HE015
Variability, Circulation, and Ongoing Change in the Southern Ocean
Variability, Circulation, and Ongoing Change in the Southern Ocean
Session ID#: 259624
Session Description:
The Southern Ocean is a fundamental component of the climate system, connecting ocean basins, playing a key role in the uptake of anthropogenic heat and carbon, and transporting heat to the Antarctic margin, driving ice sheet mass loss. In recent decades, the region has experienced remarkable changes, notably increasing heat content, record-low sea ice extent, and a slowdown in bottom water formation at some key formation sites —shifts that have global implications. Though historically limited by the high cost and technical demands of in situ observations and high-resolution models, recent field campaigns, new observing capabilities, and focused model development efforts are now rapidly advancing our understanding of the drivers of Southern Ocean variability and climate trends.
This session will showcase recent advances in observing, understanding and projecting change in the physical processes occurring in the Southern Ocean, from open ocean to the continental shelf and from large-scale to mesoscale and submesoscale processes. Topics of interest include warm water transport towards ice shelf cavities; large-scale and regional circulation (e.g., meridional overturning, Antarctic Circumpolar Current, Antarctic Slope Current, subpolar gyres); water mass formation and variability, including mode and bottom waters; diapycnal mixing and isopycnal stirring; atmosphere-ocean-ice interactions and sea ice variability.
Co-Sponsor(s):
- Air-Sea Interactions -
- Climate and Ocean Change -
- Ocean Technologies and Observatories -
Index Terms:
4207 Arctic and Antarctic oceanography [OCEANOGRAPHY: GENERAL]
4215 Climate and interannual variability [OCEANOGRAPHY: GENERAL]
4273 Physical and biogeochemical interactions [OCEANOGRAPHY: GENERAL]
4504 Air/sea interactions [OCEANOGRAPHY: PHYSICAL]
Student/Early Career Chair: Hannah Dawson, University of Tasmania, Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, Hobart, Australia
Primary Chair: Earle Wilson, Stanford University, Earth System Science, Stanford, United States
Co-chairs: Adele K Morrison, Australian National University and Australian Centre for Excellence in Antarctic Science, Canberra, ACT, Australia, Pierpaolo Falco, Marche Polytechnic University, Laboratory of Oceanography, Department of Life and Environmental Sciences, Ancona, Italy and Annie Foppert, University of Tasmania, Hobart, TAS, Australia
See more of: High Latitude Environments