The Effect of Resolution on Vertical Heat and Carbon Transports in a Regional Ocean Circulation Model for the Argentine Basin

Abstract:

The Argentine Basin is a region of strong currents and mixing of subpolar and subtropical waters, with large uncertainties surrounding integrated quantities such as air-sea exchanges of heat and carbon in current generation climate models. We construct a regional ocean model with biogeochemistry at 1/3, 1/6, and 1/12 degree resolutions for the year 2017 and use initial conditions and boundary forcing from BSOSE (the Biogeochemical Southern Ocean State Estimate [Verdy & Mazloff 2017]) and atmospheric forcing from ERA5. Model output is compared against Argo and bgc-Argo float profiles, BSOSE, and other reanalyses and mapped products. We quantify the effect of resolution on model upper ocean heat and carbon transport and the associated air-sea exchanges. In our case, it is determined that resolution has a significant effect on both vertical transport and surface flux of heat, but not for carbon.