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  • Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research & German Society of Polar Research
  • American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
  • American Meteorological Society
  • 2010-2014  (10,858)
  • 1950-1954  (1,014)
  • 1920-1924
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  • 1
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    Sensitivity of Tropical Cyclone Rainfall to Idealized Global Scale Forcings (2014)
    American Meteorological Society
    Details
    Publication Date: 2020-11-18
    Description: Heavy rainfall and flooding associated with tropical cyclones (TCs) are responsible for a large number of fatalities and economic damage worldwide. Despite their large socio-economic impacts, research into heavy rainfall and flooding associated with TCs has received limited attention to date, and still represents a major challenge. Our capability to adapt to future changesin heavy rainfall and flooding associated with TCs is inextricably linked to and informed by ourunderstanding of the sensitivity of TC rainfall to likely future forcing mechanisms. Here we use a set of idealized high-resolution atmospheric model experiments produced as part of the U.S. CLIVAR Hurricane Working Group activity to examine TC response to idealized global-scale perturbations: the doubling of CO2, uniform 2K increases in global sea surface temperature(SST), and their combined impact. As a preliminary but key step, daily rainfall patterns ofcomposite TCs within climate model outputs are first compared and contrasted to the observational records. To assess similarities and differences across different regions in response to the warming scenarios, analyses are performed at the global and hemispheric scales and in six global TC ocean basins. The results indicate a reduction in TC daily precipitation rates in the doubling CO2 scenario (on the order of 5% globally), and an increase in TC rainfall rates associated with a uniform increase of 2K in SST (both alone and in combination with CO2 doubling; on the order of 10-20% globally).
    Description: Published
    Description: 4622–4641
    Description: 4A. Clima e Oceani
    Description: JCR Journal
    Description: open
    Keywords: tropical cyclones ; precipitation ; rainfall ; extreme events ; 01. Atmosphere::01.01. Atmosphere::01.01.02. Climate
    Repository Name: Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV)
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  • 2
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    Hurricanes and climate: the U.S. CLIVAR working group on hurricanes (2014)
    American Meteorological Society
    Details
    Publication Date: 2021-06-16
    Description: While a quantitative climate theory of tropical cyclone formation remains elusive, considerable progress has been made recently in our ability to simulate tropical cyclone climatologies and understand the relationship between climate and tropical cyclone formation. Climate models are now able to simulate a realistic rate of global tropical cyclone formation, although simulation of the Atlantic tropical cyclone climatology remains challenging unless horizontal resolutions finer than 50 km are employed. This article summarizes published research from the idealized experiments of the Hurricane Working Group of U.S. CLIVAR (CLImate VARiability and predictability of the ocean-atmosphere system). This work, combined with results from other model simulations, has strengthened relationships between tropical cyclone formation rates and climate variables such as mid-tropospheric vertical velocity, with decreased climatological vertical velocities leading to decreased tropical cyclone formation. Systematic differences are shown between experiments in which only sea surface temperature is increased versus experiments where only atmospheric carbon dioxide is increased, with the carbon dioxide experiments more likely to demonstrate the decrease in tropical cyclone numbers previously shown to be a common response of climate models in a warmer climate. Experiments where the two effects are combined also show decreases in numbers, but these tend to be less for models that demonstrate a strong tropical cyclone response to increased sea surface temperatures. Further experiments are proposed that may improve our understanding of the relationship between climate and tropical cyclone formation, including experiments with two-way interaction between the ocean and the atmosphere and variations in atmospheric aerosols.
    Description: Published
    Description: 997–1017
    Description: 4A. Clima e Oceani
    Description: JCR Journal
    Description: restricted
    Keywords: tropical cyclones ; hurricanes ; climate change ; CLIVAR ; 01. Atmosphere::01.01. Atmosphere::01.01.02. Climate
    Repository Name: Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV)
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  • 3
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    An Energy Compartment Model for Propagation, Nonlinear Interaction, and Dissipation of Internal Gravity Waves (2014)
    American Meteorological Society
    In:  EPIC3Journal of Physical Oceanography, American Meteorological Society, 44(8), pp. 2093-2106, ISSN: 0022-3670
    Details
    Publication Date: 2019-07-16
    Description: The recently proposed Internal Wave Dissipation, Energy and Mixing (IDEMIX) model, describing the propagation and dissipation of internal gravity waves in the ocean, is extended. Compartments describing the energy contained in the internal tides and the near-inertial waves at low, vertical wavenumber are added to a compartment of the wave continuum at higher wavenumbers. Conservation equations for each compartment are derived based on integrated versions of the radiative transfer equation of weakly interacting waves. The compartments interact with each other by the scattering of tidal energy to the wave continuum by triad wave– wave interactions, which are strongly enhanced equatorward of 288 due to parametric subharmonic instability of the tide and by scattering to the continuum of both tidal and near-inertial wave energy over rough topography and at continental margins. Global numerical simulations of the resulting model using observed stratification, forcing functions, and bottom topography yield good agreement with available observations.
