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  • 1
    Publication Date: 2020-06-18
    Description: High primary productivity in the equatorial Atlantic and Pacific oceans is one of the key features of tropical ocean biogeochemistry and fuels a substantial flux of particulate matter towards the abyssal ocean. How biological processes and equatorial current dynamics shape the particle size distribution and flux, however, is poorly understood. Here we use high-resolution size-resolved particle imaging and Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler data to assess these influences in equatorial oceans. We find an increase in particle abundance and flux at depths of 300 to 600 m at the Atlantic and Pacific equator, a depth range to which zooplankton and nekton migrate vertically in a daily cycle. We attribute this particle maximum to faecal pellet production by these organisms. At depths of 1,000 to 4,000 m, we find that the particulate organic carbon flux is up to three times greater in the equatorial belt (1° S–1° N) than in off-equatorial regions. At 3,000 m, the flux is dominated by small particles less than 0.53 mm in diameter. The dominance of small particles seems to be caused by enhanced active and passive particle export in this region, as well as by the focusing of particles by deep eastward jets found at 2° N and 2° S. We thus suggest that zooplankton movements and ocean currents modulate the transfer of particulate carbon from the surface to the deep ocean.
    Type: Article , PeerReviewed
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  • 2
    Publication Date: 2021-02-08
    Description: We analyze the contribution of the Agulhas Current on the central water masses of the Benguela upwelling system (BUS) over the last decades in a high-resolution ocean simulation driven by atmospheric reanalysis. The BUS is an Eastern Boundary Upwelling System where upwelling of cold nutrient-rich water favors biomass growth. The two distinct subregions, North and South Benguela, differ in nutrient and oxygen properties of the upwelling water mass. Our analysis indicates that the contribution of Agulhas water to the upwelling is very strong in both subregions. Although the water masses feeding the upwelling have a common origin, their pathways are distinct in both regions. Whereas for the central waters of South Benguela the path is rather direct from where it is formed, the central waters of North Benguela takes a longer route through the equatorial current system. Not only the travel time from the Agulhas Current to the BUS is longer but also the central water mass is twice as old for the northern part when compared to the southern. Our analysis traces the pathways, history, and origin of the central water masses feeding upwelling in the BUS and emphasizes the direct impact of the Agulhas Current on the upwelling region. The variability of that link between the Indian Ocean and the South Atlantic is likely to change the nutrient and oxygen content, as well as temperature and salinity of the water masses in the upwelling region.
    Type: Article , PeerReviewed
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  • 3
    Publication Date: 2019-09-23
    Description: Understanding the causes of the observed expansion of tropical ocean's oxygen minimum zones (OMZs) is hampered by large biases in the representation of oxygen distribution in climate models, pointing to incorrectly represented mechanisms. Here we assess the oxygen budget in a global biogeochemical circulation model, focusing on the Atlantic Ocean. While a coarse (0.5°) configuration displays the common bias of too large and too intense OMZs, the oxygen concentration in an eddying (0.1°) configuration is higher and closer to observations. This improvement is traced to a stronger oxygen supply by a more realistic representation of the equatorial and off-equatorial undercurrents, outweighing the concurrent increase in oxygen consumption associated with the stronger nutrient supply. The sensitivity of the eastern tropical Atlantic oxygen budget to the equatorial current intensity suggests that temporal changes in the eastward oxygen transport from the well-oxygenated western boundary region might partly explain variations in the OMZs.
    Type: Article , PeerReviewed
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  • 4
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    AGU (American Geophysical Union) | Wiley
    In:  Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, 119 (9). pp. 6221-6237.
    Publication Date: 2019-09-23
    Description: Previous studies have shown that ENSO's anomalous equatorial winds, including the observed southward shift of zonal winds that occurs around the event peak, can be reconstructed with the first two Empirical Orthogonal Functions (EOFs) of equatorial region wind stresses. Using a high-resolution ocean general circulation model, we investigate the effect of these two EOFs on changes in warm water volume (WWV), interhemispheric mass transports, and Indonesian Throughflow (ITF). Wind stress anomalies associated with the first EOF produce changes in WWV that are dynamically consistent with the conceptual recharge oscillator paradigm. The ITF is found to heavily damp these WWV changes, reducing their variance by half. Wind stress anomalies associated with the second EOF, which depicts the southward wind shift, are responsible for WWV changes that are of comparable magnitude to those driven by the first mode. The southward wind shift is also responsible for the majority of the observed interhemispheric upper ocean mass exchanges. These winds transfer mass between the Northern and the Southern Hemisphere during El Niño events. Whilst water is transferred in the opposite direction during La Niña events, the magnitude of this exchange is roughly half of that seen during El Niño events. Thus, the discharging of WWV during El Niño events is meridionally asymmetric, while the WWV recharging during a La Niña event is largely symmetric. The inclusion of the southward wind shift is also shown to allow ENSO to exchange mass with much higher latitudes than that allowed by the first EOF alone.
