Baringer Molly O.

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Molly O.
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  • Article
    More than 50 years of successful continuous temperature section measurements by the global expendable bathythermograph network, its integrability, societal benefits, and future
    (Frontiers Media, 2019-07-24) Goni, Gustavo J. ; Sprintall, Janet ; Bringas, Francis ; Cheng, Lijing ; Cirano, Mauro ; Dong, Shenfu ; Domingues, Ricardo ; Goes, Marlos Pereira ; Lopez, Hosmay ; Morrow, Rosemary ; Rivero, Ulises ; Rossby, H. Thomas ; Todd, Robert E. ; Trinanes, Joaquin ; Zilberman, Nathalie ; Baringer, Molly O. ; Boyer, Tim ; Cowley, Rebecca ; Domingues, Catia M. ; Hutchinson, Katherine ; Kramp, Martin ; Mata, Mauricio M. ; Reseghetti, Franco ; Sun, Charles ; Udaya Bhaskar, T. V. S. ; Volkov, Denis L.
    The first eXpendable BathyThermographs (XBTs) were deployed in the 1960s in the North Atlantic Ocean. In 1967 XBTs were deployed in operational mode to provide a continuous record of temperature profile data along repeated transects, now known as the Global XBT Network. The current network is designed to monitor ocean circulation and boundary current variability, basin-wide and trans-basin ocean heat transport, and global and regional heat content. The ability of the XBT Network to systematically map the upper ocean thermal field in multiple basins with repeated trans-basin sections at eddy-resolving scales remains unmatched today and cannot be reproduced at present by any other observing platform. Some repeated XBT transects have now been continuously occupied for more than 30 years, providing an unprecedented long-term climate record of temperature, and geostrophic velocity profiles that are used to understand variability in ocean heat content (OHC), sea level change, and meridional ocean heat transport. Here, we present key scientific advances in understanding the changing ocean and climate system supported by XBT observations. Improvement in XBT data quality and its impact on computations, particularly of OHC, are presented. Technology development for probes, launchers, and transmission techniques are also discussed. Finally, we offer new perspectives for the future of the Global XBT Network.
  • Book chapter
    Global Oceans [in “State of the Climate in 2020”]
    (American Meteorological Society, 2021-08-01) Johnson, Gregory C. ; Lumpkin, Rick ; Alin, Simone R. ; Amaya, Dillon J. ; Baringer, Molly O. ; Boyer, Tim ; Brandt, Peter ; Carter, Brendan ; Cetinić, Ivona ; Chambers, Don P. ; Cheng, Lijing ; Collins, Andrew U. ; Cosca, Cathy ; Domingues, Ricardo ; Dong, Shenfu ; Feely, Richard A. ; Frajka-Williams, Eleanor E. ; Franz, Bryan A. ; Gilson, John ; Goni, Gustavo J. ; Hamlington, Benjamin D. ; Herrford, Josefine ; Hu, Zeng-Zhen ; Huang, Boyin ; Ishii, Masayoshi ; Jevrejeva, Svetlana ; Kennedy, John J. ; Kersalé, Marion ; Killick, Rachel E. ; Landschützer, Peter ; Lankhorst, Matthias ; Leuliette, Eric ; Locarnini, Ricardo ; Lyman, John ; Marra, John F. ; Meinen, Christopher S. ; Merrifield, Mark ; Mitchum, Gary ; Moat, Bengamin I. ; Nerem, R. Steven ; Perez, Renellys ; Purkey, Sarah G. ; Reagan, James ; Sanchez-Franks, Alejandra ; Scannell, Hillary A. ; Schmid, Claudia ; Scott, Joel P. ; Siegel, David A. ; Smeed, David A. ; Stackhouse, Paul W. ; Sweet, William V. ; Thompson, Philip R. ; Trinanes, Joaquin ; Volkov, Denis L. ; Wanninkhof, Rik ; Weller, Robert A. ; Wen, Caihong ; Westberry, Toby K. ; Widlansky, Matthew J. ; Wilber, Anne C. ; Yu, Lisan ; Zhang, Huai-Min
    This chapter details 2020 global patterns in select observed oceanic physical, chemical, and biological variables relative to long-term climatologies, their differences between 2020 and 2019, and puts 2020 observations in the context of the historical record. In this overview we address a few of the highlights, first in haiku, then paragraph form: La Niña arrives, shifts winds, rain, heat, salt, carbon: Pacific—beyond. Global ocean conditions in 2020 reflected a transition from an El Niño in 2018–19 to a La Niña in late 2020. Pacific trade winds strengthened in 2020 relative to 2019, driving anomalously westward Pacific equatorial surface currents. Sea surface temperatures (SSTs), upper ocean heat content, and sea surface height all fell in the eastern tropical Pacific and rose in the western tropical Pacific. Efflux of carbon dioxide from ocean to atmosphere was larger than average across much of the equatorial Pacific, and both chlorophyll-a and phytoplankton carbon concentrations were elevated across the tropical Pacific. Less rain fell and more water evaporated in the western equatorial Pacific, consonant with increased sea surface salinity (SSS) there. SSS may also have increased as a result of anomalously westward surface currents advecting salty water from the east. El Niño–Southern Oscillation conditions have global ramifications that reverberate throughout the report.
