The de-correlation of westerly winds and westerly-wind stress over the Southern Ocean during the Last Glacial Maximum

Journal Article · Sun Feb 22 04:00:00 EST 2015 · Climate Dynamics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-015-2530-4· OSTI ID:1233769

Liu, Wei; Lu, Jian; Leung, Lai-Yung R.; Xie, Shang-Ping; Liu, Zhengyu; Zhu, Jiang

This paper investigates the changes of the Southern Westerly Winds (SWW) and Southern Ocean (SO) upwelling between the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) and preindustrial (PI) in the PMIP3/CMIP5 simulations, highlighting the role of the Antarctic sea ice in modulating the wind stress effect on the ocean. Particularly, a discrepancy may occur between the changes in SWW and westerly wind stress, caused primarily by an equatorward expansion of winter Antarctic sea ice that undermines the wind stress in driving the liquid ocean. Such discrepancy may reflect the LGM condition in reality, in view of that the model simulates this condition has most credible simulation of modern SWW and Antarctic sea ice. The effect of wind stress on the SO upwelling is further explored via the wind-induced Ekman pumping, which is reduced under the LGM condition in all models, in part by the sea-ice “capping” effect present in the models.

• Research Organization: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (US)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• DOE Contract Number: AC05-76RL01830
• OSTI ID: 1233769
• Report Number(s): PNNL-SA-101878; KP1703010
• Journal Information: Climate Dynamics, Journal Name: Climate Dynamics Journal Issue: 11 Vol. 45; ISSN 0930-7575
• Publisher: Springer-Verlag
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

Antarctic sea ice
southern westerly winds
upwelling