The Indian Ocean Deep Meridional Overturning Circulation in Three Ocean Reanalysis Products

T. Jayasankar, R. Murtugudde, T.I. Eldho*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalLetterpeer-review

7 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The time mean Indian Ocean (IO) deep meridional overturning circulation (MOC) is compared across three ocean reanalysis products (ORAS4, GECCO2, and GFDL). The MOC stream functions obtained by vertically integrating the mass flux across a latitude-depth section in three products are found to be significantly different from each other. Detailed analysis suggests that ORAS4 delivers the best depiction of IO MOC. The inferred IO deep MOC consists of two deep and strong counterclockwise cells located south of 30°S and around 10°S, respectively. The geostrophic component along with the barotropic or external mode dominates the former, and a combination of Ekman and geostrophic components dominates the latter. GECCO2 depicts a steady decline in the northward meridional transport in the bottom layer and a consequent reduction in the MOC strength. The tropical thermocline in GECCO2 responds to this MOC variability leading to rapid and monotonic warming of the tropical IO.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)12146-12155
Number of pages10
JournalGeophysical Research Letters
Volume46
Issue number21
Early online date3 Nov 2019
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 16 Nov 2019
Externally publishedYes

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