EAS Fall 2018 Seminar Series Presents: Dr. Sarah Purkey, Scripps Institution of Oceanography

New Insight into Deep Ocean Warming from Tracer Data and Another Decade of Repeat Hydrography

Previous comparisons of repeated hydrographic sections between the 1990s and 2000s revealed a global pattern of deep and abyssal ocean warming in regions of the ocean fed by dense waters of Southern Origin.  However, the mechanisms driving the deep warming are still poorly understood.  First, I will use new data to present updated deep ocean warming rates in the Pacific and present new insight through a deep ocean heat budget.  Second, I will show how transient tracers can be used to explore deep circulation and detect decreases in ventilation rates of Antarctic Bottom Water in the Pacific sector of the Southern Ocean, possibly driving the observed abyssal warming.