[1] We present a 53-Myr stack (the “LR04” stack) of benthic δ18O records from 57 globally distributed sites aligned by an automated graphic correlation algorithm This is the first benthic δ18O stack composed of more than three records to extend beyond 850 ka, and we use its improved signal quality to identify 24 new marine isotope stages in the early Pliocene We also present a new LR04 age model for the Pliocene-Pleistocene derived from tuning the δ18O stack to a simple ice model based on 21 June insolation at 65°N Stacked sedimentation rates provide additional age model constraints to prevent overtuning Despite a conservative tuning strategy, the LR04 benthic stack exhibits significant coherency with insolation in the obliquity band throughout the entire 53 Myr and in the precession band for more than half of the record The LR04 stack contains significantly more variance in benthic δ18O than previously published stacks of the late Pleistocene as the result of higher-resolution records, a better alignment technique, and a greater percentage of records from the Atlantic Finally, the relative phases of the stack's 41- and 23-kyr components suggest that the precession component of δ18O from 27–16 Ma is primarily a deep-water temperature signal and that the phase of δ18O precession response changed suddenly at 16 Ma

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A Pliocene-Pleistocene stack of 57 globally distributed benthic δ18O records

Cause, conseguenze e strategie di mitigazione Proponiamo il primo di una serie di articoli in cui affronteremo l’attuale problema dei mutamenti climatici. Presentiamo il documento redatto, votato e pubblicato dall’Ipcc - Comitato intergovernativo sui cambiamenti climatici - che illustra la sintesi delle ricerche svolte su questo tema rilevante.

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Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis.

A computationally efficient relocatable system for generalized inverse (GI) modeling of barotropic ocean tides is described. The GI penalty functional is minimized using a representer method, which requires repeated solution of the forward and adjoint linearized shallow water equations (SWEs). To make representer computations efficient, the SWEs are solved in the frequency domain by factoring the coefficient matrix for a finite-difference discretization of the second-order wave equation in elevation. Once this matrix is factored representers can be calculated rapidly. By retaining the first-order SWE system (defined in terms of both elevations and currents) in the definition of the discretized GI penalty functional, complete generality in the choice of dynamical error covariances is retained. This allows rational assumptions about errors in the SWE, with soft momentum balance constraints (e.g., to account for inaccurate parameterization of dissipation), but holds mass conservation constraints. Wh...

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Efficient Inverse Modeling of Barotropic Ocean Tides

A coordinated set of global coupled climate model [atmosphere–ocean general circulation model (AOGCM)] experiments for twentieth- and twenty-first-century climate, as well as several climate change commitment and other experiments, was run by 16 modeling groups from 11 countries with 23 models for assessment in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fourth Assessment Report (AR4). Since the assessment was completed, output from another model has been added to the dataset, so the participation is now 17 groups from 12 countries with 24 models. This effort, as well as the subsequent analysis phase, was organized by the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP) Climate Variability and Predictability (CLIVAR) Working Group on Coupled Models (WGCM) Climate Simulation Panel, and constitutes the third phase of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP3). The dataset is called the WCRP CMIP3 multimodel dataset, and represents the largest and most comprehensive international global coupled climate model experiment and multimodel analysis effort ever attempted. As of March 2007, the Program for Climate Model Diagnostics and Intercomparison (PCMDI) has collected, archived, and served roughly 32 TB of model data. With oversight from the panel, the multimodel data were made openly available from PCMDI for analysis and academic applications. Over 171 TB of data had been downloaded among the more than 1000 registered users to date. Over 200 journal articles, based in part on the dataset, have been published so far. Though initially aimed at the IPCC AR4, this unique and valuable resource will continue to be maintained for at least the next several years. Never before has such an extensive set of climate model simulations been made available to the international climate science community for study. The ready access to the multimodel dataset opens up these types of model analyses to researchers, including students, who previously could not obtain state-of-the-art climate model output, and thus represents a new era in climate change research. As a direct consequence, these ongoing studies are increasing the body of knowledge regarding our understanding of how the climate system currently works, and how it may change in the future.

