on the marine ecosystem as such that the diurnal vertical migration of zooplankton is suppressed inside the eddies.
    Type: Article , PeerReviewed
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  • 4
    Publication Date: 2021-05-19
    Description: The eastern tropical North Atlantic (ETNA) features a mesopelagic oxygen minimum zone (OMZ) at approximately 300–600 m depth. Here, oxygen concentrations rarely fall below 40 µmol O2 kg−1, but are expected to decline under future projections of global warming. The recent discovery of mesoscale eddies that harbour a shallow suboxic (〈 5 µmol O2 kg−1) OMZ just below the mixed layer could serve to identify zooplankton groups that may be negatively or positively affected by ongoing ocean deoxygenation. In spring 2014, a detailed survey of a suboxic anticyclonic modewater eddy (ACME) was carried out near the Cape Verde Ocean Observatory (CVOO), combining acoustic and optical profiling methods with stratified multinet hauls and hydrography. The multinet data revealed that the eddy was characterized by an approximately 1.5-fold increase in total area-integrated zooplankton abundance. At nighttime, when a large proportion of acoustic scatterers is ascending into the upper 150 m, a drastic reduction in mean volume backscattering (Sv) at 75 kHz (shipboard acoustic Doppler current profiler, ADCP) within the shallow OMZ of the eddy was evident compared to the nighttime distribution outside the eddy. Acoustic scatterers avoided the depth range between approximately 85 to 120 m, where oxygen concentrations were lower than approximately 20 µmol O2 kg−1, indicating habitat compression to the oxygenated surface layer. This observation is confirmed by time series observations of a moored ADCP (upward looking, 300 kHz) during an ACME transit at the CVOO mooring in 2010. Nevertheless, part of the diurnal vertical migration (DVM) from the surface layer to the mesopelagic continued through the shallow OMZ. Based upon vertically stratified multinet hauls, Underwater Vision Profiler (UVP5) and ADCP data, four strategies followed by zooplankton in response to in response to the eddy OMZ have been identified: (i) shallow OMZ avoidance and compression at the surface (e.g. most calanoid copepods, euphausiids); (ii) migration to the shallow OMZ core during daytime, but paying O2 debt at the surface at nighttime (e.g. siphonophores, Oncaea spp., eucalanoid copepods); (iii) residing in the shallow OMZ day and night (e.g. ostracods, polychaetes); and (iv) DVM through the shallow OMZ from deeper oxygenated depths to the surface and back. For strategy (i), (ii) and (iv), compression of the habitable volume in the surface may increase prey–predator encounter rates, rendering zooplankton and micronekton more vulnerable to predation and potentially making the eddy surface a foraging hotspot for higher trophic levels. With respect to long-term effects of ocean deoxygenation, we expect avoidance of the mesopelagic OMZ to set in if oxygen levels decline below approximately 20 µmol O2 kg−1. This may result in a positive feedback on the OMZ oxygen consumption rates, since zooplankton and micronekton respiration within the OMZ as well as active flux of dissolved and particulate organic matter into the OMZ will decline.
    Type: Article , PeerReviewed
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  • 5
    Publication Date: 2021-04-21
    Description: The occurrence of mesoscale eddies that develop suboxic environments at shallow depth (about 40–100 m) has recently been reported for the eastern tropical North Atlantic (ETNA). Their hydrographic structure suggests that the water mass inside the eddy is well isolated from ambient waters supporting the development of severe near-surface oxygen deficits. So far, hydrographic and biogeochemical characterization of these eddies was limited to a few autonomous surveys, with the use of moorings, underwater gliders and profiling floats. In this study we present results from the first dedicated biogeochemical survey of one of these eddies conducted in March 2014 near the Cape Verde Ocean Observatory (CVOO). During the survey the eddy core showed oxygen concentrations as low as 5 µmol kg−1 with a pH of around 7.6 at approximately 100 m depth. Correspondingly, the aragonite saturation level dropped to 1 at the same depth, thereby creating unfavorable conditions for calcifying organisms. To our knowledge, such enhanced acidity within near-surface waters has never been reported before for the open Atlantic Ocean. Vertical distributions of particulate organic matter and dissolved organic matter (POM and DOM), generally showed elevated concentrations in the surface mixed layer (0–70 m), with DOM also accumulating beneath the oxygen minimum. With the use of reference data from the upwelling region where these eddies are formed, the oxygen utilization rate was calculated by determining oxygen consumption through the remineralization of organic matter. Inside the core, we found these rates were almost 1 order of magnitude higher (apparent oxygen utilization rate (aOUR); 0.26 µmol kg−1 day−1) than typical values for the open North Atlantic. Computed downward fluxes for particulate organic carbon (POC), were around 0.19 to 0.23 g C m−2 day−1 at 100 m depth, clearly exceeding fluxes typical for an oligotrophic open-ocean setting. The observations support the view that the oxygen-depleted eddies can be viewed as isolated, westwards propagating upwelling systems of their own, thereby represent re-occurring alien biogeochemical environments in the ETNA.
