Fengchao Yao

Seasonal overturning circulation in the Red Sea: 1. Model validation and summer circulation

The overturning circulation in the Red Sea exhibits a distinct seasonally reversing pattern and is studied using high-resolution MIT general circulation model simulations. In the first part of this study, the vertical and horizontal structure of the summer overturning circulation and its dynamical mechanisms are presented from the model results. The seasonal water exchange in the Strait of Bab el Mandeb is successfully simulated, and the structures of the intruding subsurface Gulf of Aden intermediate water are in good agreement with summer observations in 2011. The model results suggest that the summer overturning circulation is driven by the combined effect of the shoaling of the thermocline in the Gulf of Aden resulting from remote winds in the Arabian Sea and an upward surface slope from the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden set up by local surface winds in the Red Sea. In addition, during late summer two processes associated, respectively, with latitudinally differential heating and increased salinity in the southern Red Sea act together to cause the reversal of the contrast of the vertical density structure and the cessation of the summer overturning circulation. Dynamically, the subsurface northward pressure gradient force is mainly balanced by vertical viscosity resulting from the vertical shear and boundary friction in the Strait of Bab el Mandeb. Unlike some previous studies, the three-layer summer exchange flows in the Strait of Bab el Mandeb do not appear to be hydraulically controlled.

Seasonal overturning circulation in the Red Sea : 2. Winter circulation

Author Posting. ©0American Geophysical Union, 2014. This article is posted here by permission of [American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans 119 (2014): 2263–2289, doi:10.1002/2013JC009331.

Eddies in the Red Sea: A statistical and dynamical study

Sea level anomaly (SLA) data spanning 1992–2012 were analyzed to study the statistical properties of eddies in the Red Sea. An algorithm that identifies winding angles was employed to detect 4998 eddies propagating along 938 unique eddy tracks. Statistics suggest that eddies are generated across the entire Red Sea but that they are prevalent in certain regions. A high number of eddies is found in the central basin between 18°N and 24°N. More than 87% of the detected eddies have a radius ranging from 50 to 135 km. Both the intensity and relative vorticity scale of these eddies decrease as the eddy radii increase. The averaged eddy lifespan is approximately 6 weeks. AEs and cyclonic eddies (CEs) have different deformation features, and those with stronger intensities are less deformed and more circular. Analysis of long-lived eddies suggests that they are likely to appear in the central basin with AEs tending to move northward. In addition, their eddy kinetic energy (EKE) increases gradually throughout their lifespans. The annual cycles of CEs and AEs differ, although both exhibit significant seasonal cycles of intensity with the winter and summer peaks appearing in February and August, respectively. The seasonal cycle of EKE is negatively correlated with stratification but positively correlated with vertical shear of horizontal velocity and eddy growth rate, suggesting that the generation of baroclinic instability is responsible for the activities of eddies in the Red Sea.

Exploring the Red Sea seasonal ecosystem functioning using a three-dimensional biophysical model

The Red Sea exhibits complex hydrodynamic and biogeochemical dynamics, which vary both in time and space. These dynamics have been explored through the development and application of a 3-D ecosystem model. The simulation system comprises two off-line coupled submodels: the MIT General Circulation Model (MITgcm) and the European Regional Seas Ecosystem Model (ERSEM), both adapted for the Red Sea. The results from an annual simulation under climatological forcing are presented. Simulation results are in good agreement with satellite and in situ data illustrating the role of the physical processes in determining the evolution and variability of the Red Sea ecosystem. The model was able to reproduce the main features of the Red Sea ecosystem functioning, including the exchange with the Gulf of Aden, which is a major driving mechanism for the whole Red Sea ecosystem and the winter overturning taking place in the north. Some model limitations, mainly related to the dynamics of the extended reef system located in the southern part of the Red Sea, which is not currently represented in the model, still need to be addressed.