    Repository Name: EPIC Alfred Wegener Institut
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  • 4
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    Polarforschung, Issues in low resolution (2014)
    Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research & German Society of Polar Research
    In:  EPIC3Polarforschung, Bremerhaven, Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research & German Society of Polar Research, ISSN: 00322490
    Details
    Publication Date: 2019-07-17
    Repository Name: EPIC Alfred Wegener Institut
    Type: "Polarforschung" , peerRev
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  • 5
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    Modeled Trends in Antarctic Sea Ice Thickness (2014)
    American Meteorological Society
    In:  EPIC3Journal of Climate, American Meteorological Society, 27(10), pp. 3784-3801, ISSN: 0894-8755
    Details
    Publication Date: 2014-05-15
    Description: Unlike the rapid sea ice losses reported in the Arctic, satellite observations show an overall increase in Antarctic sea ice concentration over recent decades. However, observations of decadal trends in Antarctic ice thickness, and hence ice volume, do not currently exist. In this study a model of the Southern Ocean and its sea ice, forced by atmospheric reanalyses, is used to assess 1992–2010 trends in ice thickness and volume. The model successfully reproduces observations of mean ice concentration, thickness, and drift, and decadal trends in ice concentration and drift, imparting some confidence in the hindcasted trends in ice thickness. The model suggests that overall Antarctic sea ice volume has increased by approximately 30 km3 yr−1 (0.4% yr−1) as an equal result of areal expansion (20 × 103 km2 yr−1 or 0.2% yr−1) and thickening (1.5 mm yr−1 or 0.2% yr−1). This ice volume increase is an order of magnitude smaller than the Arctic decrease, and about half the size of the increased freshwater supply from the Antarctic Ice Sheet. Similarly to the observed ice concentration trends, the small overall increase in modeled ice volume is actually the residual of much larger opposing regional trends. Thickness changes near the ice edge follow observed concentration changes, with increasing concentration corresponding to increased thickness. Ice thickness increases are also found in the inner pack in the Amundsen and Weddell Seas, where the model suggests that observed ice-drift trends directed toward the coast have caused dynamical thickening in autumn and winter. Modeled changes are predominantly dynamic in origin in the Pacific sector and thermodynamic elsewhere.
    Repository Name: EPIC Alfred Wegener Institut
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  • 6
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    Intense precipitation events associated with landfalling tropical cyclones in response to a warmer climate and increased CO2 (2014)
    American Meteorological Society
    Details
    Publication Date: 2017-04-04
    Description: In this work the authors investigate possible changes in the intensity of rainfall events associated 28with tropical cyclones (TCs) under idealized forcing scenarios, including a uniformly warmer climate, with a special focus on landfalling storms. A new set of experiments designed within the U.S. CLIVAR Hurricane Working Group allows disentangling the relative role of changes in atmospheric carbon dioxide from that played by sea surface temperature (SST) in changing theamount of precipitation associated with TCs in a warmer world. Compared to the present day simulation, we found an increase in TC precipitation under the scenarios involving SST increases. On the other hand, in a CO2 doubling-only scenario, the changes in TC rainfall are small and we found that, on average, TC rainfall tends to decrease compared to the present day climate. The results of this study highlight the contribution of landfalling TCs to the projected increase in theprecipitation changes affecting the tropical coastal regions.