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THE WCRP CMIP3 Multimodel Dataset: A New Era in Climate Change Research

J+=j

Abyssal recipes II: energetics of tidal and wind mixing

▪ AbstractThe coexistence in the deep ocean of a finite, stable stratification, a strong meridional overturning circulation, and mesoscale eddies raises complex questions concerning the circulation energetics. In particular, small-scale mixing processes are necessary to resupply the potential energy removed in the interior by the overturning and eddy-generating process. A number of lines of evidence, none complete, suggest that the oceanic general circulation, far from being a heat engine, is almost wholly governed by the forcing of the wind field and secondarily by deep water tides. In detail however, the budget of mechanical energy input into the ocean is poorly constrained. The now inescapable conclusion that over most of the ocean significant “vertical” mixing is confined to topographically complex boundary areas implies a potentially radically different interior circulation than is possible with uniform mixing. Whether ocean circulation models, either simple box or full numerical ones, neither explic...

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Vertical mixing, energy, and the general circulation of the oceans

Through its ability to transport large amounts of heat, fresh water and nutrients, the ocean is an essential regulator of climate. The pathways and mechanisms of this transport and its stability are critical issues in understanding the present state of climate and the possibilities of future changes. Recently, global high-quality hydrographic data have been gathered in the World Ocean Circulation Experiment (WOCE), to obtain an accurate picture of the present circulation. Here we combine the new data from high-resolution trans-oceanic sections and current meters with climatological wind fields, biogeochemical balances and improved a priori error estimates in an inverse model, to improve estimates of the global circulation and heat fluxes. Our solution resolves globally vertical mixing across surfaces of equal density, with coefficients in the range (3-12) x 10(-4) m2 s(-1). Net deep-water production rates amount to (15 +/- 12) x 10(6) m3 s(-1) in the North Atlantic Ocean and (21 +/- 6) x 10(6) m3 s(-1) in the Southern Ocean. Our estimates provide a new reference state for future climate studies with rigorous estimates of the uncertainties.

Improved estimates of global ocean circulation, heat transport and mixing from hydrographic data

The ocean circulation is a cause and consequence of fluid scale interactions ranging from millimeters to more than 10,000 km. Although the wind field produces a large energy input to the ocean, all but approximately 10% appears to be dissipated within about 100 m of the sea surface, rendering observations of the energy divergence necessary to maintain the full water-column flow difficult. Attention thus shifts to the physically different kinetic energy (KE) reservoirs of the circulation and their maintenance, dissipation, and possible influence on the very small scales representing irreversible molecular mixing. Oceanic KE is dominated by the geostrophic eddy field, and depending on the vertical structure (barotropic versus low-mode baroclinic), direct and inverse energy cascades are possible. The pathways toward dissipation of the dominant geostrophic eddy KE depend crucially on the direction of the cascade but are difficult to quantify because of serious observational difficulties for wavelengths shorte...

Ocean Circulation Kinetic Energy: Reservoirs, Sources, and Sinks

The movement of oceanic water has important consequences for a variety of applications, such as climate change, biological productivity, sea-level change, weather forecasting, and many others. This book addresses the problem of inferring the state of the ocean circulation, understanding it dynamically, and even forecasting it through a quantitative combination of theory and observation. It focuses on so-called inverse methods and related methods of statistical inference. Both time-independent and time-dependent problems are considered, including Gauss-Markov estimation, sequential estimators and adjoint/Pontryagin principle methods. This book is intended for use as a graduate level text for students of oceanography and other related fields. It will also be of interest to working physical oceanographers.

Carl Wunsch

Papers

Abyssal recipes II: energetics of tidal and wind mixing

Vertical mixing, energy, and the general circulation of the oceans

Improved estimates of global ocean circulation, heat transport and mixing from hydrographic data

Ocean Circulation Kinetic Energy: Reservoirs, Sources, and Sinks

The Ocean Circulation Inverse Problem