    Type: Article , PeerReviewed
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  • 5
    Publication Date: 2019-09-23
    Description: The upper ocean circulation of the Pacific and Indian Oceans is connected through both the Indonesian Throughflow north of Australia and the Tasman leakage around its south. The relative importance of these two pathways is examined using virtual Lagrangian particles in a high-resolution nested ocean model. The unprecedented combination of a long integration time within an eddy-permitting ocean model simulation allows the first assessment of the interannual variability of these pathways in a realistic setting. The mean Indonesian Throughflow, as diagnosed by the particles, is 14.3 Sv, considerably higher than the diagnosed average Tasman leakage of 4.2 Sv. The time series of Indonesian Throughflow agrees well with the Eulerian transport through the major Indonesian Passages, validating the Lagrangian approach using transport-tagged particles. While the Indonesian Throughflow is mainly associated with upper ocean pathways, the Tasman leakage is concentrated in the 400–900 m depth range at subtropical latitudes. Over the effective period considered (1968–1994), no apparent relationship is found between the Tasman leakage and Indonesian Throughflow. However, the Indonesian Throughflow transport correlates with ENSO. During strong La Niñas, more water of Southern Hemisphere origin flows through Makassar, Moluccas, Ombai, and Timor Straits, but less through Moluccas Strait. In general, each strait responds differently to ENSO, highlighting the complex nature of the ENSO-ITF interaction.
    Type: Article , PeerReviewed
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  • 6
    Publication Date: 2020-02-06
    Description: Aim: The lives of juvenile leatherback turtles are amongst the most enigmatic of all marine mega-vertebrates. For these cryptic organisms, ocean models provide important insights into their dispersion from natal sites. Here, corroborated by fisheries bycatch data, we simulate spatio-temporal variation in hatchling dispersion patterns over five decades from the World's largest leatherback turtle nesting region. Location: Equatorial Central West Africa (3.5°N to −6°S) spanning the Gulf of Guinea in the North, Gabon and the Republic/Democratic Republic of the Congo in the South. Results: Due to dynamic oceanic conditions at these equatorial latitudes, dispersion scenarios differed significantly: (1) along the north to south gradient of the study region, (2) seasonally and (3) between years. From rookeries to the north of the equator, simulated hatchling retention rates within the Gulf of Guinea were very high (〉99%) after 6 months of drift, whilst south of the equator, retention rates were as low as c. 6% with the majority of simulated hatchlings dispersing west into the South Atlantic Ocean with the South Equatorial Current. Seasonal dispersion variability was driven by wind changes arising from the yearly north/southward migration of the intertropical convergence zone resulting in the increasing westerly dispersion of hatchlings throughout the hatching season. Annual variability in wind stress drove a long-term trend for decreased retention within the Gulf of Guinea and increased westerly dispersion into habitats in the South Atlantic Ocean. Main conclusions: Shifts in dispersion habitats arising from spatio-temporal oceanic variability expose hatchlings to different environments and threats that will influence important life history attributes such as juvenile growth/survival rates; anticipated to impact the population dynamics and size/age structure of populations into adulthood. The impacts of local and dynamic oceanic conditions thus require careful considerations, such as subregional management, when managing marine populations of conservation concern.
    Type: Article , PeerReviewed
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  • 7
    Publication Date: 2023-02-08
    Description: A new estimate of Agulhas leakage transport is calculated using profiling floats and drifters. Since Richardson's seminal estimate of 15 Sv in 2007, the number of floats and drifters passing through the Agulhas Current has quadrupled. Within uncertainties we find the same leakage percentages as Richardson, with 34% of drifters leaking at the surface and 21% of floats leaking at 1,000 m depth. We find that the drifters tend to follow a northward leakage pathway via the Benguela Current compared to the northwestward leakage pathway of the floats along the Agulhas Ring corridor. We simulate the isobaric and profiling behavior of the floats and drifters using two high resolution models and two offline Lagrangian tracking tools, quantifying for the first time the sampling biases associated with the observations. We find that the isobaric bias cannot be robustly simulated but likely causes an underestimate of observed leakage by one or two Sverdrups. The profiling behavior of the floats causes no significant bias in the leakage. Fitting a simulated vertical leakage profile to the observed leakage percentages from the floats and drifters and using the mean Agulhas transport observed by a moored array at 34°S we find an improved Agulhas leakage transport of 21.3 Sv, with an estimated error of 4.7 Sv. Our new leakage transport is higher primarily because we account for leakage at depths down to 2,000 m, while Richardson considered only the top 1,000 m of the water column.