    Description: Published
    Description: 4642–4654
    Description: 4A. Clima e Oceani
    Description: JCR Journal
    Description: open
    Keywords: tropical cyclones ; precipitation ; extreme events ; 01. Atmosphere::01.01. Atmosphere::01.01.02. Climate
    Repository Name: Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV)
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  • 7
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    The Halting Effect of Baroclinicity in Vortex Merging (2014)
    American Meteorological Society
    Details
    Publication Date: 2017-04-04
    Description: We study the quasi-geostrophic merging dynamics of axisymmetric baroclinic vortices to understand how baroclinicity affects merging rates and the development of the nonlinear cascade of enstrophy. The initial vortices are taken to simulate closely the horizontal' and vertical structure of Gulf Stream rings. A quasigeostrophic model is set with a horizontal resolution of 9 km and 6 vertical levels to resolve the mean stratification of the Gulf Stream region. The results show that the baroclinic merging is slower than the purely barotropic process, The merging is shown to occur in two phases: the tirst, which produces clove-shaped vortices and diffusive mixing of vorticity contours; and the second, which consists of the sliding of the remaining vorticity cores with a second diffusive mixing of the intemal vorticity field. Comparison among Nof, Cushman-Roisin, Polvani et al, and Dewar and Killworth merging events indicates a substantial agreement in the kinematics of the DYOCRSS. Parameter sensitivity experiments show that the decrease of the baroclinicity parameter of the system, Γ^2, [defined as Γ^2 = (D^2 fo^2)/ (No^2 H^2)], increases the speed of merging while its increase slows down the merging. However, the halting elfect of baroclinicity (large Γ^2 or small Rossby radii of deformation) reaches a saturation level where the merging becomes insensitive to larger F2 values. Furthermore, we show that a regime of small Γ^2 exists at which the merged baroclinic vortex is unstable (metastable) and breaks again into two new vortices, Thus, in the baroelinic case the range of Γ^2 detemines the stability of the merged vortex. We analyze these results by local energy and vorticity balances, showing that the horizontal divergence of pressure work term [∇ *(pv)] and the relative-vorticity advection term (v * ∇ (∇ ^2 φ) trigger the merging during the first phase. Due to this horizontal redistribution process, a net kinetic to gravitational energy conversion occurs via buoyancy work in the region external to the cores of the vortices. The second phase of merging is dominated by a direct baroclinic conversion of available gravitational energy into kinetic energy, which in tum triggers a horizontal energy redistribution producing the final fusion of the vortex centers. This energy and vorticity analysis supports the hypothesis that merging is an internal mixing process triggered by a horizontal redistribution of kinetic energy.
    Description: The work has been financed by a grant from the Progetto Finalizzato "Calcolo Parallelo"
    Description: Published
    Description: 1618/1637
    Description: 4A. Clima e Oceani
    Description: JCR Journal
    Description: restricted
    Keywords: Ocean modeling ; Vortex dynamics ; Baroclinicity ; Eddies ; 03. Hydrosphere::03.01. General::03.01.01. Analytical and numerical modeling
    Repository Name: Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV)
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  • 8
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    Tracking Scheme Dependence of Simulated Tropical Cyclone Response to Idealized Climate Simulations (2014)
    American Meteorological Society
    Details
    Publication Date: 2017-04-04
    Description: Future tropical cyclone activity is a topic of great scientific and societal interest. In the absence of a climate theory of tropical cyclogenesis, general circulation models are the primary tool available for investigating the issue. However, the identification of tropical cyclones in model data at moderate resolution is complex, and numerous schemes have been developed for their detection. We here examine the influence of different tracking schemes on detected tropical cyclone activity and responses in the Hurricane Working Group experiments. These are idealized atmospheric general circulation model experiments aimed at determining and distinguishing the effects of increased sea-surface temperature and other increased CO2 effects on tropical cyclone activity. We apply two tracking schemes to these data and also analyze the tracks provided by each modelling group. Our results indicate moderate agreement between the different tracking methods, with some models and experiments showing better agreement across schemes than others. When comparing responses between experiments, we find that much of the disagreement between schemes is due to differences in duration, wind speed, and formation-latitude thresholds. After homogenisation in these thresholds, agreement between different tracking methods is improved. However, much disagreement remains, accountable for by more fundamental differences between the tracking schemes. Our results indicate that sensitivity testing and selection of objective thresholds are the key factors in obtaining meaningful, reproducible results when tracking tropical cyclones in climate model data at these resolutions, but that more fundamental differences between tracking methods can also have a significant impact on the responses in activity detected.