  • Article
    On 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, Ichiro
    The 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.
  • Article
    Argo data 1999-2019: two million temperature-salinity profiles and subsurface velocity observations from a global array of profiling floats.
    (Frontiers Media, 2020-09-15) Wong, Annie P. S. ; Wijffels, Susan E. ; Riser, Stephen C. ; Pouliquen, Sylvie ; Hosoda, Shigeki ; Roemmich, Dean ; Gilson, John ; Johnson, Gregory C. ; Martini, Kim I. ; Murphy, David J. ; Scanderbeg, Megan ; Udaya Bhaskar, T. V. S. ; Buck, Justin J. H. ; Merceur, Frederic ; Carval, Thierry ; Maze, Guillaume ; Cabanes, Cécile ; André, Xavier ; Poffa, Noé ; Yashayaev, Igor ; Barker, Paul M. ; Guinehut, Stéphanie ; Belbeoch, Mathieu ; Ignaszewski, Mark ; Baringer, Molly O. ; Schmid, Claudia ; Lyman, John ; McTaggart, Kristene E. ; Purkey, Sarah G. ; Zilberman, Nathalie ; Alkire, Matthew ; Swift, Dana ; Owens, W. Brechner ; Jayne, Steven R. ; Hersh, Cora ; Robbins, Pelle E. ; West-Mack, Deb ; Bahr, Frank B. ; Yoshida, Sachiko ; Sutton, Philip J. H. ; Cancouët, Romain ; Coatanoan, Christine ; Dobbler, Delphine ; Garcia Juan, Andrea ; Gourrion, Jérôme ; Kolodziejczyk, Nicolas ; Bernard, Vincent ; Bourlès, Bernard ; Claustre, Hervé ; d’Ortenzio, Fabrizio ; Le Reste, Serge ; Le Traon, Pierre-Yves ; Rannou, Jean-Philippe ; Saout-Grit, Carole ; Speich, Sabrina ; Thierry, Virginie ; Verbrugge, Nathalie ; Angel-Benavides, Ingrid M. ; Klein, Birgit ; Notarstefano, Giulio ; Poulain, Pierre Marie ; Vélez-Belchí, Pedro ; Suga, Toshio ; Ando, Kentaro ; Iwasaska, Naoto ; Kobayashi, Taiyo ; Masuda, Shuhei ; Oka, Eitarou ; Sato, Kanako ; Nakamura, Tomoaki ; Sato, Katsunari ; Takatsuki, Yasushi ; Yoshida, Takashi ; Cowley, Rebecca ; Lovell, Jenny L. ; Oke, Peter ; van Wijk, Esmee ; Carse, Fiona ; Donnelly, Matthew ; Gould, W. John ; Gowers, Katie ; King, Brian A. ; Loch, Stephen G. ; Mowat, Mary ; Turton, Jon ; Pattabhi Rama Rao, Eluri ; Ravichandran, M. ; Freeland, Howard ; Gaboury, Isabelle ; Gilbert, Denis ; Greenan, Blair J. W. ; Ouellet, Mathieu ; Ross, Tetjana ; Tran, Anh ; Dong, Mingmei ; Liu, Zenghong ; Xu, Jianping ; Kang, KiRyong ; Jo, HyeongJun ; Kim, Sung-Dae ; Park, Hyuk-Min
    In the past two decades, the Argo Program has collected, processed, and distributed over two million vertical profiles of temperature and salinity from the upper two kilometers of the global ocean. A similar number of subsurface velocity observations near 1,000 dbar have also been collected. This paper recounts the history of the global Argo Program, from its aspiration arising out of the World Ocean Circulation Experiment, to the development and implementation of its instrumentation and telecommunication systems, and the various technical problems encountered. We describe the Argo data system and its quality control procedures, and the gradual changes in the vertical resolution and spatial coverage of Argo data from 1999 to 2019. The accuracies of the float data have been assessed by comparison with high-quality shipboard measurements, and are concluded to be 0.002°C for temperature, 2.4 dbar for pressure, and 0.01 PSS-78 for salinity, after delayed-mode adjustments. Finally, the challenges faced by the vision of an expanding Argo Program beyond 2020 are discussed.