    Type: Article , PeerReviewed
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  • 8
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    AGU (American Geophysical Union) | Wiley
    In:  Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems, 11 (8). pp. 2745-2767.
    Publication Date: 2022-01-31
    Description: Mesoscale dynamics of the Agulhas Current system determine the exchange between the Indian and Atlantic oceans, thereby influencing the global overturning circulation. Using a series of ocean model experiments compared to observations, we show that the representation of mesoscale eddies in the Agulhas ring path improves with increasing resolution of submesoscale flows. Simulated submesoscale dynamics are validated with time‐mean horizontal‐wavenumber spectra from satellite sea surface temperature measurements and mesoscale dynamics with spectra from sea surface height. While the Agulhas ring path in a nonsubmesoscale‐resolving (1/20)° configuration is associated with too less power spectral densities on all scales and too steep spectral slopes, the representation of the mesoscale dynamics improves when the diffusion and the dissipation of the model are reduced and some small‐scale features are resolved. Realistic power spectral densities over all scales are achieved when additionally the horizontal resolution is increased to (1/60)° and a larger portion of the submesoscale spectrum is resolved. Results of an eddy detection algorithm applied to the model outputs as well as to a gridded sea surface height satellite product show that in particular strong cyclones are much better represented when submesoscale flows are resolved by the model. The validation of the submesoscale dynamics with sea surface temperature spectra provides guidance for the choice of advection schemes and explicit diffusion and dissipation as well as for further subgrid‐scale parameterizations. For the Agulhas ring path, the use of upstream biased advection schemes without explicit diffusion and dissipation is found to be associated with realistically simulated submesoscales.
    Type: Article , PeerReviewed
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  • 9
    Publication Date: 2024-02-07
    Description: Agulhas leakage, the transport of warm and salty waters from the Indian Ocean into the South Atlantic, has been suggested to increase under anthropogenic climate change, due to strengthening Southern Hemisphere westerly winds. The resulting enhanced salt transport into the South Atlantic may counteract the projected weakening of the Atlantic overturning circulation through warming and ice melting. Here we combine existing and new observation- and model-based Agulhas leakage estimates to robustly quantify its decadal evolution since the 1960s. We find that Agulhas leakage very likely increased between the mid-1960s and mid-1980s, in agreement with strengthening winds. Our models further suggest that increased leakage was related to enhanced transport outside eddies and coincided with strengthened Atlantic overturning circulation. Yet, it appears unlikely that Agulhas leakage substantially increased since the 1990s, despite continuously strengthening winds. Our results stress the need to better understand decadal leakage variability to detect and predict anthropogenic trends.
    Type: Article , PeerReviewed , info:eu-repo/semantics/article
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  • 10
    Publication Date: 2024-02-07
    Description: While forced ocean hindcast simulations are useful for a wide range of applications, a key limitation is their inability to simulate ocean-atmosphere feedbacks. As a consequence, they need to rely on artificial choices such as sea surface salinity restoring and other corrections affecting the surface freshwater fluxes. Fully coupled models overcome these limitations, but lack the correct timing of variability due to weaker observational constraints. This leads to a mismatch between forced and coupled models on interannual to decadal timescales. A possibility to combine the advantages of both modelling strategies is to apply a partial coupling (PCPL), i.e. replacing the surface winds stress in the ocean component by wind stress derived from reanalysis. To identify the capabilities, limitations and possible use cases of partial coupling, we perform a fully coupled, two partially coupled and an ocean-only experiment using an all-Atlantic nested ocean configuration at eddying resolution in a global climate model. We show that the correct timing of Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) variability in PCPL experiments is robust on timescales below 5 years. Mid-latitude wind stress curl changes contribute to decadal AMOC variability, but North Atlantic buoyancy fluxes are not significantly altered by incorporating reanalysed wind stress anomalies, limiting the success of PCPL on this timescale. Long term trends of the AMOC in PCPL mode are consistent with fully coupled model experiments under historic atmospheric boundary conditions, suggesting that a partially coupled model is still able to simulate the important ocean-atmosphere feedbacks necessary to maintain a stable AMOC.
    Type: Article , PeerReviewed , info:eu-repo/semantics/article
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