    Description: Published
    Description: 9197–9213
    Description: 4A. Clima e Oceani
    Description: JCR Journal
    Description: restricted
    Keywords: tropical cyclones ; tracking schemes ; climate change ; hurricanes ; 01. Atmosphere::01.01. Atmosphere::01.01.02. Climate
    Repository Name: Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV)
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  • 9
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    On the relevance of mesoscale transport for in-situ energy balance measurements and its partitioning between sensible and latent heat (2014)
    American Meteorological Society
    In:  EPIC321st Symposium on Boundary Layers and Turbulence, Leeds, UK, 2014-06-09-2014-06-13Leeds, American Meteorological Society
    Details
    Publication Date: 2017-10-17
    Description: Mesoscale transport of energy and matter between the surface and the atmosphere often occurs in form of non-propagating organized structures or thermally-induced circulations. Spatially resolving measurements are required to capture such fluxes and, thus far, airborne measurements are the only means to accomplish this. In contrast, tower-based eddy-covariance measurements are conducted at one point and therefore inherently cannot capture the total atmospheric exchange, which is recognized as a major contributor to energy balance closure problems. As long as there are mean vertical thermal and humidity gradients in the Atmospheric Boundary-Layer, with higher potential temperatures and specific humidities in the surface layer as compared with the outer-layer, such organized structures will lead to a systematic underestimation of turbulent energy fluxes from eddy-towers. Firstly, we address the question of how deep such meso-γ scale motions penetrate into the surface layer. We present indications from Doppler-LiDAR, airborne and tower-based measurements, which show that mesoscale motion can indeed be found quite close to the surface, but the mesoscale effect vanishes when measurements are actually conducted within the roughness sublayer and when shear stress is sufficiently large to break up mesoscale contributions into smaller eddies. This will be illustrated by observations from Germany and Israel. Secondly, we investigate whether the common practice of adjusting the measured eddy tower fluxes for energy balance closure by conserving the Bowen ratio is supported by experimental evidence. Mesoscale and small-scale turbulent fluxes from four different flight campaigns are presented, which were carried out on board of the Canadian Twin Otter (National Research Council of Canada) and the German Polar 5 (Alfred-Wegener Institute) research aircraft over different landscapes in Canada and Alaska.
    Repository Name: EPIC Alfred Wegener Institut
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  • 10
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    Recent thermochronological research in northern Victoria Land, Antarctica (2014)
    Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research & German Society of Polar Research
    In:  EPIC3Polarforschung, Bremerhaven, Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research & German Society of Polar Research, 84(1), pp. 59-66, ISSN: 00322490
    Details
    Publication Date: 2019-07-17
    Repository Name: EPIC Alfred Wegener Institut
    Type: "Polarforschung" , peerRev
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  • 11
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    Sedimentological field investigations on Permian deposits (Beacon Supergroup) in northern Victoria Land, Antarctica (2014)
    Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research & German Society of Polar Research
    In:  EPIC3Polarforschung, Bremerhaven, Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research & German Society of Polar Research, 84(1), pp. 49-58, ISSN: 00322490
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    Publication Date: 2019-07-17
    Repository Name: EPIC Alfred Wegener Institut
    Type: "Polarforschung" , peerRev
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  • 12
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    A high resolution aeromagnetic survey over the Mesa Range, northern Victoria Land, Antarctica (2014)
    Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research & German Society of Polar Research
    In:  EPIC3Polarforschung, Bremerhaven, Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research & German Society of Polar Research, 84(1), pp. 1-13, ISSN: 00322490
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    Publication Date: 2019-07-17
    Repository Name: EPIC Alfred Wegener Institut
    Type: "Polarforschung" , peerRev
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  • 13
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    Micro-gravity measurements in northern Victoria Land, Antarctica; as contribution to geodynamic investigations – a feasibility study (2014)
    Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research & German Society of Polar Research
    In:  EPIC3Polarforschung, Bremerhaven, Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research & German Society of Polar Research, 84(1), pp. 15-21, ISSN: 00322490
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    Publication Date: 2019-07-17
    Repository Name: EPIC Alfred Wegener Institut
    Type: "Polarforschung" , peerRev
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  • 14
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    Ocean circulation under globally glaciated Snowball Earth conditions: steady state solutions (2014)
    American Meteorological Society
    In:  EPIC3Journal of Physical Oceanography, American Meteorological Society, 44(1), pp. 24-43, ISSN: 0022-3670
    Details
    Publication Date: 2017-05-30
    Description: Between ~750 to 635 million years ago, during the Neoproterozoic era, the Earth experienced at least two significant, possibly global, glaciations, termed “Snowball Earth”. While many studies have focused on the dynamics and the role of the atmosphere and ice flow over the ocean in these events, only a few have investigated the related associated ocean circulation, and no study has examined the ocean circulation under a thick (~1 km deep) sea-ice cover, driven by geothermal heat flux. Here, we use a thick sea-ice flow model coupled to an ocean general circulation model to study the ocean circulation under Snowball Earth conditions. We first investigate the ocean circulation under simplified zonal symmetry assumption and find (i) strong equatorial zonal jets, and (ii) a strong meridional overturning cell, limited to an area very close to the equator. We derive an analytic approximation for the latitude-depth ocean dynamics and find that the extent of the meridional overturning circulation cell only depends on the horizontal eddy viscosity and β (the change of the Coriolis parameter with latitude). The analytic approximation closely reproduces the numerical results. Three-dimensional ocean simulations, with reconstructed Neoproterozoic continents configuration, confirm the zonally symmetric dynamics, and show additional boundary currents and strong upwelling and downwelling near the continents.
