Local Ocean Dynamics Research Articles

From Shelfbreak to Shoreline: Coastal Sea Level and Local Ocean Dynamics in the Northwest Atlantic

AbstractSea‐level change threatens the U.S. East Coast. Thus, it is important to understand the underlying causes, including ocean dynamics. Most past studies emphasized links between coastal sea level and local atmospheric variability or large‐scale circulation and climate, but possible relationships with local ocean currents over the shelf and slope remain largely unexplored. Here we use 7 years of in situ velocity and sea‐level data to quantify the relationship between northeastern U.S. coastal sea level and variable Shelfbreak Jet transport south of Nantucket Island. At timescales of 1–15 days, southern New England coastal sea level and transport vary in anti‐phase, with magnitude‐squared coherences of ∼0.5 and admittance amplitudes of ∼0.3 m Sv−1. These results are consistent with a dominant geostrophic balance between along‐shelf transport and coastal sea level, corroborating a hypothesis made decades ago that was not tested due to the lack of transport data.

Modeling the interannual variability in Maipo and Rapel river plumes off central Chile

Abstract. River plumes have a direct influence on coastal environments, impacting coastal planktonic and benthic communities, including fishery resources. In general, the main drivers of river plume dynamics are the river discharge and the alongshore wind stress, whereas the tides and topography play a secondary role. In central Chile, rivers flowing into the eastern Pacific have a relatively short path on land, with a high slope and a mixed snow–rain regime. This study aims to understand the interannual variability in the plumes of the Maipo and Rapel rivers in the coastal/shelf area off central Chile and their influence on local ocean dynamics. We used the Coastal and Regional Ocean Community (CROCO) model, with 1 km horizontal resolution and 20 sigma levels, to simulate the ocean dynamics for the period 2003–2011. The results show that the plume's area coverage and coastal ocean salinity are strongly correlated with the river discharges. The predominant northeastward winds control the plumes' orientation toward the northwest. However, episodes of southeastward winds in winter can reverse the plumes' direction, promoting their attachment to the coast and southward transport. Results also show a salification trend linked to the severe droughts hitting central Chile during the studied period. This salification determines a change in local dynamics which could be more frequent in future scenarios of climate change with a significant lack of rain and river discharges along central Chile.

The Ocean Surface Current in the East China Sea Computed by the Geostationary Ocean Color Imager Satellite

High-frequency observations of surface current field data over large areas and long time series are imperative for comprehending sea-air interaction and ocean dynamics. Nonetheless, neither in situ observations nor polar-orbiting satellites can fulfill the requirements necessary for such observations. In recent years, geostationary satellite data with ultra-high temporal resolution have been increasingly utilized for the computation of surface flow fields. In this paper, the surface flow field in the East China Sea is estimated using maximum cross-correlation, which is the most widely used flow field computation algorithm, based on the total suspended solids (TSS) data acquired from the Geostationary Ocean Color Imager satellite. The inversion results were compared with the modeled tidal current data and the measured tidal elevation data for verification. The results of the verification demonstrated that the mean deviation of the long semiaxis of the tidal ellipse of the inverted M2 tide is 0.0335 m/s, the mean deviation of the short semiaxis is 0.0276 m/s, and the mean deviation of the tilt angle is 6.89°. Moreover, the spatially averaged flow velocity corresponds with the observed pattern of tidal elevation changes, thus showcasing the field’s significant reliability. Afterward, we calculated the sea surface current fields in the East China Sea for the years 2013 to 2019 and created distribution maps for both climatology and seasonality. The resulting current charts provide an intuitive display of the spatial structure and seasonal variations in the East China Sea circulation. Lastly, we performed a diagnostic analysis on the surface TSS variation mechanism in the frontal zone along the Zhejiang coast, utilizing inverted flow data collected on 3 August 2013, which had a high spatial coverage and complete time series. Our analysis revealed that the intraday variation in TSS in the local surface layer was primarily influenced by tide-induced vertical mixing. The research findings of this article not only provide valuable data support for the study of local ocean dynamics but also verify the reliability of short-period surface flow inversion of high-turbidity waters near the coast using geostationary satellites.