The eddy kinetic energy budget in the Red Sea

The budget of eddy kinetic energy (EKE) in the Red Sea, including the sources, redistributions and sink, is examined using a high-resolution eddy-resolving ocean circulation model. A pronounced seasonally varying EKE is identified, with its maximum intensity occurring in winter, and the strongest EKE is captured mainly in the central and northern basins within the upper 200 m. Eddies acquire kinetic energy from conversion of eddy available potential energy (EPE), from transfer of mean kinetic energy (MKE), and from direct generation due to time-varying (turbulent) wind stress, the first of which contributes predominantly to the majority of the EKE. The EPEto-EKE conversion occurs almost in the entire basin, while the MKE-to-EKE transfer appears mainly along the shelf boundary of the basin (200 m isobath) where high horizontal shear interacts with topography. The EKE generated by the turbulent wind stress is relatively small and limited to the southern basin. All these processes are intensified during winter, when the rate of energy conversion is about four to five times larger than that in summer. The EKE is redistributed by the vertical and horizontal divergence of energy flux and the advection of the mean flow. As a main sink of EKE, dissipation processes is ubiquitously found in the basin. The seasonal variability of these energy conversion terms can explain the significant seasonality of eddy activities in the Red Sea. D R A F T June 3, 2016, 5:09pm D R A F T This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. X 4 ZHAN ET AL.: RED SEA EDDY ENERGY BUDGET

Thermocline Regulated Seasonal Evolution of Surface Chlorophyll in the Gulf of Aden

The Gulf of Aden, although subject to seasonally reversing monsoonal winds, has been previously reported as an oligotrophic basin during summer, with elevated chlorophyll concentrations only occurring during winter due to convective mixing. However, the Sea-Viewing Wide Field-of-View Sensor (SeaWiFS) ocean color data reveal that the Gulf of Aden also exhibits a prominent summer chlorophyll bloom and sustains elevated chlorophyll concentrations throughout the fall, and is a biophysical province distinct from the adjacent Arabian Sea. Climatological hydrographic data suggest that the thermocline, hence the nutricline, in the entire gulf is markedly shoaled by the southwest monsoon during summer and fall. Under this condition, cyclonic eddies in the gulf can effectively pump deep nutrients to the surface layer and lead to the chlorophyll bloom in late summer, and, after the transition to the northeast monsoon in fall, coastal upwelling driven by the northeasterly winds produces a pronounced increase in surface chlorophyll concentrations along the Somali coast.

Far-Field Ocean Conditions and Concentrate Discharges Modeling Along the Saudi Coast of the Red Sea

An integrated modeling system is developed to simulate the far-field dispersions of concentrate discharges along the Saudi coast of the Red Sea. It comprises the Weather Research and Forecast (WRF) model for simulating the atmospheric circulations, the MIT general circulation model (MITgcm) for simulating the large-scale ocean conditions, and the Connectivity Modeling System (CMS) for tracking particle pathways. We use the system outputs and remote sensing altimetry data to study and analyze the atmospheric and oceanic conditions along the Saudi coast of the Red Sea and to conduct particle tracking experiments. The model simulations show distinctive patterns of seasonal variations in both the atmospheric conditions and the large-scale ocean circulation in the Red Sea, which are also reflected in the salinity and temperature distributions along the Saudi coast. The impact of this seasonality on the far-field dispersion of concentrate discharges are illustrated in seasonal dispersion scenarios with discharging outfalls located at the northern, central and southern Saudi coasts of the Red Sea.

Rapid Red Sea Deep Water renewals caused by volcanic eruptions and the North Atlantic Oscillation

Large volcanic eruptions and the North Atlantic Oscillation caused rapid renewals of the Red Sea Deep Water. The Red Sea hosts a deep marine environment unique among the world’s oceans. It is occupied, almost homogeneously from the subsurface (~137 to 300 m) to depths over 2000 m, by a warm (~21.5°C) and highly saline (~40.5) water mass, referred to as the Red Sea Deep Water (RSDW). Previous studies suggested that the RSDW is mainly ventilated, continuously or intermittently, by dense outflows from the northern Gulfs of Suez and Aqaba with a resulting sluggish renewal time on the order of 36 to 90 years. We use six repeated hydrographic observations spanning the period 1982–2011 and simulations of an ocean general circulation model with realistic atmospheric forcing to show that large portions of the RSDW were episodically replaced during 1982–2001 by new dense waters mainly formed by open-ocean deep convections in the northern Red Sea during anomalously cold winters, pointing to a much shorter renewal time for the RSDW on the order of a decade. We further show that the winter cooling anomaly in the Red Sea region was a part of a large-scale climate variability pattern associated with either large volcanic eruptions or the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO). Consequently, significant deep water formation events occurred in the Red Sea in the winters following the 1982 El Chichón eruption in Mexico and the 1991 Mount Pinatubo eruption in the Philippines and during the strong positive phase of the NAO in the winter of 1989.