    Repository Name: EPIC Alfred Wegener Institut
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  • 15
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    Strengthening of the Pacific Equatorial Undercurrent in the SODA reanalysis : mechanisms, ocean dynamics, and implications (2014)
    American Meteorological Society
    Details
    Publication Date: 2022-05-25
    Description: Author Posting. © American Meteorological Society, 2014. This article is posted here by permission of American Meteorological Society for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Climate 27 (2014): 2405–2416, doi:10.1175/JCLI-D-13-00359.1.
    Description: Several recent studies utilizing global climate models predict that the Pacific Equatorial Undercurrent (EUC) will strengthen over the twenty-first century. Here, historical changes in the tropical Pacific are investigated using the Simple Ocean Data Assimilation (SODA) reanalysis toward understanding the dynamics and mechanisms that may dictate such a change. Although SODA does not assimilate velocity observations, the seasonal-to-interannual variability of the EUC estimated by SODA corresponds well with moored observations over a ~20-yr common period. Long-term trends in SODA indicate that the EUC core velocity has increased by 16% century−1 and as much as 47% century−1 at fixed locations since the mid-1800s. Diagnosis of the zonal momentum budget in the equatorial Pacific reveals two distinct seasonal mechanisms that explain the EUC strengthening. The first is characterized by strengthening of the western Pacific trade winds and hence oceanic zonal pressure gradient during boreal spring. The second entails weakening of eastern Pacific trade winds during boreal summer, which weakens the surface current and reduces EUC deceleration through vertical friction. EUC strengthening has important ecological implications as upwelling affects the thermal and biogeochemical environment. Furthermore, given the potential large-scale influence of EUC strength and depth on the heat budget in the eastern Pacific, the seasonal strengthening of the EUC may help reconcile paradoxical observations of Walker circulation slowdown and zonal SST gradient strengthening. Such a process would represent a new dynamical “thermostat” on CO2-forced warming of the tropical Pacific Ocean, emphasizing the importance of ocean dynamics and seasonality in understanding climate change projections.
    Description: EJDis supported by NSFGrantsOCE-1031971 and OCE-1233282. KBK is supported by NSF Grant OCE-1233282.
    Description: 2014-09-15
    Keywords: Tropics ; Currents ; Ocean dynamics ; Atmosphere-ocean interaction ; Climate variability ; Reanalysis data
    Repository Name: Woods Hole Open Access Server
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  • 16
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    The Equatorial Undercurrent and TAO sampling bias from a decade at SEA (2014)
    American Meteorological Society
    Details
    Publication Date: 2022-05-25
    Description: Author Posting. © American Meteorological Society, 2014. This article is posted here by permission of American Meteorological Society for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology 21 (2014): 2015–2025, doi:10.1175/JTECH-D-13-00262.1.
    Description: The NOAA Tropical Atmosphere Ocean (TAO) moored array has, for three decades, been a valuable resource for monitoring and forecasting El Niño–Southern Oscillation and understanding physical oceanographic as well as coupled processes in the tropical Pacific influencing global climate. Acoustic Doppler current profiler (ADCP) measurements by TAO moorings provide benchmarks for evaluating numerical simulations of subsurface circulation including the Equatorial Undercurrent (EUC). Meanwhile, the Sea Education Association (SEA) has been collecting data during repeat cruises to the central equatorial Pacific Ocean (160°–126°W) throughout the past decade that provide useful cross validation and quantitative insight into the potential for stationary observing platforms such as TAO to incur sampling biases related to the strength of the EUC. This paper describes some essential sampling characteristics of the SEA dataset, compares SEA and TAO velocity measurements in the vicinity of the EUC, shares new insight into EUC characteristics and behavior only observable in repeat cross-equatorial sections, and estimates the sampling bias incurred by equatorial TAO moorings in their estimates of the velocity and transport of the EUC. The SEA high-resolution ADCP dataset compares well with concurrent TAO measurements (RMSE = 0.05 m s−1; R2 = 0.98), suggests that the EUC core meanders sinusoidally about the equator between ±0.4° latitude, and reveals a mean sampling bias of equatorial measurements (e.g., TAO) of the EUC’s zonal velocity of −0.14 ± 0.03 m s−1 as well as a ~10% underestimation of EUC volume transport. A bias-corrected monthly record and climatology of EUC strength at 140°W for 1990–2010 is presented.
    Description: The authors thank the NSF Physical Oceanography program (OCE-1233282) and the WHOI Academic Programs Office for funding.
