Thomas W. N. Haine

Gravitational, Symmetric, and Baroclinic Instability of the Ocean Mixed Layer

Abstract A hierarchy of hydrodynamical instabilities controlling the transfer of buoyancy through the oceanic mixed layer is reviewed. If a resting ocean of horizontally uniform stratification is subject to spatially uniform buoyancy loss at the sea surface, then gravitational instability ensues in which buoyancy is drawn from depth by upright convection. But if spatial inhomogeneities in the ambient stratification or the forcing are present (as always exist in nature), then horizontal density gradients will be induced and, within a rotation period, horizontal currents in thermal-wind balance with those gradients will be set up within the mixed layer. There are two important consequences on the convective process: Upright convection will become modified by the presence of the thermal wind shear; fluid parcels are exchanged not along vertical paths but, rather, along slanting paths in symmetric instability. Theoretical considerations suggest that this slantwise convection sets the potential vorticity of th...

A Generalized Transport Theory: Water-Mass Composition and Age

Abstract A general theory to describe and understand advective and diffusive ocean transport is reported. It allows any passive tracer field with an atmospheric source to be constructed by superposing sea surface contributions with a generalized Greens function called the boundary propagator of the passive tracer equation. The boundary propagator has the interpretation of the joint water-mass and transit-time distribution from the sea surface. The theory thus includes the classical oceanographic idea of water-mass analysis and extends it to allow for a distribution of transit times from the sea surface. The joint water-mass and transit-time distribution contains complete information about the transport processes in the flow. It captures this information in a more accessible way than using velocity and diffusivity fields, however, at least for the case of sequestration and transport of dissolved material by the ocean circulation. The boundary propagator is thus the natural quantity to consider when discus...

Sensitivity analysis of the climate of a chaotic system

This paper addresses some fundamental methodological issues concerning the sensitivity analysisof chaotic geophysical systems. We show, using the Lorenz system as an example, that anaïve approach to variational (“adjoint”) sensitivity analysis is of limited utility. Applied totrajectories which are long relative to the predictability time scales of the system, cumulativeerror growth means that adjoint results diverge exponentially from the “macroscopic climatesensitivity” (that is, the sensitivity of time-averaged properties of the system to finite-amplitudeperturbations). This problem occurs even for time-averaged quantities and given infinite computingresources. Alternatively, applied to very short trajectories, the adjoint provides an incorrectestimate of the sensitivity, even if averaged over large numbers of initial conditions, becausea finite time scale is required for the model climate to respond fully to certain perturbations.In the Lorenz (1963) system, an intermediate time scale is found on which an ensemble ofadjoint gradients can give a reasonably accurate (O(10%)) estimate of the macroscopic climatesensitivity. While this ensemble-adjoint approach is unlikely to be reliable for more complexsystems, it may provide useful guidance in identifying important parameter-combinations to beexplored further through direct finite-amplitude perturbations.

THE GREENLAND FLOW DISTORTION EXPERIMENT

Greenland has a major influence on the atmospheric circulation of the North Atlantic-western European region, dictating the location and strength of mesoscale weather systems around the coastal seas of Greenland and directly influencing synoptic-scale weather systems both locally and downstream over Europe. High winds associated with the local weather systems can induce large air-sea fluxes of heat, moisture, and momentum in a region that is critical to the overturning of the thermohaline circulation, and thus play a key role in controlling the coupled atmosphere-ocean climate system. The Greenland Flow Distortion Experiment (GFDex) is investigating the role of Greenland in defining the structure and predictability of both local and downstream weather systems through a program of aircraft-based observation and numerical modeling. The GFDex observational program is centered upon an aircraft-based field campaign in February and March 2007, at the dawn of the International Polar Year. Twelve missions were fl...

Freshwater and its role in the Arctic Marine System: Sources, disposition, storage, export, and physical and biogeochemical consequences in the Arctic and global oceans

The Arctic Ocean is a fundamental node in the global hydrological cycle and the oceans thermohaline circulation. We here assess the systems key functions and processes: (1) the delivery of fresh and low-salinity waters to the Arctic Ocean by river inflow, net precipitation, distillation during the freeze/thaw cycle, and Pacific Ocean inflows; (2) the disposition (e.g., sources, pathways, and storage) of freshwater components within the Arctic Ocean; and (3) the release and export of freshwater components into the bordering convective domains of the North Atlantic. We then examine physical, chemical, or biological processes which are influenced or constrained by the local quantities and geochemical qualities of freshwater; these include stratification and vertical mixing, ocean heat flux, nutrient supply, primary production, ocean acidification, and biogeochemical cycling. Internal to the Arctic the joint effects of sea ice decline and hydrological cycle intensification have strengthened coupling between the ocean and the atmosphere (e.g., wind and ice drift stresses, solar radiation, and heat and moisture exchange), the bordering drainage basins (e.g., river discharge, sediment transport, and erosion), and terrestrial ecosystems (e.g., Arctic greening, dissolved and particulate carbon loading, and altered phenology of biotic components). External to the Arctic freshwater export acts as both a constraint to and a necessary ingredient for deep convection in the bordering subarctic gyres and thus affects the global thermohaline circulation. Geochemical fingerprints attained within the Arctic Ocean are likewise exported into the neighboring subarctic systems and beyond. Finally, we discuss observed and modeled functions and changes in this system on seasonal, annual, and decadal time scales and discuss mechanisms that link the marine system to atmospheric, terrestrial, and cryospheric systems.

