CC003
Changing Ocean Physical Conditions in a Warming Climate
Changing Ocean Physical Conditions in a Warming Climate
Session ID#: 253904
Session Description:
The ocean has absorbed over 90% of excess heat, modulating Earth’s energy imbalance and atmospheric warming. Simultaneously, global hydrological cycle shifts intensify salinity contrasts, amplifying wet–dry regional differences under continued warming. A deeper understanding of the dynamics linked to the ongoing changes in ocean heat and salinity/freshwater content is essential for constraining Earth’s heat and freshwater budgets, improving climate projections, and assessing key climate impact-drivers (CIDs) such as marine heatwaves, sea-level rise etc. This session welcomes the submission of the evolving ocean physical state in a changing climate, with a particular focus on circulation, water mass transformation, and their implications for ocean&climate systems from the past century to future.
This includes the regional to global scale studies of (1) evolution and redistribution/transport of large-scale heat and freshwater among water masses; (2) variability and trends in ocean heat content and freshwater content, and their links to climate variability (e.g., AMOC) and extremes; (3) changes in ocean temperature, salinity, and density structure (e.g., mixed layer depth, thermocline, pycnocline). We also welcome the contributions of the global ocean observing system or modeling strategies to improve understanding of the Earth’s energy budget and water cycle.
Co-Sponsor(s):
- Climate and Ocean Change -
- Ocean Technologies and Observatories -
- Physical Oceanography: Mesoscale and Larger -
Index Terms:
1620 Climate dynamics [GLOBAL CHANGE]
4283 Water masses [OCEANOGRAPHY: GENERAL]
4532 General circulation [OCEANOGRAPHY: PHYSICAL]
4572 Upper ocean and mixed layer processes [OCEANOGRAPHY: PHYSICAL]
Student/Early Career Chair: Audrey Miniere, Ecole normale supérieure (ENS) – PSL, Laboratoire de Météorologie Dynamique – IPSL, Paris, France
Primary Chair: Zhetao Tan, Laboratoire de Météorologie Dynamique – IPSL, Paris, France
Co-chairs: Sabrina Speich, Laboratoire de Météorologie Dynamique – IPSL, Paris, France, Elaine McDonagh, Norwegian Research Center (NORCE), Bergen, Norway and Lijing Cheng, Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
See more of: Climate and Ocean Change