    Description: 2015-03-01
    Keywords: Pacific Ocean ; Tropics ; Currents ; Ocean dynamics ; Buoy observations ; Sampling
    Repository Name: Woods Hole Open Access Server
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  • 17
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    Intrinsic nonlinearity and spectral structure of internal tides at an idealized Mid-Atlantic Bight shelf break (2014)
    American Meteorological Society
    Details
    Publication Date: 2022-05-25
    Description: Author Posting. © American Meteorological Society, 2013. This article is posted here by permission of American Meteorological Society for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Physical Oceanography 43 (2013): 2641–2660, doi:10.1175/JPO-D-12-0239.1.
    Description: To quantify dynamical aspects of internal-tide generation at the Mid-Atlantic Bight shelf break, this study employs an idealized ocean model initialized by climatological summertime stratification and forced by monochromatic barotropic tidal currents at the offshore boundary. The Froude number of the scenario is subunity, and the bathymetric slope offshore of the shelf break is supercritical. A barotropic-to-baroclinic energy conversion rate of 335 W m−1 is found, with 14% of the energy locally dissipated through turbulence and bottom friction and 18% radiated onto the shelf. Consistent with prior studies, nonlinear effects result in additional super- and subharmonic internal waves at the shelf break. The subharmonic waves are subinertial, evanescent, and mostly trapped within a narrow beam of internal waves at the forcing frequency. They likely result from nonresonant triad interaction associated with strong nonlinearity. Strong vertical shear associated with the subharmonic waves tends to enhance local energy dissipation and turbulent momentum exchange (TME). A simulation with reduced tidal forcing shows an expected diminished level of harmonic energy. A quasi-linear simulation verifies the role of momentum advection in controlling the relative phases of internal tides and the efficiency of barotropic-to-baroclinic energy conversion. The local TME is tightly coupled with the internal-wave dynamics: for the chosen configuration, neglecting TME causes the internal-wave energy to be overestimated by 12%, and increasing it to high levels damps the waves on the continental shelf. This work implies a necessity to carefully consider nonlinearity and turbulent processes in the calculation of internal tidal waves generated at the shelf break.
    Description: This research was supported by Office of Naval Research Grant N00014-11-1-0701.
    Description: 2014-06-01
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  • 18
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    Northern hemisphere winter atmospheric transient eddy heat fluxes and the Gulf Stream and Kuroshio–Oyashio Extension variability (2014)
    American Meteorological Society
    Details
    Publication Date: 2022-05-25
    Description: Author Posting. © American Meteorological Society, 2013. This article is posted here by permission of American Meteorological Society for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Climate 26 (2013): 9839–9859, doi:10.1175/JCLI-D-12-00647.1.
    Description: Spatial and temporal covariability between the atmospheric transient eddy heat fluxes (i.e., υ′T′ and υ′q′) in the Northern Hemisphere winter (January–March) and the paths of the Gulf Stream (GS), Kuroshio Extension (KE), and Oyashio Extension (OE) are examined based on an atmospheric reanalyses and ocean observations for 1979–2009. For the climatological winter mean, the northward heat fluxes by the synoptic (2–8 days) transient eddies exhibit canonical storm tracks with their maxima collocated with the GS and KE/OE. The intraseasonal (8 days–3 months) counterpart, while having overall similar amplitude, shows a spatial pattern with more localized maxima near the major orography and blocking regions. Lateral heat flux divergence by transient eddies as the sum of the two frequency bands exhibits very close coupling with the exact locations of the ocean fronts. Linear regression is used to examine the lead–lag relationship between interannual changes in the northward heat fluxes by the transient eddies and the meridional changes in the paths of the GS, KE, and OE, respectively. One to three years prior to the northward shifts of each ocean front, the atmospheric storm tracks shift northward and intensify, which is consistent with wind-driven changes of the ocean. Following the northward shifts of the ocean fronts, the synoptic storm tracks weaken in all three cases. The zonally integrated northward heat transport by the synoptic transient eddies increases by ~5% of its maximum mean value prior to the northward shift of each ocean front and decreases to a similar amplitude afterward.
    Description: Support from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Physical Oceanography Program (NNX09AF35G to TJ and Y-OK) and the Department of Energy (DOE) Climate and Environmental Sciences Division (DE-SC0007052 to Y-OK) is gratefully acknowledged.
    Description: 2014-06-15
    Keywords: Atmosphere-ocean interaction ; Eddies ; Energy transport ; Storm tracks ; Heat budgets/fluxes
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  • 19
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    The influence of the AMOC variability on the atmosphere in CCSM3 (2014)
    American Meteorological Society
    Details
    Publication Date: 2022-05-25
    Description: Author Posting. © American Meteorological Society, 2013. This article is posted here by permission of American Meteorological Society for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Climate 26 (2013): 9774–9790, doi:10.1175/JCLI-D-12-00862.1.
