Enhanced ventilation in energetic regions of the Southern Ocean

Research Overview

Lily Dove

Andrew F. Thompson

Caltech researchers Lily Dove and Andrew Thompson, along with their collaborators, have recently published new work highlighting the way in which the oceans exchange heat and carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Using data from freely floating robotic floats and remote sensing measurements, they were able to identify areas of preferential transfer near high energy regions, or regions where undersea mountain ranges disrupt the current to create energetic eddies. The work has implications in understanding how oceans might react to continued increased atmospheric CO₂ and temperatures in the future. You can read about the detailed findings in their paper, "Enhanced Ventilation in Energetic Regions of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current."

Scientific Achievement

Identification of Southern Ocean "hotspots" where ventilation, the exchange of heat and carbon between the atmosphere and the deep ocean, occurs at greater rates.

Map of the Southern Ocean with the locations of vertical profiles marked by dots. Each subplot corresponds to a ventilation "hotspot," with profiles from higher and lower energetic regions blue and orange, respectively. Low values of Apparent Oxygen Utilization (AOU) suggest more recent presence at the surface ocean and thus more recent ventilation.

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Map of the Southern Ocean with the locations of vertical profiles marked by dots. Each subplot corresponds to a ventilation "hotspot," with profiles from higher and lower energetic regions blue and orange, respectively. Low values of Apparent Oxygen Utilization (AOU) suggest more recent presence at the surface ocean and thus more recent ventilation.

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Significance and Impact

The Southern Ocean is a key region for heat and carbon exchange between the ocean and atmosphere. This study identifies key regions where its response to a warming climate will occur first.

Technical details

• Uses observations from over 20,000 vertical profiles by autonomous floats in the Southern Ocean as well as remote sensing estimates of surface currents.
• Demonstrates that processes on scales of 1-10 km can contribute to heat and dissolved gas exchange.

Lily Dove with an autonomous Argo float. Over 20,000 profiles from these instruments were used in this study.

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Lily Dove with an autonomous Argo float. Over 20,000 profiles from these instruments were used in this study.

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Dove, Lilian A., Balwada, D., Thompson, A.F., Gray, A.R. "Enhanced ventilation in energetic regions of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current." Geophysical Research Letters 49.13 (2022). https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2021GL097574

Contact: Andrew Thompson