Study of the Decadal Predictability of Mediterranean Sea Surface Temperature Based on Observations

Abstract Sea surface temperature (SST) changes in the Mediterranean Sea have profound impacts on both the Mediterranean regions and remote areas. Previous studies show that the Mediterranean SST has significant decadal variability that is comparable with the Atlantic multidecadal variability (AMV). However, few studies have discussed the characteristics and sources of the decadal predictability of Mediterranean SST based on observations. Here for the first time we use observational datasets to reveal that the decadal predictability of Mediterranean SST is contributed by both external forcings and internal variability for both annual and seasonal means, except that the decadal predictability of the winter mean SST in the eastern Mediterranean is mostly contributed by only internal variability. Besides, the persistence of the Mediterranean SST is quite significant even in contrast with that in the subpolar North Atlantic, which is widely regarded to have the most predictable surface temperature on the decadal time scale. After the impacts of external forcings are removed, the average prediction time of internally generated Mediterranean SST variations is more than 10 years and closely associated with the multidecadal variability of the Mediterranean SST that is closely related to the accumulated North Atlantic Oscillation forcing. Significance Statement Decadal prediction of sea surface temperature (SST) in the Mediterranean Sea is very important due to its profound climate impacts. Understanding the spatial/seasonal characteristics and sources of the decadal predictability of the Mediterranean SST are crucial for skillful decadal prediction of the Mediterranean SST and related variations. This study for the first time shows that the decadal predictability of the Mediterranean SST is quite significant even in comparison with the AMV. The decadal predictability of the Mediterranean SST is both region and season dependent. The internally generated decadal predictability of the Mediterranean SST is most probably related to the local ocean dynamics.

The ocean response to El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) in the Bali Sea: a model study

The Bali Sea (BS) is connected to the Java Sea and Makassar Strait in the north and is one of the main outflow straits of the Indonesian Throughflow (ITF) in Lombok Strait (LS). Local ocean dynamics and their variability may be controlled significantly by the ITF. This study aims to investigate the interannual variation of circulation, mixed layer depth, and isotherm of 20°C, by performing a simulation of fine- a resolution 1/84° ocean circulation model of CROCO between 2010-2020 with a focus on El Nino 2015 (EN2015) and La Nina 2020 (LN2020) events. The model validation reproduces well the satellite-derived SST and SSH dataset with a correlation coefficient of >0.9. The model demonstrated an anti-clockwise circulation of the ITF in the BS, entering via the northern and exiting into the LS via the southern area. This circulation changes drastically during the ENSO event, where the ITF transport inflow is weaker and shallower during EN2015, compared to a much stronger and deeper ITF inflow during LN2020. Accordingly, shallower mixed layer depth and depth of isotherm of 20°C are found during EN2015, and vice versa. Coherence of these parameters with NINO3.4 is very significant (>-0.89) with a phase lag of 1.7 months.

Impacts of accelerating deployment of offshore windfarms on near-surface climate

The European Union has set the ambitious goal of becoming climate neutral by 2050, which has stimulated renewable energy production and accelerated the deployment of offshore wind energy in the North Sea. Here, a high-resolution regional climate model was used to investigate the impact on the sea surface climate of large-scale offshore wind farms that are proposed for the North Sea. The results show a significant reduction in the air-sea heat fluxes and a local, annual mean net cooling of the lower atmosphere in the wind farm areas down to more than 2.0 Wm−2, due to a decrease in 10 m wind speed and turbulent kinetic energy and an increase in low-level clouds. Mean surface winds decreased by approximately 1 ms−1 downstream of wind farms. Furthermore, an increase of approximately 5% in mean precipitation was found over the wind farm areas. At a seasonal timescale, these differences are higher during winter and autumn than in other seasons. Although the offshore wind farms reduce the heat transport from the ocean to the atmosphere in the region of large wind farms, the atmospheric layers below the hub height show an increase in temperature, which is on the order of up to 10% of the climate change signal at the end of the century, but it is much smaller than the interannual climate variability. In contrast, wind speed changes are larger than projected mean wind speed changes due to climate change. Our results suggest that the impacts of large clustered offshore wind farms should be considered in climate change impact studies. Moreover, the identified offshore windfarm impacts on the sea surface climate and the introduced spatial pattern in atmospheric conditions, in particular the modeled wind speed changes, suggest potential impacts on local ocean dynamics and the structure of the marine ecosystem. This should be considered in future scenarios for the North Sea marine environment and taken into account as a structuring influence in the offshore environment.

Marine Heatwaves and Their Depth Structures on the Northeast U.S. Continental Shelf

Marine Heatwaves (MHWs) are ocean extreme events, characterized by anomalously high temperatures, which can have significant ecological impacts. The Northeast U.S. continental shelf is of great economical importance as it is home to a highly productive ecosystem. Local warming rates exceed the global average and the region experienced multiple MHWs in the last decade with severe consequences for regional fisheries. Due to the lack of subsurface observations, the depth-extent of MHWs is not well-known, which hampers the assessment of impacts on pelagic and benthic ecosystems. This study utilizes a global ocean circulation model with a high-resolution (1/20°) nest in the Atlantic to investigate the depth structure of MHWs and associated drivers on the Northeast U.S. continental shelf. It is shown that MHWs exhibit varying spatial extents, with some only occurring at depth. The highest intensities are found around 100 m depth with temperatures exceeding the climatological mean by up to 7°C, while surface intensities are typically smaller (around 3°C). Distinct vertical structures are associated with different spatial MHW patterns and drivers. Investigation of the co-variability of temperature and salinity reveals that over 80% of MHWs at depth (>50 m) coincide with extreme salinity anomalies. Two case studies provide insight into opposing MHW patterns at the surface and at depth, being forced by anomalous air-sea heat fluxes and Gulf Stream warm core ring interaction, respectively. The results highlight the importance of local ocean dynamics and the need to realistically represent them in climate models.

