Paris (ESA) May 26, 2023 -
Earth s declining ice is without a doubt one of the clearest signs of climate change. A new high-resolution sea-ice concentration data record has just been released as part of ESA s Climate Change I
(2011) Cheng et al. Journal of Climate. Interannual variability of high-wind occurrence over the North Atlantic is investigated based on observations from the satellite-borne Special Sensor Microwave Imager (SSM/I). Despite no wind direction being included, SSM/I data capture major features of hi.
Abstract
Current sea-level projections are based on climate models in which the effects of ocean eddies are parameterized. Here, we investigate the effect of ocean eddies on global mean sea-level rise (GMSLR) projections, using climate model simulations. Explicitly resolving ocean eddies leads to a more realistic Southern Ocean temperature distribution and volume transport. These quantities control the rate of basal melt, which eventually results in Antarctic mass loss. In a model with resolved ocean eddies, the Southern Ocean temperature changes lead to a smaller Antarctic GMSLR contribution compared to the same model in which eddies are parameterized. As a result, the projected GMSLR is about 25% lower at the end of this century in the eddying model. Relatively small-scale ocean eddies can hence have profound large-scale effects and consequently affect GMSLR projections.
1Marine Technology and Operational Oceanography Group, Global Change and Physical Oceanography Departament, IMEDEA (CSIC-UIB), Esporles, Spain
2Área de Oceanografía Operacional, Centro de Investigaciones Oceanográficas e Hidrográficas del Caribe, Cartagena de Indias, Colombia
3Department of Applied Mathematics, University of Alicante, Alicante, Spain
4Mediterranean Institute of Oceanography (MIO), Université de Toulon, Toulon, France
5International Research Institute for Climate and Society (IRI), The Earth Institute at Columbia University, Palisades, NY, United States
The variability of La Guajira upwelling system, in the south-central Caribbean Sea, is strongly influenced by the intensity and location of the atmospheric Caribbean Low-Level Jet (CLLJ), a near-surface branch of the easterlies, as well as by the regional ocean circulation. During favorable conditions (i.e., strong easterlies blowing almost parallel to the coast), upwelling is enhanced and a large amount of p