    Type: Article , PeerReviewed , info:eu-repo/semantics/article
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  • 6
    Publication Date: 2020-02-06
    Description: The temporal evolution of the physical and biogeochemical structure of an oxygen-depleted anticyclonic modewater eddy is investigated over a 2-month period using high-resolution glider and ship data. A weakly stratified eddy core (squared buoyancy frequency N2  ∼  0.1  ×  10−4 s−2) at shallow depth is identified with a horizontal extent of about 70 km and bounded by maxima in N2. The upper N2 maximum (3–5  ×  10−4 s−2) coincides with the mixed layer base and the lower N2 maximum (0.4  ×  10−4 s−2) is found at about 200 m depth in the eddy centre. The eddy core shows a constant slope in temperature/salinity (T∕S) characteristic over the 2 months, but an erosion of the core progressively narrows down the T∕S range. The eddy minimal oxygen concentrations decreased by about 5 µmol kg−1 in 2 months, confirming earlier estimates of oxygen consumption rates in these eddies. Separating the mesoscale and perturbation flow components reveals oscillating velocity finestructure ( ∼  0.1 m s−1) underneath the eddy and at its flanks. The velocity finestructure is organized in layers that align with layers in properties (salinity, temperature) but mostly cross through surfaces of constant density. The largest magnitude in velocity finestructure is seen between the surface and 140 m just outside the maximum mesoscale flow but also in a layer underneath the eddy centre, between 250 and 450 m. For both regions a cyclonic rotation of the velocity finestructure with depth suggests the vertical propagation of near-inertial wave (NIW) energy. Modification of the planetary vorticity by anticyclonic (eddy core) and cyclonic (eddy periphery) relative vorticity is most likely impacting the NIW energy propagation. Below the low oxygen core salt-finger type double diffusive layers are found that align with the velocity finestructure. Apparent oxygen utilization (AOU) versus dissolved inorganic nitrate (NO3−) ratios are about twice as high (16) in the eddy core compared to surrounding waters (8.1). A large NO3− deficit of 4 to 6 µmol kg−1 is determined, rendering denitrification an unlikely explanation. Here it is hypothesized that the differences in local recycling of nitrogen and oxygen, as a result of the eddy dynamics, cause the shift in the AOU : NO3− ratio. High NO3− and low oxygen waters are eroded by mixing from the eddy core and entrain into the mixed layer. The nitrogen is reintroduced into the core by gravitational settling of particulate matter out of the euphotic zone. The low oxygen water equilibrates in the mixed layer by air–sea gas exchange and does not participate in the gravitational sinking. Finally we propose a mesoscale–submesoscale interaction concept where wind energy, mediated via NIWs, drives nutrient supply to the euphotic zone and drives extraordinary blooms in anticyclonic mode-water eddies.
    Type: Article , PeerReviewed , info:eu-repo/semantics/article
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  • 7
    Publication Date: 2021-05-19
    Description: Localized open-ocean low-oxygen “dead zones” in the eastern tropical North Atlantic are recently discovered ocean features that can develop in dynamically isolated water masses within cyclonic eddies (CE) and anticyclonic mode-water eddies (ACME). Analysis of a comprehensive oxygen dataset obtained from gliders, moorings, research vessels and Argo floats reveals that “dead-zone” eddies are found in surprisingly high numbers and in a large area from about 4 to 22° N, from the shelf at the eastern boundary to 38° W. In total, 173 profiles with oxygen concentrations below the minimum background concentration of 40 µmol kg−1 could be associated with 27 independent eddies (10 CEs; 17 ACMEs) over a period of 10 years. Lowest oxygen concentrations in CEs are less than 10 µmol kg−1 while in ACMEs even suboxic (〈 1 µmol kg−1) levels are observed. The oxygen minimum in the eddies is located at shallow depth from 50 to 150 m with a mean depth of 80 m. Compared to the surrounding waters, the mean oxygen anomaly in the core depth range (50 and 150 m) for CEs (ACMEs) is −38 (−79) µmol kg−1. North of 12° N, the oxygen-depleted eddies carry anomalously low-salinity water of South Atlantic origin from the eastern boundary upwelling region into the open ocean. Here water mass properties and satellite eddy tracking both point to an eddy generation near the eastern boundary. In contrast, the oxygen-depleted eddies south of 12° N carry weak hydrographic anomalies in their cores and seem to be generated in the open ocean away from the boundary. In both regions a decrease in oxygen from east to west is identified supporting the en-route creation of the low-oxygen core through a combination of high productivity in the eddy surface waters and an isolation of the eddy cores with respect to lateral oxygen supply. Indeed, eddies of both types feature a cold sea surface temperature anomaly and enhanced chlorophyll concentrations in their center. The low-oxygen core depth in the eddies aligns with the depth of the shallow oxygen minimum zone of the eastern tropical North Atlantic. Averaged over the whole area an oxygen reduction of 7 µmol kg−1 in the depth range of 50 to 150 m (peak reduction is 16 µmol kg−1 at 100 m depth) can be associated with the dispersion of the eddies. Thus the locally increased oxygen consumption within the eddy cores enhances the total oxygen consumption in the open eastern tropical North Atlantic Ocean and seems to be an contributor to the formation of the shallow oxygen minimum zone.
