Eddy saturation of equilibrated circumpolar currents


Peer Reviewed

Munday DR, Johnson HL, & Marshall DP


Journal of Physical Oceanography 43, Issue 3, pages 507-532, 2013, 10.1175/JPO-D-12-095.1.


This study uses a sector configuration of an ocean general circulation model to examine the sensitivity of circumpolar transport and meridional overturning to changes in Southern Ocean wind stress and global diapycnal mixing. At eddy-permitting, and finer, resolution, the sensitivity of circumpolar transport to forcing magnitude is drastically reduced. At sufficiently high resolution, there is little or no sensitivity of circumpolar transport to wind stress, even in the limit of no wind. In contrast, the meridional overturning circulation continues to vary with Southern Ocean wind stress, but with reduced sensitivity in the limit of high wind stress. Both the circumpolar transport and meridional overturning continue to vary with diapycnal diffusivity at all model resolutions. The circumpolar transport becomes less sensitive to changes in diapycnal diffusivity at higher resolution, although sensitivity always remains. In contrast, the overturning circulation is more sensitive to change in diapycnal diffusivity when the resolution is high enough to permit mesoscale eddies.

Keywords: Diapycnal mixing, Eddies, Ocean dynamics, Wind stress
Categories: Antarctic, Arctic, Natural Science