Climate and the Oceans by Vallis Geoffrey K.; Vallis Geoffrey K. K.;

Author:Vallis, Geoffrey K.; Vallis, Geoffrey K. K.;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Published: 2012-03-18T04:00:00+00:00

Figure 5.3. Upper panel: Heat transport in the total atmosphere-ocean system (solid line), in the ocean (dashed line), and in the atmosphere (dotted line). Lower panel: Oceanic heat transport, subdivided into the various basins. Source: Trenberth and Caron, 2004.

As for the ocean overall, and as we might expect, it transports heat poleward in both hemispheres. The transport is associated with a release of heat into the atmosphere at high latitudes, whereas the ocean is being heated by the atmosphere at low latitudes. Measurements show that the release of heat occurs in two primary locations: at the poleward end of western boundary currents, notably in the western Atlantic and western Pacific oceans at about 40° north and south, and at very high latitudes, in particular in the North Atlantic around Greenland. Another notable feature about the ocean transport is that the poleward transport is much larger in the Northern Hemisphere than in the Southern. In fact, if we look at the contributions from the individual basins in the right-hand panel of figure 5.3, we see that the heat transport is northward (that is, toward the equator) in the South Atlantic! Such a transport is quite remarkable, for it implies that the ocean is not being thermally driven by the meridional temperature gradient alone (which would transport heat from hot places to cold places). What could be the driving force? If we recall our discussion of the oceanic meridional circulation in the previous chapter, we won’t be too surprised to discover that it is the wind, but not the wind-driven gyres. Let’s look at the mechanisms of ocean heat transport in a bit more detail and try to sort this out.

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