Identification

Title

Frequency dependence of ocean kinetic energy and respective changes over the period 1983–2018

Abstract

Regional horizontal and vertical patterns of ocean kinetic energy (KE) during 1983-2018 are studied using a numerical simulation. The analysis is focused on time-mean and transient components of KE. For understanding its contribution to the total as function of timescale, the transient part is further sub-divided into six frequency bands, with periods >16 months, 16-8 months, 8-4 months, 4-1 months, 1 month-5 days and <5 days. Near the surface, besides intensification due to wind-forced generation, transient KE is enhanced in boundary currents, in equatorial wave guides and in the Southern Ocean. In the deep, KE is enhanced in re-circulation regions under boundary currents and at eastern sides of topographic ridges. On scales <5 days it is enhanced over shelf and in quiet ocean interior areas. The largest fraction of transient energy resides in the eddy-populated band 1 week-4 months. Decadal changes of KE are associated with mean flow variations and changes on inter- and intra-annual periods, especially in the Atlantic and Southern Oceans. Changes in the subpolar Atlantic are correlated with the North Atlantic Oscillation and in the Southern Ocean with the Southern Annular Mode. A decrease/increase in Atlantic/Pacific KE is noticed over the investigated period. Trends are found in the Gulf Stream, Kuroshio Current and along the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, which shows an increase in mean and transient energy in the Indian/west Pacific sectors and a decrease in the Atlantic sector. The strong variations between decades suggest that trends are part of multi-decadal variability.

Resource type

document

Resource locator

Unique resource identifier

code

https://n2t.org/ark:/85065/d78919zc

codeSpace

Dataset language

eng

Spatial reference system

code identifying the spatial reference system

Classification of spatial data and services

Topic category

geoscientificInformation

Keywords

Keyword set

keyword value

Text

originating controlled vocabulary

title

Resource Type

reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2016-01-01T00:00:00Z

Geographic location

West bounding longitude

East bounding longitude

North bounding latitude

South bounding latitude

Temporal reference

Temporal extent

Begin position

End position

Dataset reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2023-12-01T00:00:00Z

Frequency of update

Quality and validity

Lineage

Conformity

Data format

name of format

version of format

Constraints related to access and use

Constraint set

Use constraints

Limitations on public access

None

Responsible organisations

Responsible party

contact position

OpenSky Support

organisation name

UCAR/NCAR - Library

full postal address

PO Box 3000

Boulder

80307-3000

email address

opensky@ucar.edu

web address

http://opensky.ucar.edu/

name: homepage

responsible party role

pointOfContact

Metadata on metadata

Metadata point of contact