Spatial Variations of Antarctic Intermediate Water in the Caribbean Sea Due To Vertical Mixing Along Its Path

Because of its pronounced fresh signature, the properties of the northward-flowing Antarctic Intermediate Water (AAIW) affect the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation. Hence, understanding modifications of AAIW along its path is important. Here, we analyze AAIW changes along its path in the Caribbean Sea and assess whether vertical...

Pathways and watermass transformation of Atlantic Water entering the Nordic Seas through Denmark Strait in two high resolution ocean models

The pathways and watermass transformation of the North Icelandic Irminger Current (NIIC) in the Nordic Seas are investigated by tracing the NIIC watermass in two ocean circulation models: the Modular Ocean Model (MOM) and the Parallel Ocean Program (POP). The two simulations use identical atmospheric forcing and have a horizontal resolution of 0...

Sea-level changes on multiple spatial scales: estimates and contributing processes

Being one of the major consequences of anthropogenic climate change, sea level rise forms a threat for many coastal areas and their inhabitants. Because all processes that cause sea-level changes have a spatially-varying fingerprint, local sea-level changes deviate substantially from the global mean. As a consequence, there is no single location...

Trends and interannual variability of mass and steric sea level in the Tropical Asian Seas

The mass and steric components of sea level changes have been separated in the Tropical Asian Seas (TAS) using a statistically optimal combination of Jason satellite altimetry, GRACE satellite gravimetry, and ocean reanalyses. Using observational uncertainties, statistically optimally weighted time series for both components have been...

Total land water storage change over 2003-2013 estimated from a global mass budget approach

We estimate the total land water storage (LWS) change between 2003 and 2013 using a global water mass budget approach. Hereby we compare the ocean mass change (estimated from GRACE space gravimetry on the one hand, and from the satellite altimetry-based global mean sea level corrected for steric effects on the other hand) to the sum of the...