HR: 18:05h
AN: OS24A-07    [Abstracts]
TI: The Meridional Heat Transport in the South Atlantic Ocean
AU: * Baringer, M
EM: molly.baringer@noaa.gov
AF: NOAA/AOML, 4301 Rickenbacker Causeway, Miami, FL 33149, United States
AU: Garzoli, S L
EM: siliva.garzoli@noaa.gov
AF: NOAA/AOML, 4301 Rickenbacker Causeway, Miami, FL 33149, United States
AB: Fourteen temperature sections collected between July 2002 and May 2006 are analyzed to obtain estimates of the meridional heat transport variability of the South Atlantic Ocean. A methodology proposed by Baringer and Garzoli (2007) is used to calculate the heat transport from temperature data obtained from high-density XBT profiles taken along transects from Cape Town, South Africa to Buenos Aires, Argentina. Salinity is estimated from Argo profiles and CTD casts for each XBT temperature observation using statistical relationships between temperature, latitude, longitude and salinity computed along constant depth surfaces. Full-depth temperature/salinity profiles are obtained by extending the profiles to the bottom of the ocean using deep climatological data. The meridional transport is then determined by using the standard geostrophic method, applying NCEP-derived Ekman transports, and requiring that the salt flux through the Bering Straits is conserved. The results from the analysis indicate a mean meridional heat transport of 0.54 PW (PW = 10¹⁵ Watts) with a standard deviation of 0.11 PW. The geostrophic component of the heat flux has a marked annual cycle following the variability of the Brazil Malvinas Confluence Front, and the geostrophic annual cycle is 180° out of phase with the annual cycle observed in the Ekman fluxes. As a result, the total heat flux shows significant interannual variability with only a small annual cycle. Uncertainties due to different wind products and locations of the sections are independent of the methodology used.
DE: 4215 Climate and interannual variability (1616, 1635, 3305, 3309, 4513)
DE: 4262 Ocean observing systems
DE: 4532 General circulation (1218, 1222)
SC: Ocean Sciences [OS]
MN: 2007 Joint Assembly