Watson
Andrew J.
Watson
Andrew J.
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ArticleEstimating a submesoscale diffusivity using a roughness measure applied to a tracer release experiment in the Southern Ocean(American Meteorological Society, 2015-06) Boland, Emma J. D. ; Shuckburgh, Emily ; Haynes, Peter H. ; Ledwell, James R. ; Messias, Marie-Jose ; Watson, Andrew J.The use of a measure to diagnose submesoscale isopycnal diffusivity by determining the best match between observations of a tracer and simulations with varying small-scale diffusivities is tested. Specifically, the robustness of a “roughness” measure to discriminate between tracer fields experiencing different submesoscale isopycnal diffusivities and advected by scaled altimetric velocity fields is investigated. This measure is used to compare numerical simulations of the tracer released at a depth of about 1.5 km in the Pacific sector of the Southern Ocean during the Diapycnal and Isopycnal Mixing Experiment in the Southern Ocean (DIMES) field campaign with observations of the tracer taken on DIMES cruises. The authors find that simulations with an isopycnal diffusivity of ~20 m2 s−1 best match observations in the Pacific sector of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC), rising to ~20–50 m2 s−1 through Drake Passage, representing submesoscale processes and any mesoscale processes unresolved by the advecting altimetry fields. The roughness measure is demonstrated to be a statistically robust way to estimate a small-scale diffusivity when measurements are relatively sparse in space and time, although it does not work if there are too few measurements overall. The planning of tracer measurements during a cruise in order to maximize the robustness of the roughness measure is also considered. It is found that the robustness is increased if the spatial resolution of tracer measurements is increased with the time since tracer release.
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ArticleDiapycnal mixing in the Southern Ocean diagnosed using the DIMES tracer and realistic velocity fields(John Wiley & Sons, 2018-04-13) Mackay, Neill ; Ledwell, James R. ; Messias, Marie-Jose ; Naveira Garabato, Alberto C. ; Brearley, J. Alexander ; Meijers, Andrew J. S. ; Jones, Daniel C. ; Watson, Andrew J.In this work, we use realistic isopycnal velocities with a 3-D eddy diffusivity to advect and diffuse a tracer in the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, beginning in the Southeast Pacific and progressing through Drake Passage. We prescribe a diapycnal diffusivity which takes one value in the SE Pacific west of 678W and another value in Drake Passage east of that longitude, and optimize the diffusivities using a cost function to give a best fit to experimental data from the DIMES (Diapycnal and Isopycnal Mixing Experiment in the Southern Ocean) tracer, released near the boundary between the Upper and Lower Circumpolar Deep Water. We find that diapycnal diffusivity is enhanced 20-fold in Drake Passage compared with the SE Pacific, consistent with previous estimates obtained using a simpler advection-diffusion model with constant, but different, zonal velocities east and west of 678W. Our result shows that diapycnal mixing in the ACC plays a significant role in transferring buoyancy within the Meridional Overturning Circulation.
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ArticleComment on “Modern-age buildup of CO2 and its effects on seawater acidity and salinity” by Hugo A. Loáiciga(American Geophysical Union, 2007-09-25) Caldeira, Ken ; Archer, David ; Barry, James P. ; Bellerby, Richard G. J. ; Brewer, Peter G. ; Cao, Long ; Dickson, Andrew G. ; Doney, Scott C. ; Elderfield, Henry ; Fabry, Victoria J. ; Feely, Richard A. ; Gattuso, Jean-Pierre ; Haugan, Peter M. ; Hoegh-Guldberg, Ove ; Jain, Atul K. ; Kleypas, Joan A. ; Langdon, Chris ; Orr, James C. ; Ridgwell, Andy ; Sabine, Christopher L. ; Seibel, Brad A. ; Shirayama, Yoshihisa ; Turley, Carol ; Watson, Andrew J. ; Zeebe, Richard E.
