Increasing Inhomogeneity of the Global Oceans
Abstract The ocean is inhomogeneous in hydrographic properties with diverse water masses. Yet, how this inhomogeneity has evolved in a rapidly changing climate has not been investigated. Using multiple observational and reanalysis datasets, we show that the spatial standard deviation (SSD) of the gl...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Wiley
2022-06-01
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| Series: | Geophysical Research Letters |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1029/2021GL097598 |
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| author | Qiuping Ren Young‐Oh Kwon Jiayan Yang Rui Xin Huang Yuanlong Li Fan Wang |
| author_facet | Qiuping Ren Young‐Oh Kwon Jiayan Yang Rui Xin Huang Yuanlong Li Fan Wang |
| author_sort | Qiuping Ren |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract The ocean is inhomogeneous in hydrographic properties with diverse water masses. Yet, how this inhomogeneity has evolved in a rapidly changing climate has not been investigated. Using multiple observational and reanalysis datasets, we show that the spatial standard deviation (SSD) of the global ocean has increased by 1.4 ± 0.1% in temperature and 1.5 ± 0.1% in salinity since 1960. A newly defined thermohaline inhomogeneity index, a holistic measure of both temperature and salinity changes, has increased by 2.4 ± 0.1%. Climate model simulations suggest that the observed ocean inhomogeneity increase is dominated by anthropogenic forcing and projected to accelerate by 200%–300% during 2015–2100. Geographically, the rapid upper‐ocean warming at mid‐to‐low latitudes dominates the temperature inhomogeneity increase, while the increasing salinity inhomogeneity is mainly due to the amplified salinity contrast between the subtropical and subpolar latitudes. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-e9755d16cf774f9aa8550813c5c7781d |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 0094-8276 1944-8007 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2022-06-01 |
| publisher | Wiley |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Geophysical Research Letters |
| spelling | doaj-art-e9755d16cf774f9aa8550813c5c7781d2025-01-22T14:38:16ZengWileyGeophysical Research Letters0094-82761944-80072022-06-014912n/an/a10.1029/2021GL097598Increasing Inhomogeneity of the Global OceansQiuping Ren0Young‐Oh Kwon1Jiayan Yang2Rui Xin Huang3Yuanlong Li4Fan Wang5CAS Key Laboratory of Ocean Circulation and Waves Institute of Oceanology Chinese Academy of Sciences Qingdao ChinaWoods Hole Oceanographic Institution Woods Hole MA USAWoods Hole Oceanographic Institution Woods Hole MA USAWoods Hole Oceanographic Institution Woods Hole MA USACAS Key Laboratory of Ocean Circulation and Waves Institute of Oceanology Chinese Academy of Sciences Qingdao ChinaCAS Key Laboratory of Ocean Circulation and Waves Institute of Oceanology Chinese Academy of Sciences Qingdao ChinaAbstract The ocean is inhomogeneous in hydrographic properties with diverse water masses. Yet, how this inhomogeneity has evolved in a rapidly changing climate has not been investigated. Using multiple observational and reanalysis datasets, we show that the spatial standard deviation (SSD) of the global ocean has increased by 1.4 ± 0.1% in temperature and 1.5 ± 0.1% in salinity since 1960. A newly defined thermohaline inhomogeneity index, a holistic measure of both temperature and salinity changes, has increased by 2.4 ± 0.1%. Climate model simulations suggest that the observed ocean inhomogeneity increase is dominated by anthropogenic forcing and projected to accelerate by 200%–300% during 2015–2100. Geographically, the rapid upper‐ocean warming at mid‐to‐low latitudes dominates the temperature inhomogeneity increase, while the increasing salinity inhomogeneity is mainly due to the amplified salinity contrast between the subtropical and subpolar latitudes.https://doi.org/10.1029/2021GL097598global oceantemperaturesalinityspatial inhomogeneityclimate change |
| spellingShingle | Qiuping Ren Young‐Oh Kwon Jiayan Yang Rui Xin Huang Yuanlong Li Fan Wang Increasing Inhomogeneity of the Global Oceans Geophysical Research Letters global ocean temperature salinity spatial inhomogeneity climate change |
| title | Increasing Inhomogeneity of the Global Oceans |
| title_full | Increasing Inhomogeneity of the Global Oceans |
| title_fullStr | Increasing Inhomogeneity of the Global Oceans |
| title_full_unstemmed | Increasing Inhomogeneity of the Global Oceans |
| title_short | Increasing Inhomogeneity of the Global Oceans |
| title_sort | increasing inhomogeneity of the global oceans |
| topic | global ocean temperature salinity spatial inhomogeneity climate change |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1029/2021GL097598 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT qiupingren increasinginhomogeneityoftheglobaloceans AT youngohkwon increasinginhomogeneityoftheglobaloceans AT jiayanyang increasinginhomogeneityoftheglobaloceans AT ruixinhuang increasinginhomogeneityoftheglobaloceans AT yuanlongli increasinginhomogeneityoftheglobaloceans AT fanwang increasinginhomogeneityoftheglobaloceans |