Astronomical and atmospheric impacts on deep-sea hydrothermal vent invertebrates.

Ocean tides and winter surface storms are among the main factors driving the dynamics and spatial structure of marine coastal species, but the understanding of their impact on deep-sea and hydrothermal vent communities is still limited. Multidisciplinary deep-sea observatories offer an essential tool to study behavioural rhythms and interactions between hydrothermal community dynamics and environmental fluctuations. Here, we investigated whether species associated with a Ridgeia piscesae tubeworm vent assemblage respond to local ocean dynamics. By tracking variations in vent macrofaunal abundance at different temporal scales, we provide the first evidence that tides and winter surface storms influence the distribution patterns of mobile and non-symbiotic hydrothermal species (i.e. pycnogonids Sericosura sp. and Polynoidae polychaetes) at more than 2 km depth. Local ocean dynamics affected the mixing between hydrothermal fluid inputs and surrounding seawater, modifying the environmental conditions in vent habitats. We suggest that hydrothermal species respond to these habitat modifications by adjusting their behaviour to ensure optimal living conditions. This behaviour may reflect a specific adaptation of vent species to their highly variable habitat.

Ocean current estimation using a Multi-Model Ensemble Kalman Filter during the Grand Lagrangian Deployment experiment (GLAD)

In the summer and fall of 2012, during the GLAD experiment in the Gulf of Mexico, the Consortium for Advanced Research on Transport of Hydrocarbon in the Environment (CARTHE) used several ocean models to assist the deployment of more than 300 surface drifters. The Navy Coastal Ocean Model (NCOM) at 1km and 3km resolutions, the US Navy operational NCOM at 3km resolution (AMSEAS), and two versions of the Hybrid Coordinates Ocean Model (HYCOM) set at 4km were running daily and delivering 72-h range forecasts. They all assimilated remote sensing and local profile data but they were not assimilating the drifter’s observations. This work presents a non-intrusive methodology named Multi-Model Ensemble Kalman Filter that allows assimilating the local drifter data into such a set of models, to produce improved ocean currents forecasts. The filter is to be used when several modeling systems or ensembles are available and/or observations are not entirely handled by the operational data assimilation process. It allows using generic in situ measurements over short time windows to improve the predictability of local ocean dynamics and associated high-resolution parameters of interest for which a forward model exists (e.g. oil spill plumes). Results can be used for operational applications or to derive enhanced background fields for other data assimilation systems, thus providing an expedite method to non-intrusively assimilate local observations of variables with complex operators. Results for the GLAD experiment show the method can improve water velocity predictions along the observed drifter trajectories, hence enhancing the skills of the models to predict individual trajectories.

Multiyear predictability of the North Atlantic subpolar gyre

In decadal predictability studies, the subpolar Atlantic stands out as a region of high potential and real predictability. Since local temperature and salinity variations in the region are for a large part controlled by ocean dynamics, skillful predictability of the local ocean dynamics is a prerequisite to obtain multiyear predictability of other variables such as sea surface temperature. In this study, we discuss the predictability of the main ocean current system in the region, the subpolar gyre. From perfect model hindcasts exploiting initial condition information only from realistic ocean observation locations, we find that predictability is increased when Argo subsurface data are included. In our real‐world experiments with initialized hindcasts, the observed decline in subpolar gyre strength of the mid‐1990s is reproduced well and we find predictability of the subpolar gyre up to 2 years ahead, comparable to the skill of a damped persistence model.