  • Article
    Continuous, array-based estimates of Atlantic Ocean heat transport at 26.5°N
    (American Meteorological Society, 2011-05-15) Johns, William E. ; Baringer, Molly O. ; Beal, Lisa M. ; Cunningham, S. A. ; Kanzow, Torsten ; Bryden, Harry L. ; Hirschi, J. J. M. ; Marotzke, J. ; Meinen, Christopher S. ; Shaw, B. ; Curry, Ruth G.
    Continuous estimates of the oceanic meridional heat transport in the Atlantic are derived from the Rapid Climate Change–Meridional Overturning Circulation (MOC) and Heatflux Array (RAPID–MOCHA) observing system deployed along 26.5°N, for the period from April 2004 to October 2007. The basinwide meridional heat transport (MHT) is derived by combining temperature transports (relative to a common reference) from 1) the Gulf Stream in the Straits of Florida; 2) the western boundary region offshore of Abaco, Bahamas; 3) the Ekman layer [derived from Quick Scatterometer (QuikSCAT) wind stresses]; and 4) the interior ocean monitored by “endpoint” dynamic height moorings. The interior eddy heat transport arising from spatial covariance of the velocity and temperature fields is estimated independently from repeat hydrographic and expendable bathythermograph (XBT) sections and can also be approximated by the array. The results for the 3.5 yr of data thus far available show a mean MHT of 1.33 ± 0.40 PW for 10-day-averaged estimates, on which time scale a basinwide mass balance can be reasonably assumed. The associated MOC strength and variability is 18.5 ± 4.9 Sv (1 Sv ≡ 106 m3 s−1). The continuous heat transport estimates range from a minimum of 0.2 to a maximum of 2.5 PW, with approximately half of the variance caused by Ekman transport changes and half caused by changes in the geostrophic circulation. The data suggest a seasonal cycle of the MHT with a maximum in summer (July–September) and minimum in late winter (March–April), with an annual range of 0.6 PW. A breakdown of the MHT into “overturning” and “gyre” components shows that the overturning component carries 88% of the total heat transport. The overall uncertainty of the annual mean MHT for the 3.5-yr record is 0.14 PW or about 10% of the mean value.
  • Preprint
    Changes in ocean heat, carbon content, and ventilation : a review of the first decade of GO-SHIP Global Repeat Hydrography
    ( 2015-05-30) Talley, Lynne D. ; Feely, Richard A. ; Sloyan, Bernadette M. ; Wanninkhof, Rik ; Baringer, Molly O. ; Bullister, John L. ; Carlson, Craig A. ; Doney, Scott C. ; Fine, Rana A. ; Firing, Eric ; Gruber, Nicolas ; Hansell, Dennis A. ; Ishii, Masayoshi ; Johnson, Gregory ; Katsumata, K. ; Key, Robert M. ; Kramp, Martin ; Langdon, Chris ; Macdonald, Alison M. ; Mathis, Jeremy T. ; McDonagh, Elaine L. ; Mecking, Sabine ; Millero, Frank J. ; Mordy, Calvin W. ; Nakano, T. ; Sabine, Chris L. ; Smethie, William M. ; Swift, James H. ; Tanhua, Toste ; Thurnherr, Andreas M. ; Warner, Mark J. ; Zhang, Jia-Zhong
    The ocean, a central component of Earth’s climate system, is changing. Given the global scope of these changes, highly accurate measurements of physical and biogeochemical properties need to be conducted over the full water column, spanning the ocean basins from coast to coast, and repeated every decade at a minimum, with a ship-based observing system. Since the late 1970s, when the Geochemical Ocean Sections Study (GEOSECS) conducted the first global survey of this kind, the World Ocean Circulation Experiment (WOCE) and Joint Global Ocean Flux Study (JGOFS), and now the Global Ocean Ship-based Hydrographic Investigations Program (GO-SHIP) have collected these “reference standard” data that allow quantification of ocean heat and carbon uptake, and variations in salinity, oxygen, nutrients, and acidity on basin scales. The evolving GO-SHIP measurement suite also provides new global information about dissolved organic carbon, a large bioactive reservoir of carbon.
