• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.501-506
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• 2004

The observational proxy estimates suggest that the North Atlantic overturning stream function associated with the North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW) production and outflow was substantially weaker during the last glacial maximum (LGM) than that observed under present conditions. The impact of the changes in overturning circulation on the glacial carbon budget is investigated using a box model. The carbon box model reveals that the atmospheric $CO_2$ concentration is more sensitive to change in the overturning circulation of the North Atlantic than that of the Southern Ocean, especially when North Atlantic overturning becomes weaker. For example, when the strength of the North Atlantic overturning circulation is halved, the atmospheric $CO_2$ concentration is reduced by 50ppm of that associated with the accumulation of $CO_2$ in the deep ocean. This result implies that a weaker North Atlantic overturning circulation may play an important role in the lowering of LGM atmospheric $CO_2$ concentration.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.1-18
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• 2023

The East Sea, one of the regions where the most rapid warming is occurring, is known to have important implications for the response of the ocean to future climate changes because it not only reacts sensitively to climate change but also has a much shorter turnover time (hundreds of years) than the ocean (thousands of years). However, the processes underlying changes in seawater characteristics at the sea's deep and abyssal layers, and meridional overturning circulation have recently been examined only after international cooperative observation programs for the entire sea allowed in-situ data in a necessary resolution and accuracy along with recent improvement in numerical modeling. In this review, previous studies on the physical characteristics of seawater at deeper parts of the East Sea, and meridional overturning circulation are summarized to identify any remaining issues. The seawater below a depth of several hundreds of meters in the East Sea has been identified as the Japan Sea Proper Water (East Sea Proper Water) due to its homogeneous physical properties of a water temperature below 1℃ and practical salinity values ranging from 34.0 to 34.1. However, vertically high-resolution salinity and dissolved oxygen observations since the 1990s enabled us to separate the water into at least three different water masses (central water, CW; deep water, DW; bottom water, BW). Recent studies have shown that the physical characteristics and boundaries between the three water masses are not constant over time, but have significantly varied over the last few decades in association with time-varying water formation processes, such as convection processes (deep slope convection and open-ocean deep convection) that are linked to the re-circulation of the Tsushima Warm Current, ocean-atmosphere heat and freshwater exchanges, and sea-ice formation in the northern part of the East Sea. The CW, DW, and BW were found to be transported horizontally from the Japan Basin to the Ulleung Basin, from the Ulleung Basin to the Yamato Basin, and from the Yamato Basin to the Japan Basin, respectively, rotating counterclockwise with a shallow depth on the right of its path (consistent with the bottom topographic control of fluid in a rotating Earth). This horizontal deep circulation is a part of the sea's meridional overturning circulation that has undergone changes in the path and intensity. Yet, the linkages between upper and deeper circulation and between the horizontal and meridional overturning circulation are not well understood. Through this review, the remaining issues to be addressed in the future were identified. These issues included a connection between the changing properties of CW, DW, and BW, and their horizontal and overturning circulations; the linkage of deep and abyssal circulations to the upper circulation, including upper water transport from and into the Western Pacific Ocean; and processes underlying the temporal variability in the path and intensity of CW, DW, and BW.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.36 no.3
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• pp.199-209
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• 2015

The Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC), driven by high density water sinking around Greenland serves as a global climate regulator, because it transports heat and materials in the climate system. We analyzed the mechanism of AMOC on a decadal time scale simulated with the HadGEM2-AO model. The lead-lag regression analysis with AMOC index shows that the decadal variability of the thermohaline circulation in the Atlantic Ocean can be considered as a self-sustained variability. This means that the long-term change of AMOC is related to the instability which is originated from the phase difference between the meridional temperature gradient and the ocean circulation. When the overturning circulation becomes stronger, the heat moves northward and decreases the horizontal temperature-dominated density gradients. Subsequently, this leads to weakening of the circulation, which in turn generates the anomalous cooling at high latitudes and, thereby strengthening the AMOC. In this mechanism, the density anomalies at high latitudes are controlled by the thermal advection from low latitudes, meaning that the variation of the AMOC is thermally driven and not salinity driven.

