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Ocean Sciences

OS Research

How Climate Models helped uncover the mechanisms behind the North Atlantic Warming Hole

August 20, 2020
How Climate Models helped uncover the mechanisms behind the North Atlantic Warming Hole
Schematic illustration of the drivers of the warming hole. The AMOC (Atlantic meridional overturning circulation) is indicated by red arrows and the gyre circulation by blue arrows Shading represents the surface temperature trend of the 1pctCO2 increase per year ensemble. (Fig. 1; Credit: Keil et al. 2020)

One of the only regions that have been observed to cool over the past century is the North Atlantic cold blob just south of Greenland. In our recent paper, we analyse the cold blob or “warming hole” and the processes that contribute to its creation and evolution. While sea surface temperature has been reliably observed, the underlying mechanisms of changing ocean circulation are only sparsely meas ...[Read More]

Why do mesoscale eddies disappear at ocean western boundaries?

August 4, 2020
Why do mesoscale eddies disappear at ocean western boundaries?
The R/V F.G. Walton Smith docked at the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science campus of the University of Miami. (Fig. 1; credit: Gwyn Evans)

In the ocean, mesoscale eddies are everywhere. In fact, about 90% of the ocean’s kinetic energy is contained within these ubiquitous, ~100 km swirling vortices. We know how these eddies form, through a process known as baroclinic instability, where density surfaces are tilted too steeply and become unstable. What remains unclear however, is what happens to this energy when eddies die. This knowled ...[Read More]