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Abstract:
The ocean’s densest water mass, Antarctic Bottom Water, is an important component of the global climate system. Forming near the Antarctic coast before spreading into the depths of all major ocean basins, this water mass provides a significant pathway for atmospheric carbon sequestration into the deep ocean. Despite its important role in Earth’s changing climate, harsh conditions and the need for large spatial coverage make in-situ observations challenging. Remote sensing, however, can complement modern efforts to observe Antarctic Bottom Water and other dynamics within the Southern Ocean. Following the theory posed by Walter Munk and Erik Palmén in 1951, modeling studies have verified the unique dynamics in the Southern Ocean in which topographic form stress at ridges and seamounts balance surface wind stresses. Additionally, studies have suggested that ocean bottom pressure observations at bathymetry may be impacted by the geostrophic flow of Antarctic Bottom Water away from its sources (e.g. Stewart and Hogg, 2017). In this study, the Biogeochemical Southern Ocean State Estimate (B-SOSE) is utilized to examine the relationships between wind stress at the ocean’s surface, topographic form stress at rising bathymetry, and Antarctic Bottom Water flowing along the seafloor. Furthermore, it is shown that ocean bottom pressure observations from the gravimetry satellite missions GRACE and GRACE-FO can observe basin-wide topographic form stress and can be used to create a continuous time series of Antarctic Bottom Water transport; providing scientists with a better picture of Antarctic Bottom Water and the part it plays in a changing climate.
