Ocean Circulation and Climate: Chapter 9. Global Distribution and Formation of Mode Waters (International Geophysics) [Kindle-editie] beoordelingen het boek quotes

This Chapter is a brief survey of global mode water distribution and formation, with an emphasis on recent approaches and techniques. A new upper ocean water mass census based on observations from the Argo profiling float program is presented, to revisit calculation exploiting the nearly global coverage and especially the wintertime resolution in these newer data, notably problematic with ship-based hydrography. Water mass volumes and stratification are calculated from the Argo data and used to describe the global distribution of mode waters and their seasonal cycle. Water mass transformation rates are derived from a global state-estimate of the ocean and air–sea fluxes and applied to mode water density classes, to infer formation rates and to relate these to seasonal volumetric changes. A conceptual framework has been applied to the generation of mode water in terms of PV fluxes at the sea surface; dynamical mechanisms relevant to the impact of mode waters on circulation are summarized. Some results with climate simulations are noted, for the role of mode water in climate variability.