Inertia–Gravity Waves Emitted from Balanced Flow: Observations, Properties, and Consequences

This paper describes laboratory observations of inertia–gravity waves emitted from balanced fluid flow. In a rotating two-layer annulus experiment, the wavelength of the inertia–gravity waves is very close to the deformation radius. Their amplitude varies linearly with Rossby number in the range 0.05–0.14, at constant Burger number (or rotational Froude number). This linear scaling challenges the notion, suggested by several dynamical theories, that inertia–gravity waves generated by balanced motion will be exponentially small. It is estimated that the balanced flow leaks roughly 1% of its energy each rotation period into the inertia–gravity waves at the peak of their generation. The findings of this study imply an inevitable emission of inertia–gravity waves at Rossby numbers similar to those of the large-scale atmospheric and oceanic flow. Extrapolation of the results suggests that inertia– gravity waves might make a significant contribution to the energy budgets of the atmosphere and ocean. In particular, emission of inertia–gravity waves from mesoscale eddies may be an important source of energy for deep interior mixing in the ocean.

The flow of Antarctic bottom water to the southwest Indian Ocean estimated using CFCs

Observations of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), carbon tetrachloride, temperature, and salinity from five sections following the outflow path of Antarctic Bottom Water (AABW) into the southwest Indian Ocean are reported. The transient tracer data clearly show the plume of recently ventilated water whose hydrographic properties are progressively altered by mixing with the overlying waters. We use the CFC measurements to estimate the mean speeds (or transit times) and mixing rates (or dilutions) of the abyssal flow at each section using simple kinematic circulation models. Given our assumptions, the CFC ventilation age equals the transit time. The results suggest a transit time of 23±5 years (outflow speed of 1.2±0.3 cm s−1) to the Crozet-Kerguelen Gap with a dilution of 8–15 from the surface waters of the Weddell Sea. The estimated horizontal diffusivity is 30–70 m2 s−1, and the vertical diffusivity is 3–7×10−4 m2 s−1 Combined with the estimate of R. R. Dickson (unpublished data, 1998) for the AABW transport at this point, we conclude that a volume flux of 0.8–1.6 Sv (106 m3 s−1) is leaving the continental shelves of the Weddell Sea to eventually enter the abyssal Indian Ocean past Crozet Island.

On the generation mechanisms of short-scale unbalanced modes in rotating two-layer flows with vertical shear

therefore consistent with generation by a baroclinic instability. The unbalanced shortwavelength modes appear locally in every single baroclinically unstable flow, providing perhaps the first direct experimental evidence that all evolving vortical flows will tend to emit freely propagating inertia–gravity waves. The short-wavelength modes also appear in certain baroclinically stable flows. We infer the generation mechanisms of the short-scale waves, both for the baroclinically unstable case in which they co-exist with a large-scale wave, and for the baroclinically stable case in which they exist alone. The two possible mechanisms considered are spontaneous adjustment of the large-scale flow, and Kelvin–Helmholtz shear instability. Short modes in the baroclinically stable regime are generated only when the Richardson number is subcritical (i.e. Ri < Ricritical ≡ 1), and are therefore consistent with generation by a Kelvin–Helmholtz instability. We calculate five indicators of short-wave generation in the baroclinically unstable regime, using data from a quasi-geostrophic numerical model of the annulus. There is excellent agreement between the spatial locations of short-wave emission observed in the laboratory, and regions in which the model Lighthill/Ford inertia–gravity wave source term is large. We infer that the short waves in the baroclinically unstable fluid are freely propagating inertia–gravity waves generated by spontaneous adjustment of the large-scale flow.

Labrador Sea Water in the Eastern North Atlantic. Part I: A Synoptic Circulation Inferred from a Minimum in Potential Vorticity

Abstract A synoptic distribution of Labrador Sea Water (LSW) in the eastern North Atlantic is determined from a regularly sampled, but sparse (3° resolution), survey covering 39° to 54°N, 11° to 34°W during spring 1991. The core of LSW can be defined by a minimum in potential vorticity (PV). Using property values at this minimum the authors infer the circulation of LSW. In addition, using a known source function for salinities at the core of LSW, estimates are able to be made of LSW vintages. The authors then compared the synoptic circulation to historical data. Youngest, 1986 vintage, LSW crosses the Mid-Atlantic Ridge to the eastern basin between 48° and 51°N at 34°W. This water then flows north to the Iceland Basin and eastward to the Rockall Trough, where it was found to be of 1978 vintage. Tongues of low salinity, low temperature, and high oxygen extend southward on the eastern side of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, indicating that LSW also flows southward in the eastern basin. At the southern edge of the s...

Spontaneous generation and impact of inertia-gravity waves in a stratified, two-layer shear flow

Inertia-gravity waves exist ubiquitously throughout the stratified parts of the atmosphere and ocean. They are generated by local velocity shears, interactions with topography, and as geostrophic (or spontaneous) adjustment radiation. Relatively little is known about the details of their interaction with the large-scale flow, however. We report on a joint model/laboratory study of a flow in which inertia-gravity waves are generated as spontaneous adjustment radiation by an evolving large-scale mode. We show that their subsequent impact upon the large-scale dynamics is generally small. However, near a potential transition from one large-scale mode to another, in a flow which is simultaneously baroclinically-unstable to more than one mode, the inertia-gravity waves may strongly influence the selection of the mode which actually occurs.