    Description: The influence of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) variability on the atmospheric circulation is investigated in a control simulation of the NCAR Community Climate System Model, version 3 (CCSM3), where the AMOC evolves from an oscillatory regime into a red noise regime. In the latter, an AMOC intensification is followed during winter by a positive North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO). The atmospheric response is robust and controlled by AMOC-driven SST anomalies, which shift the heat release to the atmosphere northward near the Gulf Stream/North Atlantic Current. This alters the low-level atmospheric baroclinicity and shifts the maximum eddy growth northward, affecting the storm track and favoring a positive NAO. The AMOC influence is detected in the relation between seasonal upper-ocean heat content or SST anomalies and winter sea level pressure. In the oscillatory regime, no direct AMOC influence is detected in winter. However, an upper-ocean heat content anomaly resembling the AMOC footprint precedes a negative NAO. This opposite NAO polarity seems due to the southward shift of the Gulf Stream during AMOC intensification, displacing the maximum baroclinicity southward near the jet exit. As the mode has somewhat different patterns when using SST, the wintertime impact of the AMOC lacks robustness in this regime. However, none of the signals compares well with the observed influence of North Atlantic SST anomalies on the NAO because SST is dominated in CCSM3 by the meridional shifts of the Gulf Stream/North Atlantic Current that covary with the AMOC. Hence, although there is some potential climate predictability in CCSM3, it is not realistic.
    Description: Support from the NOAA Climate Program Office (Grant Number NA10OAR4310202) and the European Community 7th Framework Programme (FP7 2007-2013) under Grant Agreements GA212643 (THOR) and n.308299 (NACLIM) is gratefully acknowledged.
    Description: 2014-06-15
    Keywords: Atmosphere-ocean interaction ; North Atlantic Oscillation ; Thermohaline circulation ; Decadal variability
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  • 20
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    Long-term observations of turbulent Reynolds sresses over the inner continental shelf (2014)
    American Meteorological Society
    Details
    Publication Date: 2022-05-25
    Description: Author Posting. © American Meteorological Society, 2013. This article is posted here by permission of American Meteorological Society for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Physical Oceanography 43 (2013): 2752–2771, doi:10.1175/JPO-D-12-0153.1.
    Description: In situ observations of turbulent momentum flux, or Reynolds stresses, were estimated from a 10-yr acoustic Doppler current profiler (ADCP) record of inner-shelf velocities at the Martha’s Vineyard Coastal Observatory (MVCO) using recently developed analysis techniques that account for wave-induced biases. These observations were used to examine the vertical structure of stress and turbulent mixing in the coastal ocean during tidal-, wave-, and wind-driven circulation by conditionally averaging the dataset by the level of forcing or stratification present. Bottom-intensified stresses were found during tidally driven flow, having estimated eddy viscosities as high as 1 × 10−2 m−2 s−1 during slack water. An assessment of the mean, low-wave, low-wind stress results quantified the magnitude of an unmeasured body force responsible for the mean circulation present in the absence of wind and wave forcing. During weak stratification and isolated wind forcing, downwind stresses matched the observed wind stress near the surface and generally decreased with depth linearly for both along- and across-shelf wind forcing. While consistent with simple models of circulation during across-shelf wind forcing, the linear slope of the stress profile present during along-shelf wind forcing requires the existence of an along-shelf pressure gradient that scales with the wind forcing. At increased levels of stratification, the observed downwind stresses generally weakened and shifted to the across-wind direction during across-shelf and mixed-direction (i.e., onshore and along shelf) wind forcing consistent with Ekman spiral modification, but were more variable during along-shelf wind forcing. No measurable stresses were found due to wave-forced conditions, confirming previous theoretical results.
    Description: The analysis was funded by the National Science Foundation under Grant OCE#1129348.
    Description: 2014-06-01
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  • 21
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    An inertial model of the interaction of Ekman layers and planetary islands (2014)
    American Meteorological Society
    Details
    Publication Date: 2022-05-25
    Description: Author Posting. © American Meteorological Society, 2013. This article is posted here by permission of American Meteorological Society for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Physical Oceanography 43 (2013): 1398–1406, doi:10.1175/JPO-D-13-028.1.