• Atmosphere
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.331-344
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• 2012

The changes in the Hadley circulation during the second half of the 20th century were examined using observations and the 20C3M (Twentieth Century Climate in Coupled Models) simulations by the 21 IPCC AR4 models. Multi-model ensemble (MME) mean shows that the mean features of the Hadley circulation, such as the intensity, magnitude, and the seasonal variations, are very realistically reproduced, compared to the ERA40 reanalysis. But the long-term trends of the Hadley circulation in 20C3M MME are quite different to those of observations. The observed intensity of the Hadley cell is persistently enhanced, particularly during boreal winter. In comparison, the meridional overturning circulations reproduced in the MME mean remains invariant in time, and even weakened in boreal summer. This discrepancy between the ERA40 and 20C3M MME is consistently shown in the overall structure of the Hadley circulations, such as mass streamfunction, the velocity potential, the vertical shear of meridional wind, and the vertical velocity in the tropical region. This results indicate that the current climate models are skill-less to capture the long-term trend of Hadley circulation yet, and should be improved in simulation of the large-scale features to enhance the confidence level of future climate change projection.

• Proceedings of the Korean Quaternary Association Conference
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• 2004.11a
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• pp.37-43
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• 2004

The response of the CCCma coupled climate model to the imposition of LGM conditions is investigated. The global mean SAT and SST decrease by about $10^{\circ}C$ and $5.6^{\circ}C$ in the coupled model. Tropical SST decreases by $6.5^{\circ}C$, whereas CLIMAP reconstructions suggest that the tropics cool by only about $1.7^{\circ}C$, although the larger tropical cooling is consistent with the more recent proxy estimates. With the incorporation of a full ocean component, the coupled model gives a realistic spatial SST pattern, capturing features associated with ocean dynamics that are seen in the CLIMAP reconstructions. The larger decrease of the surface temperature in the model is associated with a reduction in global precipitation rate (about 15%). The tropical Pacific warm pool retreats to the west and a mean La $Ni\tilde{n}a$-like response is simulated with less precipitation over the central Pacific and more in the western tropical Pacific. The more arid ocean climate in the LGM results in an increase in SSS almost everywhere. This is particularly the case in the Arctic Ocean where large SSS increase is due to a decrease in river discharge to the Arctic Ocean associated with the accumulation of snow over the ice sheet, but in the North Atlantic by contrast SSS decreases markedly. This remarkable reduction of SSS in the North Atlantic is attributed to an increase in fresh water supply by an increase in discharges from the Mississippi and Amazon rivers and an increase in P-E over the North Atlantic ocean itself. The discharges increase in association with the wetter LGM climate south of the Laurentide ice sheet and in South America. The fresh water capping of the northern North Atlantic results in a marked reduction of deep convection and consequently a marked weakening of the North Atlantic overturning circulation. In the LGM, the maximum overturning stream function associated with the NADW formation decreases by about 60% relative to the control run, while in the Southern Ocean, oceanic convection is stronger in the LGM due to reduced stratification associated with an increase in SSS and a decrease in SST and the overturning stream function associated with the formation of AABW and the outflow increases substantially.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.44 no.4
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• pp.269-285
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• 2022

The interaction between ocean and ice shelf is a critical physical process in relation to water mass transformations and ice shelf melting/freezing at the ocean-ice interface. However, it remains challenging to thoroughly understand the process due to a lack of observational data with respect to ice shelf cavities. This is the first study to simulate the variability and circulation of water mass both overlying the continental shelf and underneath an ice shelf and an ice tongue in the Terra Nova Bay (TNB), East Antarctica. To explore the properties of water mass and circulation patterns in the TNB and the corresponding effects on sub ice shelf basal melting, we explicitly incorporate the dynamic-thermodynamic processes acting on the ice shelf in the Regional Ocean Modeling System. The simulated water mass formation and circulation in the TNB region agree well with previous studies. The model results show that the TNB circulation is dominated by the geostrophic currents driven by lateral density gradients induced by the releasing of brine or freshwater at the polynya of the TNB. Meanwhile, the circulation dynamics in the cavity under the Nansen Ice shelf (NIS) are different from those in the TNB. The gravity-driven bottom current induced by High Salinity Shelf Water (HSSW) formed at the TNB polynya flows towards the grounding line, and the buoyance-driven flow associated with glacial meltwater generated by the HSSW emerges from the cavity along the ice base. Both current systems compose the thermohaline overturning circulation in the NIS cavity. This study estimates the NIS basal melting rate to be 0.98 m/a, which is comparable to the previously observed melt rate. However, the melting rate shows a significant variation in space and time.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.305-323
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• 2012