  • Thesis
    Mixing and dynamics of the Mediterranean outflow
    (Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 1993-10) Baringer, Molly O.
    Hydrographic and expendable current profiler (XCP) data taken during the Gulf of Cadiz Expedition in September 1988 are analyzed to diagnose the mixing and dynamics of the Mediterranean outflow. The overall structure of the outflow is consistent with that described in the historical literature (Heezen and Johnson, 1969). This data shows that the overflow transport doubles from .85 Sv to 1.9 Sv, and that the velocity weighted salinity decreases from 37.8 pss to 36.7 pss in the first 60 km of the path. The core salinity of the neutrally buoyant outflow near Cape St. Vincent is 36.6 pss, which indicates that most of the mixing has taken place close to the Strait in the initial descent of the outflow. Cross stream variations in the overflow T/S properties increase as the flow spreads from 10 km to 90 km wide. The outflow begins with less than a 0.5°C across-stream variation in temperature in the Strait with the saltiest, coldest water to the south and slightly fresher and warmer outflow to the north. As the outflow spreads, the northern near-shelf flow follows a path higher in the water column and mixes with warmer North Atlantic water than does the deeper offshore flow. Within the first 100 km, the cross stream variation in temperature on an isopycnal becomes more than a 2°C. The flow eventually settles along two preferred isopycnals: 27.5 and 27.8 (Zenk 1975b). The spreading of the flow contains both a barotropic and baroclinic character. The average change in angle above and below the maximum velocity of the outflow is 8°while at the edges of the flow the average direction of the outflow diverges by as much as 50°. Gradient Richardson numbers less than 1/4 are found in the interface (up to 50 m thick) between westward flowing Mediterranean water and eastward flowing North Atlantic water, even though there is a strong stabilizing stratification present. Bulk Froude numbers greater than 1 are found near the Strait coincident with the vigorous mixing noted above. Lower bulk Froude numbers were observed in regions where less entrainment was taking place. The momentum balances are diagnosed using hydrographic and XCP data. Evaluation of the cross stream momentum balance shows the importance of advection as the flow makes a 90 degree inertial turn upon entering the Gulf of Cadiz. A form of the Bernoulli function can be evaluated to infer the total stress (entrainment and bottom drag) acting on the outflow. This stress is as large as 5 Pa within 20 km of the Strait, while further downstream the stress decreases to about 1/2 Pa. The entrainment stress estimated from the property fluxes reaches a maximum of about 0.8 Pa near section C, indicating that bottom stress is dominant. Near the Strait, advection, bottom drag and the Coriolis force are all critical to the dynamics of the outflow. Further downstream, the outflow becomes a damped geostrophic current. A simple geostrophic adjustment model is used to show that in the absence of frictional stresses, the outflow would very quickly become geostrophically balanced and descend only about 10 m down the continental slope. Thus, friction is critical for the outflow to cross isobaths. A simple numerical model that uses a Froude number dependent entrainment and a quadratic bottom friction law is used to simulate the outflow (Price and Baringer, 1993). Some of the properties of the outflow including localized entrainment, large stresses and high Rossby number of the flow (initially as high as 0.6), are simulated rather well, though the model overestimates the magnitude of the outflow current. We suspect that this is a consequence of assuming a passive ocean. Two different methods for specifying the broadening of the flow are compared: one using the highly parameterized concept of Ekman spreading, the other using the conservation of potential vorticity. The potential vorticity broadening more accurately reproduces the observed width of the flow near Cape St. Vincent where the width varies inversely with the bottom slope. However, both methods produce essentially the same equilibrium temperature, salinity and transport of the outflow which is a testament to the robustness of the model solution. with the formation process of NADW.
  • Article
    Dissipation processes in the Tongue of the Ocean
    (John Wiley & Sons, 2016-05-14) Hooper, James A. ; Baringer, Molly O. ; St. Laurent, Louis C. ; Dewar, William K. ; Nowacek, Douglas P.
    The Tongue of the Ocean (TOTO) region located within the Bahamas archipelago is a relatively understudied region in terms of both its biological and physical oceanographic characteristics. A prey-field mapping cruise took place in the fall between 15 September 2008 and 1 October 2008, consisting of a series of transects and “clovers” to study the spatial and temporal variability. The region is characterized by a deep scattering layer (DSL), which is preyed on by nekton that serves as the food for beaked whale and other whale species. This study marks the first of its kind where concurrent measurements of acoustic backscatter and turbulence have been conducted for a nekton scattering layer well below the euphotic zone. Turbulence data collected from a Deep Microstructure Profiler are compared to biological and shear data collected by a 38 kHz Simrad EK 60 echo sounder and a hydrographic Doppler sonar system, respectively. From these measurements, the primary processes responsible for the turbulent production in the TOTO region are assessed. The DSL around 500 m and a surface scattering layer (SSL) are investigated for raised ε values. Strong correlation between turbulence levels and scattering intensity of prey is generally found in the SSL with dissipation levels as large as ∼10−7 W kg−1, 3 orders of magnitude above background levels. In the DSL and during the diel vertical migration, dissipation levels ∼10−8 W kg−1 were observed.
  • Article
    Global perspectives on observing ocean boundary current systems
    (Frontiers Media, 2019-08-08) Todd, Robert E. ; Chavez, Francisco P. ; Clayton, Sophie A. ; Cravatte, Sophie ; Goes, Marlos Pereira ; Graco, Michelle ; Lin, Xiaopei ; Sprintall, Janet ; Zilberman, Nathalie ; Archer, Matthew ; Arístegui, Javier ; Balmaseda, Magdalena A. ; Bane, John M. ; Baringer, Molly O. ; Barth, John A. ; Beal, Lisa M. ; Brandt, Peter ; Calil, Paulo H. R. ; Campos, Edmo ; Centurioni, Luca R. ; Chidichimo, Maria Paz ; Cirano, Mauro ; Cronin, Meghan F. ; Curchitser, Enrique N. ; Davis, Russ E. ; Dengler, Marcus ; deYoung, Brad ; Dong, Shenfu ; Escribano, Ruben ; Fassbender, Andrea ; Fawcett, Sarah E. ; Feng, Ming ; Goni, Gustavo J. ; Gray, Alison R. ; Gutiérrez, Dimitri ; Hebert, Dave ; Hummels, Rebecca ; Ito, Shin-ichi ; Krug, Marjolaine ; Lacan, Francois ; Laurindo, Lucas ; Lazar, Alban ; Lee, Craig M. ; Lengaigne, Matthieu ; Levine, Naomi M. ; Middleton, John ; Montes, Ivonne ; Muglia, Michael ; Nagai, Takeyoshi ; Palevsky, Hilary I. ; Palter, Jaime B. ; Phillips, Helen E. ; Piola, Alberto R. ; Plueddemann, Albert J. ; Qiu, Bo ; Rodrigues, Regina ; Roughan, Moninya ; Rudnick, Daniel L. ; Rykaczewski, Ryan R. ; Saraceno, Martin ; Seim, Harvey E. ; Sen Gupta, Alexander ; Shannon, Lynne ; Sloyan, Bernadette M. ; Sutton, Adrienne J. ; Thompson, LuAnne ; van der Plas, Anja K. ; Volkov, Denis L. ; Wilkin, John L. ; Zhang, Dongxiao ; Zhang, Linlin
    Ocean boundary current systems are key components of the climate system, are home to highly productive ecosystems, and have numerous societal impacts. Establishment of a global network of boundary current observing systems is a critical part of ongoing development of the Global Ocean Observing System. The characteristics of boundary current systems are reviewed, focusing on scientific and societal motivations for sustained observing. Techniques currently used to observe boundary current systems are reviewed, followed by a census of the current state of boundary current observing systems globally. The next steps in the development of boundary current observing systems are considered, leading to several specific recommendations.