Explaining the large increase in ocean heat content in the southern hemisphere oceans

A study based on previous Argo float deployments, published in Nature Climate Change (Gao et al., 2017), shows that wind-driven changes in formation and subduction of Subantarctic Mode Water in the Southern Ocean can explain the large increase in ocean heat content in the southern hemisphere oceans.  Further details at: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-017-0022-8.

Fig. 1: Horizontal distribution and seasonal cycle. a, Horizontal distribution of the mean thickness of the SAMW layer. Cyan, blue and green lines represent the STF, SAF and PF, respectively, the front positions are from a previous study²³. Gray shading shows the winter outcrop region of the SAMW layer. b, Seasonal cycle of buoyancy forcing (red) and wind stress curl anomaly (blue, climatological mean is subtracted) averaged over the winter outcrop region of SAMW (where SAMW is formed). c, Seasonal cycle of the potential density section over the region where SAMW is present (the isopycnals used to define the density range of SAMW are shown) (Gao et al., 2017)