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ArticleDirect estimate of lateral eddy diffusivity upstream of Drake Passage(American Meteorological Society, 2014-10) Tulloch, Ross ; Ferrari, Raffaele ; Jahn, Oliver ; Klocker, Andreas ; LaCasce, Joseph H. ; Ledwell, James R. ; Marshall, John C. ; Messias, Marie-Jose ; Speer, Kevin G. ; Watson, Andrew J.The first direct estimate of the rate at which geostrophic turbulence mixes tracers across the Antarctic Circumpolar Current is presented. The estimate is computed from the spreading of a tracer released upstream of Drake Passage as part of the Diapycnal and Isopycnal Mixing Experiment in the Southern Ocean (DIMES). The meridional eddy diffusivity, a measure of the rate at which the area of the tracer spreads along an isopycnal across the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, is 710 ± 260 m2 s−1 at 1500-m depth. The estimate is based on an extrapolation of the tracer-based diffusivity using output from numerical tracers released in a one-twentieth of a degree model simulation of the circulation and turbulence in the Drake Passage region. The model is shown to reproduce the observed spreading rate of the DIMES tracer and suggests that the meridional eddy diffusivity is weak in the upper kilometer of the water column with values below 500 m2 s−1 and peaks at the steering level, near 2 km, where the eddy phase speed is equal to the mean flow speed. These vertical variations are not captured by ocean models presently used for climate studies, but they significantly affect the ventilation of different water masses.
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ArticleOn the future of Argo: A global, full-depth, multi-disciplinary array(Frontiers Media, 2019-08-02) Roemmich, Dean ; Alford, Matthew H. ; Claustre, Hervé ; Johnson, Kenneth S. ; King, Brian ; Moum, James N. ; Oke, Peter ; Owens, W. Brechner ; Pouliquen, Sylvie ; Purkey, Sarah G. ; Scanderbeg, Megan ; Suga, Koushirou ; Wijffels, Susan E. ; Zilberman, Nathalie ; Bakker, Dorothee ; Baringer, Molly O. ; Belbeoch, Mathieu ; Bittig, Henry C. ; Boss, Emmanuel S. ; Calil, Paulo H. R. ; Carse, Fiona ; Carval, Thierry ; Chai, Fei ; Conchubhair, Diarmuid Ó. ; d’Ortenzio, Fabrizio ; Dall'Olmo, Giorgio ; Desbruyeres, Damien ; Fennel, Katja ; Fer, Ilker ; Ferrari, Raffaele ; Forget, Gael ; Freeland, Howard ; Fujiki, Tetsuichi ; Gehlen, Marion ; Geenan, Blair ; Hallberg, Robert ; Hibiya, Toshiyuki ; Hosoda, Shigeki ; Jayne, Steven R. ; Jochum, Markus ; Johnson, Gregory C. ; Kang, KiRyong ; Kolodziejczyk, Nicolas ; Körtzinger, Arne ; Le Traon, Pierre-Yves ; Lenn, Yueng-Djern ; Maze, Guillaume ; Mork, Kjell Arne ; Morris, Tamaryn ; Nagai, Takeyoshi ; Nash, Jonathan D. ; Naveira Garabato, Alberto C. ; Olsen, Are ; Pattabhi Rama Rao, Eluri ; Prakash, Satya ; Riser, Stephen C. ; Schmechtig, Catherine ; Schmid, Claudia ; Shroyer, Emily L. ; Sterl, Andreas ; Sutton, Philip J. H. ; Talley, Lynne D. ; Tanhua, Toste ; Thierry, Virginie ; Thomalla, Sandy J. ; Toole, John M. ; Troisi, Ariel ; Trull, Thomas W. ; Turton, Jon ; Velez-Belchi, Pedro ; Walczowski, Waldemar ; Wang, Haili ; Wanninkhof, Rik ; Waterhouse, Amy F. ; Waterman, Stephanie N. ; Watson, Andrew J. ; Wilson, Cara ; Wong, Annie P. S. ; Xu, Jianping ; Yasuda, IchiroThe Argo Program has been implemented and sustained for almost two decades, as a global array of about 4000 profiling floats. Argo provides continuous observations of ocean temperature and salinity versus pressure, from the sea surface to 2000 dbar. The successful installation of the Argo array and its innovative data management system arose opportunistically from the combination of great scientific need and technological innovation. Through the data system, Argo provides fundamental physical observations with broad societally-valuable applications, built on the cost-efficient and robust technologies of autonomous profiling floats. Following recent advances in platform and sensor technologies, even greater opportunity exists now than 20 years ago to (i) improve Argo’s global coverage and value beyond the original design, (ii) extend Argo to span the full ocean depth, (iii) add biogeochemical sensors for improved understanding of oceanic cycles of carbon, nutrients, and ecosystems, and (iv) consider experimental sensors that might be included in the future, for example to document the spatial and temporal patterns of ocean mixing. For Core Argo and each of these enhancements, the past, present, and future progression along a path from experimental deployments to regional pilot arrays to global implementation is described. The objective is to create a fully global, top-to-bottom, dynamically complete, and multidisciplinary Argo Program that will integrate seamlessly with satellite and with other in situ elements of the Global Ocean Observing System (Legler et al., 2015). The integrated system will deliver operational reanalysis and forecasting capability, and assessment of the state and variability of the climate system with respect to physical, biogeochemical, and ecosystems parameters. It will enable basic research of unprecedented breadth and magnitude, and a wealth of ocean-education and outreach opportunities.
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ArticleDiapycnal diffusivities from a tracer release experiment in the deep sea, integrated over 13 years(American Geophysical Union, 2012-02-21) Rye, Craig D. ; Messias, Marie-Jose ; Ledwell, James R. ; Watson, Andrew J. ; Brousseau, Andrew ; King, Brian A.A section across the Atlantic at 24°S recorded in March 2009, sampled a tracer plume released in the deep Brazil Basin 13 years earlier. The 1-D diffusion equation was used to model the vertical spread of the tracer, yielding a mean diapycnal diffusivity estimate of approximately 3 × 10−4 m2/s at 4 km depth. This estimate is similar to that found by surveys of the tracer plume made between 1996 and 2000, within four years of the tracer release and therefore provides strong evidence for the long-term stability of that result.
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ArticleGlobal carbon budget 2017(Copernicus Publications on behalf of the European Geosciences Union, 2018-03-12) Le Quere, Corinne ; Andrew, Robbie M. ; Friedlingstein, Pierre ; Sitch, Stephen ; Pongratz, Julia ; Manning, Andrew C. ; Korsbakken, Jan Ivar ; Peters, Glen P. ; Canadell, Josep G. ; Jackson, Robert B. ; Boden, Thomas A. ; Tans, Pieter P. ; Andrews, Oliver D. ; Arora, Vivek K. ; Bakker, Dorothee ; Barbero, Leticia ; Becker, Meike ; Betts, Richard A. ; Bopp, Laurent ; Chevallier, Frédéric ; Chini, Louise Parsons ; Ciais, Philippe ; Cosca, Catherine E. ; Cross, Jessica N. ; Currie, Kim I. ; Gasser, Thomas ; Harris, Ian ; Hauck, Judith ; Haverd, Vanessa ; Houghton, Richard A. ; Hunt, Christopher W. ; Hurtt, George ; Ilyina, Tatiana ; Jain, Atul K. ; Kato, Etsushi ; Kautz, Markus ; Keeling, Ralph F. ; Klein Goldewijk, Kees ; Körtzinger, Arne ; Landschützer, Peter ; Lefèvre, Nathalie ; Lenton, Andrew ; Lienert, Sebastian ; Lima, Ivan D. ; Lombardozzi, Danica ; Metzl, Nicolas ; Millero, Frank J. ; Monteiro, Pedro M. S. ; Munro, David R. ; Nabel, Julia E. M. S. ; Nakaoka, Shin-ichiro ; Nojiri, Yukihiro ; Padin, X. Antonio ; Peregon, Anna ; Pfeil, Benjamin ; Pierrot, Denis ; Poulter, Benjamin ; Rehder, Gregor ; Reimer, Janet ; Rödenbeck, Christian ; Schwinger, Jorg ; Séférian, Roland ; Skjelvan, Ingunn ; Stocker, Benjamin D. ; Tian, Hanqin ; Tilbrook, Bronte ; Tubiello, Francesco N. ; van der Laan-Luijkx, Ingrid T. ; van der Werf, Guido R. ; van Heuven, Steven ; Viovy, Nicolas ; Vuichard, Nicolas ; Walker, Anthony P. ; Watson, Andrew J. ; Wiltshire, Andrew J. ; Zaehle, Sonke ; Zhu, DanAccurate assessment of anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and their redistribution among the atmosphere, ocean, and terrestrial biosphere – the "global carbon budget" – is important to better understand the global carbon cycle, support the development of climate policies, and project future climate change. Here we describe data sets and methodology to quantify the five major components of the global carbon budget and their uncertainties. CO2 emissions from fossil fuels and industry (EFF) are based on energy statistics and cement production data, respectively, while emissions from land-use change (ELUC), mainly deforestation, are based on land-cover change data and bookkeeping models. The global atmospheric CO2 concentration is measured directly and its rate of growth (GATM) is computed from the annual changes in concentration. The ocean CO2 sink (SOCEAN) and terrestrial CO2 sink (SLAND) are estimated with global process models constrained by observations. The resulting carbon budget imbalance (BIM), the difference between the estimated total emissions and the estimated changes in the atmosphere, ocean, and terrestrial biosphere, is a measure of imperfect data and understanding of the contemporary carbon cycle. All uncertainties are reported as ±1σ. For the last decade available (2007–2016), EFF was 9.4 ± 0.5 GtC yr−1, ELUC 1.3 ± 0.7 GtC yr−1, GATM 4.7 ± 0.1 GtC yr−1, SOCEAN 2.4 ± 0.5 GtC yr−1, and SLAND 3.0 ± 0.8 GtC yr−1, with a budget imbalance BIM of 0.6 GtC yr−1 indicating overestimated emissions and/or underestimated sinks. For year 2016 alone, the growth in EFF was approximately zero and emissions remained at 9.9 ± 0.5 GtC yr−1. Also for 2016, ELUC was 1.3 ± 0.7 GtC yr−1, GATM was 6.1 ± 0.2 GtC yr−1, SOCEAN was 2.6 ± 0.5 GtC yr−1, and SLAND was 2.7 ± 1.0 GtC yr−1, with a small BIM of −0.3 GtC. GATM continued to be higher in 2016 compared to the past decade (2007–2016), reflecting in part the high fossil emissions and the small SLAND consistent with El Niño conditions. The global atmospheric CO2 concentration reached 402.8 ± 0.1 ppm averaged over 2016. For 2017, preliminary data for the first 6–9 months indicate a renewed growth in EFF of +2.0 % (range of 0.8 to 3.0 %) based on national emissions projections for China, USA, and India, and projections of gross domestic product (GDP) corrected for recent changes in the carbon intensity of the economy for the rest of the world. This living data update documents changes in the methods and data sets used in this new global carbon budget compared with previous publications of this data set (Le Quéré et al., 2016, 2015b, a, 2014, 2013). All results presented here can be downloaded from https://doi.org/10.18160/GCP-2017 (GCP, 2017).
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ArticleTurbulence and diapycnal mixing in Drake Passage(American Meteorological Society, 2012-12) St. Laurent, Louis C. ; Naveira Garabato, Alberto C. ; Ledwell, James R. ; Thurnherr, Andreas M. ; Toole, John M. ; Watson, Andrew J.Direct measurements of turbulence levels in the Drake Passage region of the Southern Ocean show a marked enhancement over the Phoenix Ridge. At this site, the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) is constricted in its flow between the southern tip of South America and the northern tip of the Antarctic Peninsula. Observed turbulent kinetic energy dissipation rates are enhanced in the regions corresponding to the ACC frontal zones where strong flow reaches the bottom. In these areas, turbulent dissipation levels reach 10−8 W kg−1 at abyssal and middepths. The mixing enhancement in the frontal regions is sufficient to elevate the diapycnal turbulent diffusivity acting in the deep water above the axis of the ridge to 1 × 10−4 m2 s−1. This level is an order of magnitude larger than the mixing levels observed upstream in the ACC above smoother bathymetry. Outside of the frontal regions, dissipation rates are O(10−10) W kg−1, comparable to the background levels of turbulence found throughout most mid- and low-latitude regions of the global ocean.
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ArticleRates and mechanisms of turbulent dissipation and mixing in the Southern Ocean : results from the Diapycnal and Isopycnal Mixing Experiment in the Southern Ocean (DIMES)(John Wiley & Sons, 2013-06-04) Sheen, Katy L. ; Brearley, J. Alexander ; Naveira Garabato, Alberto C. ; Smeed, David A. ; Waterman, Stephanie N. ; Ledwell, James R. ; Meredith, Michael P. ; St. Laurent, Louis C. ; Thurnherr, Andreas M. ; Toole, John M. ; Watson, Andrew J.The spatial distribution of turbulent dissipation rates and internal wavefield characteristics is analyzed across two contrasting regimes of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC), using microstructure and finestructure data collected as part of the Diapycnal and Isopycnal Mixing Experiment in the Southern Ocean (DIMES). Mid-depth turbulent dissipation rates are found to increase from inline image in the Southeast Pacific to inline image in the Scotia Sea, typically reaching inline image within a kilometer of the seabed. Enhanced levels of turbulent mixing are associated with strong near-bottom flows, rough topography, and regions where the internal wavefield is found to have enhanced energy, a less-inertial frequency content and a dominance of upward propagating energy. These results strongly suggest that bottom-generated internal waves play a major role in determining the spatial distribution of turbulent dissipation in the ACC. The energy flux associated with the bottom internal wave generation process is calculated using wave radiation theory, and found to vary between 0.8 mW m−2 in the Southeast Pacific and 14 mW m−2 in the Scotia Sea. Typically, 10%–30% of this energy is found to dissipate within 1 km of the seabed. Comparison between turbulent dissipation rates inferred from finestructure parameterizations and microstructure-derived estimates suggests a significant departure from wave-wave interaction physics in the near-field of wave generation sites.
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ArticleMagnitude, trends, and variability of the global ocean carbon sink from 1985‐2018(American Geophysical Union, 2023-09-11) DeVries, Tim ; Yamamoto, Kana ; Wanninkhof, Rik ; Gruber, Nicolas ; Hauck, Judith ; Muller, Jens Daniel ; Bopp, Laurent ; Carroll, Dustin ; Carter, Brendan ; Chau, Thi-Tuyet-Trang ; Doney, Scott C. ; Gehlen, Marion ; Gloege, Lucas ; Gregor, Luke ; Henson, Stephanie A. ; Kim, Ji-Hyun ; Iida, Yosuke ; Ilyina, Tatiana ; Landschutzer, Peter ; Le Quere, Corinne ; Munro, David R. ; Nissen, Cara ; Patara, Lavinia ; Perez, Fiz F. ; Resplandy, Laure ; Rodgers, Keith B. ; Schwinger, Jorg ; Seferian, Roland ; Sicardi, Valentina ; Terhaar, Jens ; Trinanes, Joaquin ; Tsujino, Hiroyuki ; Watson, Andrew J. ; Yasunaka, Sayaka ; Zeng, JiyeThis contribution to the RECCAP2 (REgional Carbon Cycle Assessment and Processes) assessment analyzes the processes that determine the global ocean carbon sink, and its trends and variability over the period 1985–2018, using a combination of models and observation-based products. The mean sea-air CO2 flux from 1985 to 2018 is −1.6 ± 0.2 PgC yr−1 based on an ensemble of reconstructions of the history of sea surface pCO2 (pCO2 products). Models indicate that the dominant component of this flux is the net oceanic uptake of anthropogenic CO2, which is estimated at −2.1 ± 0.3 PgC yr−1 by an ensemble of ocean biogeochemical models, and −2.4 ± 0.1 PgC yr−1 by two ocean circulation inverse models. The ocean also degasses about 0.65 ± 0.3 PgC yr−1 of terrestrially derived CO2, but this process is not fully resolved by any of the models used here. From 2001 to 2018, the pCO2 products reconstruct a trend in the ocean carbon sink of −0.61 ± 0.12 PgC yr−1 decade−1, while biogeochemical models and inverse models diagnose an anthropogenic CO2-driven trend of −0.34 ± 0.06 and −0.41 ± 0.03 PgC yr−1 decade−1, respectively. This implies a climate-forced acceleration of the ocean carbon sink in recent decades, but there are still large uncertainties on the magnitude and cause of this trend. The interannual to decadal variability of the global carbon sink is mainly driven by climate variability, with the climate-driven variability exceeding the CO2-forced variability by 2–3 times. These results suggest that anthropogenic CO2 dominates the ocean CO2 sink, while climate-driven variability is potentially large but highly uncertain and not consistently captured across different methods.
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ArticleAn assessment of the Atlantic and Arctic sea–air CO2 fluxes, 1990–2009(Copernicus Publications on behalf of the European Geosciences Union, 2013-01-29) Schuster, Ute ; McKinley, Galen A. ; Bates, Nicholas R. ; Chevallier, Frédéric ; Doney, Scott C. ; Fay, A. R. ; Gonzalez-Davila, M. ; Gruber, Nicolas ; Jones, S. ; Krijnen, J. ; Landschutzer, Peter ; Lefevre, N. ; Manizza, Manfredi ; Mathis, Jeremy T. ; Metzl, Nicolas ; Olsen, Are ; Rios, Aida F. ; Rodenbeck, C. ; Santana-Casiano, J. M. ; Takahashi, Taro ; Wanninkhof, Rik ; Watson, Andrew J.The Atlantic and Arctic Oceans are critical components of the global carbon cycle. Here we quantify the net sea–air CO2 flux, for the first time, across different methodologies for consistent time and space scales for the Atlantic and Arctic basins. We present the long-term mean, seasonal cycle, interannual variability and trends in sea–air CO2 flux for the period 1990 to 2009, and assign an uncertainty to each. We use regional cuts from global observations and modeling products, specifically a pCO2-based CO2 flux climatology, flux estimates from the inversion of oceanic and atmospheric data, and results from six ocean biogeochemical models. Additionally, we use basin-wide flux estimates from surface ocean pCO2 observations based on two distinct methodologies. Our estimate of the contemporary sea–air flux of CO2 (sum of anthropogenic and natural components) by the Atlantic between 40° S and 79° N is −0.49 ± 0.05 Pg C yr−1, and by the Arctic it is −0.12 ± 0.06 Pg C yr−1, leading to a combined sea–air flux of −0.61 ± 0.06 Pg C yr−1 for the two decades (negative reflects ocean uptake). We do find broad agreement amongst methodologies with respect to the seasonal cycle in the subtropics of both hemispheres, but not elsewhere. Agreement with respect to detailed signals of interannual variability is poor, and correlations to the North Atlantic Oscillation are weaker in the North Atlantic and Arctic than in the equatorial region and southern subtropics. Linear trends for 1995 to 2009 indicate increased uptake and generally correspond between methodologies in the North Atlantic, but there is disagreement amongst methodologies in the equatorial region and southern subtropics.