Abstract
The large-scale overturning in the Atlantic Ocean and its export of salty water to the other basins of the ocean is usually thought of as a thermohaline process driven by the formation of dense bottom water in the isolated basins of the North Atlantic. In this paper the output from several different runs of a global ocean GCM is used to show that the inflow of upper kilometer water in the South Atlantic and the outflow of deep water varies in direct proportion to the westerly wind stress in the circumpolar region of the southern hemisphere. According to the results presented here, the production of dense bottom water in the North Atlantic makes it possible for an Atlantic overturning to exist, but southern hemisphere winds appear to determine the magnitude of the inflow and outflow. The connection between southern hemisphere winds and the Atlantic overturning is due to a unique dynamic constraint which operates in the latitude band of Drake Passage. This constraint suggests the possibility of a very simple relationship between the magnitude of the northward wind drift at the latitude of the tip of South America (i.e. ∫(τx/f)dxSA) and the magnitude of the inflow and outflow from the Atlantic basin.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Broecker W S (1987) The biggest chill. Natural History 97:74–82.
Broecker W S, and G H Denton (1989) The role of ocean-atmosphere reorganizations in glacial cycles. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 53:2465–2501.
Broecker W S, A Virgilio, and T H Peng (1991) Radiocarbon age of waters in the deep Atlantic revisited. Geophys Res Lett 18:1–3.
Bryan F (1986) High latitude salinity effects and interhemispheric thermohaline circulations. Nature 323:301–304.
Carmack E C, and T D Foster (1975) On the flow of water out of the Weddell Sea. Deep-Sea Res 22:711–724.
Chelton D B, A M Mestas-Nuñez, and M H Freilich (1990) Global wind stress and Sverdrup circulation from the Seasat Scatterometer. J Phys Oceanogr 20:1175–1205.
Cox M D (1989) An idealized model of the world ocean Part 1: the global-scale water masses. J Phys Oceanogr 19:1730–1752.
Deacon G E R (1937) The hydrology of the Southern Ocean. Discovery Rep 15:1–124, plates I-XLIV.
Gill A E, and K Bryan (1971) Effects of geometry on the circulation of a threedimensional southern hemisphere ocean model. Deep-Sea Res 18 :685–721.
Gordon A L (1986) Interocean exchange of thermocline water. J Geophys Res 91:5037–5046.
Hellerman S, and M Rosenstein (1983) Normal monthly wind stress over the world ocean with error estimates. J Phys Oceanogr 13:1093–1104.
Levitus S (1982) Climatological Atlas of the World Ocean. NOAA Prof Paper 13 US Government Printing Office, Washington DC.
Manabe S, and R J Stouffer (1988) Two stable equilibria of a coupled ocean-atmosphere model. J Climate 1:841–866.
Mikolajewicz U, and E Maier-Reimer (1990) Internal secular variability in an ocean general circulation model. Max-Plank-Institut für Meteorologie Report No. 50 Hamburg FRG 20 pp.
Rintoul S R (1991) South Atlantic interbasin exchange. J Geophys Res 96:2675–2692.
Roemmich D, and C Wunsch (1985) Two transatlantic sections: meridional circulation and heat flux in the subtropical North Atlantic Ocean. Deep-Sea Res 32A:619–664.
Semtner A J, and R M Chervin (1988) A simulation of the global ocean circulation with resolved eddies. J Geophys Res 93:15502–15522.
Semtner A J, and R M Chervin (1992) Ocean general circulation from a global eddy-resolving model, J Geophys Res 97:5493–5550.
Stommel H (1958) The abyssal circulation. Deep-Sea Res 5:80–82.
Sverdrup H U, M W Johnson, and R H Fleming (1942) The Oceans. Prentice Hall Englewood Cliffs NJ 1087 pp.
Stouffer R J, S Manabe, and K Bryan (1989) Interhemispheric asymmetry in climate response to a gradual increase of atmospheric CO2. Nature 342:660–662.
Toggweiler J R, K Dixon, and K Bryan (1989a) Simulations of radiocarbon in a coarse-resolution world ocean model 1. Steady state Prebomb distributions. J Geophys Res 94:8217–8242.
Toggweiler J R, K Dixon, and K Bryan (1989b) Simulations of radiocarbon in a coarse-resolution world ocean model 2. Distributions of bomb-produced carbon 14. J Geophys Res 94:8243–8264.
Toggweiler J R, and B. Samuels (1992) New radiocarbon constraints on the upwelling of abyssal water to the ocean’s surface. This volume.
Trenberth K E, W G Large, and J G Olson (1990) The mean annual cycle in global ocean wind stress. J Phys Oceanogr 20:1742–1760.
Warren B A (1981) Deep circulation of the world ocean. In: B A Warren and C Wunsch (eds) Evolution of Physical Oceanography Scientific Surveys in Honor of Henry Stommel. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, pp 6–41.
Warren B A (1990) Suppression of deep oxygen concentrations by Drake Passage. Deep-Sea Res 37A:1899–1907.
Weiss R F, H G Ostlund, and H Craig (1979) Geochemical studies of the Weddell Sea. Deep-Sea Res 26A:1093–1120.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1993 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this paper
Cite this paper
Toggweiler, J.R., Samuels, B. (1993). Is the Magnitude of the Deep Outflow from the Atlantic Ocean Actually Governed by Southern Hemisphere Winds?. In: Heimann, M. (eds) The Global Carbon Cycle. NATO ASI Series, vol 15. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-84608-3_13
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-84608-3_13
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-84610-6
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-84608-3
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive