Meeting Documents

Regional Earth Energy Imbalance and Marine Heat Waves in the Sunlit Ocean Layer

Abstract

There is clear evidence that upper ocean layers are already showing effects of climate change. However, we lack a quantitative understanding of how far from equilibrium the sunlit ocean layer is on a regional basis, how fast it is evolving with regard to mechanisms that control heat storage and stratification, and where it may be nearing a tipping point. The 0-200m layer is not only the conduit for heat uptake from the Atmosphere but also the layer where life is abundant, water masses get transformed, and important climate feedbacks are enabled. As a result, climate science and oceanography need to focus on this layer in order to help anticipate and curtail the effects of climate change in the coming decades. Here we present an ensemble estimate for the Regional Earth Energy Imbalance (REEI) over the Sunlit Ocean Layer (SOL). This allows us to highlight robust signals across reanalyses products, whether they use a dynamical model or not, over the Argo period and even before. To complement our uncertainty quantification we introduce new geospatial statistics derived from in situ data collections and satellite SST. Finally, we present a complete budget estimate for REEI in the SOL over the past decades, using the ECCO reanalysis. This provides a new perspective on surface intensified marine heat waves and their evlolution under global warming.View Document (AGU) »