The subsurface water in the North Pacific tropical gyre

The subsurface water (22.5–25.5 σθ) in the North Pacific tropical gyre (NPTG; 130°E–150°W, 5°–10°N), addressed as the North Pacific tropical subsurface water (TSSW), features a lateral salinity minimum and vertical salinity maximum in the western and central Pacific Ocean. In this study this water body is investigated using Argo float profiles and Word Ocean Atlas 2009 (WOA09) dataset. Comparing with the North Pacific Tropical water (NPTW), the TSSW is of lower salinity, lower oxygen, higher nutrient concentration, and denser vertical salinity maximum Smax. Subtropical ventilation and local ocean dynamics are both important in setting up its unique characteristics. Our analysis shows that its properties, structure, and seasonal variations are diverse at different longitudes. In the western Pacific, the TSSW is mainly of North Pacific water origin. Its high salinity core is formed by the southward intrusion of the NPTW. Diapycnal mixing with the surface-layer fresh water reduces its salinity and lowers its Smax to denser isopycnals. The TSSW in the western Pacific can be regarded as a diluted portion of the NPTW. In the central Pacific, advection of salty water masses from both hemispheres and westward invasion of the eastern Pacific fresh water are all important in regulating its characteristics. The TSSW in the central Pacific is a mixture of various water sources formed under highly variable flow pattern and intensive mixing. The TSSW should be regarded as an important subsurface water body connecting North/South Pacific thermocline water, although it might not be a water mass by traditional definition.

The North Pacific Acoustic Laboratory (NPAL) deep-water acoustic propagation experiments in the Philippine Sea

The North Pacific Acoustic Laboratory (NPAL) Group has performed a series of experiments to study deep-water acoustic propagation and ambient noise in the northern Philippine Sea: (i) 2009 NPAL Pilot Study/Engineering Test (PhilSea09), (ii) 2010–2011 NPAL Philippine Sea Experiment (PhilSea10), and (iii) Ocean Bottom Seismometer Augmentation of the 2010–2011 NPAL Philippine Sea Experiment (OBSAPS). The goals are to (i) understand the impacts of fronts, eddies, and internal tides on acoustic propagation in this oceanographically complex and dynamic region, (ii) determine whether acoustic methods, together with other measurements and ocean modeling, can yield estimates of the time-evolving ocean state useful for making improved acoustic predictions and for understanding the local ocean dynamics, (iii) improve our understanding of the physics of scattering by small-scale oceanographic variability, and (iv) characterize the depth dependence and temporal variability of the ambient noise field. In these experiments, moored and ship-suspended low-frequency acoustic sources transmitted to a newly developed Distributed Vertical Line Array (DVLA) receiver capable of spanning the water column in deep water. The acoustic transmissions and ambient noise were also recorded by the towed Five Octave Research Array (FORA), by acoustic Seagliders, and by ocean bottom seismometers during OBSAPS. [Work supported by ONR.]

Acoustic propagation and ambient noise in the Philippine Sea: The 2009 and 2010-2011 Philippine Sea experiments.

The 2010–2011 North Pacific Acoustic Laboratory Philippine Sea experiment (PhilSea10) combines measurements of acoustic propagation and ambient noise with the use of acoustic remote sensing to characterize the oceanographically complex Philippine Sea. The goals are to (i) understand the impacts of fronts, eddies, and internal tides on acoustic propagation; (ii) determine whether acoustic methods, together with other measurements and ocean modeling, can yield estimates of the time-evolving ocean state useful for making improved acoustic predictions and for understanding the local ocean dynamics; (iii) improve our understanding of the physics of scattering by small-scale oceanographic variability; and (iv) characterize the depth dependence and temporal variability of the ambient noise field. The PhilSea10 experiment was preceded by a pilot study/engineering test in April–May 2009 (PhilSea09) to obtain an initial look at propagation and ambient noise in the Philippine Sea, study short-term variability using long-duration transmissions, and test equipment to be used in 2010–2011. In both experiments, a combination of moored and ship-suspended low-frequency acoustic sources transmit to a newly developed distributed vertical line array receiver capable of spanning the water column in deep water. In 2009, the towed five octave research array also recorded the transmissions. [Work supported by ONR.]

Effect of chlorophyll-a spatial distribution on upper ocean temperature in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific

Effect of the spatial distributions of chlorophyll-a concentration on upper ocean temperature and currents in the equatorial Pacific is investigated through a set of numerical experiments by using an ocean general circulation model. This study indicates that enhanced meridional gradient of chlorophyll-a between the equator and off-equatorial regions can strengthen zonal circulation and lead to a decrease in equatorial sea surface temperature (SST). However, the circulation changes by themselves are not effective enough to affect SST in the equatorial cold tongue (CT) region. The comparison between the experiments indicates that the CT SST are more sensitive to chlorophyll-a distribution away from the equator. The off-equatorial chlorophyll-a traps more solar radiation in the mixed layer, therefore, the temperature in the thermocline decreases. The cold water can then be transported to the equator by the meridional circulation within the mixed layer. Furthermore, the relation among CT SST, the surface heat flux, and the equatorial upwelling are discussed. The study implies the simulation biases of temperature on the equator are not only related to the local ocean dynamics but also related to some deficiency in simulating off-equatorial processes.