The ocean's response to the Pinatubo and 1259 volcanic eruptions was investigated using an ocean general circulation model equipped with an energy balance model. Volcanic eruptions release gases into the atmosphere which increases the aerosol optical depth and acts to reduce the incoming short-wave radiation. For example, there was a huge volcanic eruption (Pinatubo) in 1991 which reduced the global mean radiative forcing by about 3 W $m^{-2}$. Two numerical experiments were simulated. The first experiment features the Pinatubo eruption and the second experiment simulates the much larger volcanic eruption that occurred in 1259 when the radiative forcing was reduced by 7 times compared to the Pinatubo event. With the reduced radiative forcing due to the Pinatubo eruption at about 3 W $m^{-2}$ and 1259 eruption at about 21 W $m^{-2}$, the global mean sea surface temperature (SST) decreased to its lowest in the second year after each event by about $0.4^{\circ}C$ and $1.6^{\circ}C$, respectively. Sea surface salinity (SSS) increased substantially in the northern North Pacific, northern North Atlantic, and the Southern Ocean. The reduced SST together with SSS increased ocean convection, which yielded an increase in North Atlantic Deep Water, Antarctic Bottom Water, and North Pacific Intermediate Water production and their outflows. The increase in overturning circulation eventually increased the pole-ward ocean heat fluxes. In conclusion, huge volcanic eruptions perturb the ocean substantially and their hallmarks last for more than a decade, confirming the importance of volcanic eruptions in illustrating the decadal-climate variability recorded in the paleoclimate proxy data for the past million years.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.149-159
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• 2015

The Southern Ocean (SO) plays a primary role in global climate by storing and transporting anthropogenic carbon dioxide through the meridional overturning circulation and the biological pumping process. In this study, we aim to investigate interannual variability of summer chlorophyll concentration in the SO and its relation with the El $Ni{\tilde{n}}o$ Southern Oscillation (ENSO), using satellite ocean color data covering 16 years from 1997 to 2012. During El $Ni{\tilde{n}}o$ periods, chlorophyll concentration tends to increase in the subtropics (north of the subantarctic front). This chlorophyll increase is likely linked to El $Ni{\tilde{n}}o$-induced surface cooling that increases nutrient supply through enhanced vertical mixing in the subtropics. On the other hand, the subpolar gyres show localized chlorophyll changes in response to the ENSO. The localized response seems to be primarily attributed to changes in sea-ice concentrations. Our findings suggest that ENSO contributes interannual variability of chlorophyll in the SO through different mechanisms depending on regions.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.199-205
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• 2015

Nitrogen and phosphorus are the limiting elements for growth of phytoplankton, which is a major primary producer of marine ecosystem. Incidentally the stoichiometry of N/P of ocean waters, measured by the (nitrate + nitrite)/phosphate ratio converges to a constant of 16. This characteristic ratio has been used widely for the understanding the ecosystem dynamics and biogeochemical cycles in the ocean. In the East Sea, several key papers were issued in recent years regarding the climate change and its impact on ecosystem dynamic and biogeochemical cycles using N/P ratio because the East Sea is a "miniature ocean" having her own meridional overturning circulation with the appropriate responding time and excellent accessibility. However, cited N/P values are different by authors that we tried to propose a single representative value by reanalyzing the historical nutrient data. We present N/P of the East Sea as $12.7{\pm}0.1$ for the year 2000. The ratio reveals a remarkable consistency for waters exceeding 300m depth (below the seasonal thermocline). We recommend to use this value in the future studies and hope to minimize confusion for understanding ecosystem response and biogeochemical cycles in relation to future climate change until new N/P value is established from future studies.