    Type: Article , PeerReviewed
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  • 8
    Publication Date: 2022-02-18
    Description: Coherent mesoscale features (referred to here as eddies) in the tropical northeast Atlantic (between 12–22° N and 15–26° W) are examined and characterised. The eddies' surface signatures are investigated using 19 years of satellite derived sea level anomaly (SLA) data. Two automated detection methods are applied, the geometrical method based on closed streamlines around eddy cores, and the Okubo–Weiß method based on the relation between vorticity and strain. Both methods give similar results. Mean eddy surface signatures of SLA, sea surface temperature (SST) and salinity (SSS) are obtained from composites of all snapshots around identified eddy cores. Anticyclones/cyclones are associated with elevation/depression of SLA and enhanced/reduced SST and SSS patterns. However, about 20 % of all detected anticyclones show reduced SST and reduced SSS instead. These kind of eddies are classified as anticyclonic mode-water eddies (ACMEs). About 146 ± 4 eddies per year are identified (52 % cyclones, 39 % anticylones, 9 % ACMEs) with rather similar mean radii of about 56 ± 12 km. Based on concurrent in-situ temperature and salinity profile data (from Argo float, shipboard and mooring data) inside of the three eddy types, their distinct differences in vertical structure is determined. Most eddies are generated preferentially in boreal summer and along the West African coast at three distinct coastal headland region and carry South Atlantic Central Water that originates from the northward transport within the Mauretania coastal current system. Westward eddy propagation (on average about 3.00 ± 2.15 km d−1) is confined to distinct corridors with a small meridional deflection dependent on the eddy type (anticyclones – equatorward, cyclones – poleward, ACMEs – no deflection). Heat and salt flux out of the coastal region and across the Cap Verde Frontal Zone, which separates the shadow zone from the ventilated gyre, are calculated.
    Type: Article , PeerReviewed
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  • 9
    Publication Date: 2024-02-07
    Description: State-of-the-art Earth system models typically employ grid spacings of O(100 km), which is too coarse to explicitly resolve main drivers of the flow of energy and matter across the Earth system. In this paper, we present the new ICON-Sapphire model configuration, which targets a representation of the components of the Earth system and their interactions with a grid spacing of 10 km and finer. Through the use of selected simulation examples, we demonstrate that ICON-Sapphire can (i) be run coupled globally on seasonal timescales with a grid spacing of 5 km, on monthly timescales with a grid spacing of 2.5 km, and on daily timescales with a grid spacing of 1.25 km; (ii) resolve large eddies in the atmosphere using hectometer grid spacings on limited-area domains in atmosphere-only simulations; (iii) resolve submesoscale ocean eddies by using a global uniform grid of 1.25 km or a telescoping grid with the finest grid spacing at 530 m, the latter coupled to a uniform atmosphere; and (iv) simulate biogeochemistry in an ocean-only simulation integrated for 4 years at 10 km. Comparison of basic features of the climate system to observations reveals no obvious pitfalls, even though some observed aspects remain difficult to capture. The throughput of the coupled 5 km global simulation is 126 simulated days per day employing 21 % of the latest machine of the German Climate Computing Center. Extrapolating from these results, multi-decadal global simulations including interactive carbon are now possible, and short global simulations resolving large eddies in the atmosphere and submesoscale eddies in the ocean are within reach.
    Type: Article , PeerReviewed
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  • 10
    Publication Date: 2024-02-07
    Description: The northwestern Tropical Atlantic Ocean is a turbulent region, filled with mesoscale eddies and regional currents. In this intense dynamical context, several water masses with thermohaline characteristics of different origins are advected, mixed, and stirred at the surface and at depth. The EUREC4A-OA/ATOMIC experiment that took place in January and February 2020 was dedicated to assessing the processes at play in this region, especially the interaction between the ocean and the atmosphere. For that reason, four oceanographic vessels and different autonomous platforms measured properties near the air–sea interface and acquired thousands of upper-ocean (up to 400–2000 m depth) profiles. However, each device had its own observing capability, varying from deep measurements acquired during vessel stations to shipboard underway near-surface observations and measurements from autonomous and uncrewed systems (such as Saildrones). These observations were undertaken with a specific sampling strategy guided by near-real-time satellite maps and adapted every half day, based on the process that was investigated. These processes were characterized by different spatiotemporal scales, from mesoscale eddies, with diameters exceeding 100 km, to submesoscale filaments of 1 km width. This article describes the datasets gathered from the different devices and how the data were calibrated and validated. In order to ensure an overall consistency, the platforms' datasets are cross-validated using a hierarchy of instruments defined by their own specificity and calibration procedures. This has enabled the quantification of the uncertainty in the measured parameters when different datasets are used together, e.g., https://doi.org/10.17882/92071 (L'Hégaret et al., 2020a).
    Type: Article , PeerReviewed , info:eu-repo/semantics/article
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