Show simple item record

contributor authorSu, Zhan
contributor authorIngersoll, Andrew P.
contributor authorStewart, Andrew L.
contributor authorThompson, Andrew F.
date accessioned2017-06-09T17:21:00Z
date available2017-06-09T17:21:00Z
date copyright2016/04/01
date issued2016
identifier issn0022-3670
identifier otherams-83632.pdf
identifier urihttp://onlinelibrary.yabesh.ir/handle/yetl/4226879
description abstracthermobaric convection (type II convection) and thermobaric cabbeling (type III convection) might substantially contribute to vertical mixing, vertical heat transport, and deep-water formation in the World Ocean. However, the extent of this contribution remains poorly constrained. The concept of ocean convective available potential energy (OCAPE), the thermobaric energy source for type II and type III convection, is introduced to improve the diagnosis and prediction of these convection events. OCAPE is analogous to atmospheric CAPE, which is a key energy source for atmospheric moist convection and has long been used to forecast moist convection. OCAPE is the potential energy (PE) stored in an ocean column arising from thermobaricity, defined as the difference between the PE of the ocean column and its minimum possible PE under adiabatic vertical parcel rearrangements. An ocean column may be stably stratified and still have nonzero OCAPE. The authors present an efficient strategy for computing OCAPE accurately for any given column of seawater. They further derive analytical expressions for OCAPE for approximately two-layer ocean columns that are widely observed in polar oceans. This elucidates the dependence of OCAPE on key physical parameters. Hydrographic profiles from the winter Weddell Sea are shown to contain OCAPE (0.001?0.01 J kg?1), and scaling analysis suggests that OCAPE may be substantially enhanced by wintertime surface buoyancy loss. The release of this OCAPE may substantially contribute to the kinetic energy of deep convection in polar oceans.
publisherAmerican Meteorological Society
titleOcean Convective Available Potential Energy. Part I: Concept and Calculation
typeJournal Paper
journal volume46
journal issue4
journal titleJournal of Physical Oceanography
identifier doi10.1175/JPO-D-14-0155.1
journal fristpage1081
journal lastpage1096
treeJournal of Physical Oceanography:;2016:;Volume( 046 ):;issue: 004
contenttypeFulltext


Files in this item

Thumbnail

This item appears in the following Collection(s)

Show simple item record