    Description: An adiabatic, inertial, and quasigeostrophic model is used to discuss the interaction of surface Ekman transport with an island. The theory extends the recent work of Spall and Pedlosky to include an analytical and nonlinear model for the interaction. The presence of an island that interrupts a uniform Ekman layer transport raises interesting questions about the resulting circulation. The consequential upwelling around the island can lead to a local intake of fluid from the geostrophic region beneath the Ekman layer or to a more complex flow around the island in which the fluid entering the Ekman layer on one portion of the island's perimeter is replaced by a flow along the island's boundary from a downwelling region located elsewhere on the island. This becomes especially pertinent when the flow is quasigeostrophic and adiabatic. The oncoming geostrophic flow that balances the offshore Ekman flux is largely diverted around the island, and the Ekman flux is fed by a transfer of fluid from the western to the eastern side of the island. As opposed to the linear, dissipative model described earlier, this transfer takes place even in the absence of a topographic skirt around the island. The principal effect of topography in the inertial model is to introduce an asymmetry between the circulation on the northern and southern sides of the island. The quasigeostrophic model allows a simple solution to the model problem with topography and yet the resulting three-dimensional circulation is surprisingly complex with streamlines connecting each side of the island.
    Description: This research was supported in part by NSF Grant OCE Grant 0925061.
    Keywords: Baroclinic flows ; Large-scale motions ; Nonlinear dynamics ; Ocean circulation ; Ocean dynamics ; Topographic effects
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  • 22
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    Impact of surface forcing on Southern Hemisphere atmospheric blocking in the Australia–New Zealand sector (2014)
    American Meteorological Society
    Details
    Publication Date: 2022-05-25
    Description: Author Posting. © American Meteorological Society, 2013. This article is posted here by permission of American Meteorological Society for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Climate 26 (2013): 8476–8494, doi:10.1175/JCLI-D-12-00860.1.
    Description: Characteristics of atmospheric blocking in the Southern Hemisphere (SH) are explored in atmospheric general circulation model (AGCM) simulations with the Community Atmosphere Model, version 3, with a particular focus on the Australia–New Zealand sector. Preferred locations of blocking in SH observations and the associated seasonal cycle are well represented in the AGCM simulations, but the observed magnitude of blocking is underestimated throughout the year, particularly in late winter and spring. This is related to overly zonal flow due to an enhanced meridional pressure gradient in the model, which results in a decreased amplitude of the longwave trough/ridge pattern. A range of AGCM sensitivity experiments explores the effect on SH blocking of tropical heating, midlatitude sea surface temperatures, and land–sea temperature gradients created over the Australian continent during austral winter. The combined effects of tropical heating and extratropical temperature gradients are further explored in a configuration that is favorable for blocking in the Australia–New Zealand sector with warm SST anomalies to the north of Australia, cold to the southwest of Australia, warm to the southeast, and cool Australian land temperatures. The blocking-favorable configuration indicates a significant strengthening of the subtropical jet and a reduction in midlatitude flow, which results from changes in the thermal wind. While these overall changes in mean climate, predominantly forced by the tropical heating, enhance blocking activity, the magnitude of atmospheric blocking compared to observations is still underestimated. The blocking-unfavorable configuration with surface forcing anomalies of opposite sign results in a weakening subtropical jet, enhanced midlatitude flow, and significantly reduced blocking.
    Description: C.C.U. received support from the Australian Research Council through funding awarded to the Centre of Excellence for Climate System Science and the Penzance Endowed Fund at WHOI. P.C.M., M.J.P., and J.S.R. were funded by the CSIRO Climate Adaptation Flagship and the Managing Climate Variability R&D Program.
    Description: 2014-05-01
    Keywords: Australia ; Southern Hemisphere ; Atmosphere-ocean interaction ; Atmospheric circulation ; Blocking ; General circulation models
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  • 23
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    Two years of observations of warm-core anticyclones in the Labrador Sea and their seasonal cycle in heat and salt stratification (2014)
    American Meteorological Society
    Details
    Publication Date: 2022-05-25
    Description: Author Posting. © American Meteorological Society, 2014. This article is posted here by permission of American Meteorological Society for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Physical Oceanography 44 (2014): 427–444, doi:10.1175/JPO-D-13-070.1.
    Description: Between 25 September 2007 and 28 September 2009, a heavily instrumented mooring was deployed in the Labrador Sea, offshore of the location where warm-core, anticyclonic Irminger rings are formed. The 2-year time series offers insight into the vertical and horizontal structure of newly formed Irminger rings and their heat and salt transport into the interior basin. In 2 years, 12 Irminger rings passed by the mooring. Of these, 11 had distinct properties, while 1 anticyclone likely passed the mooring twice. Eddy radii (11–35 km) were estimated using the dynamic height signal of the anticyclones (8–18 cm) together with the observed velocities. The anticyclones show a seasonal cycle in core properties when observed (1.9°C in temperature and 0.07 in salinity at middepth) that has not been described before. The temperature and salinity are highest in fall and lowest in spring. Cold, fresh caps, suggested to be an important source of freshwater, were seen in spring but were almost nonexistent in fall. The heat and freshwater contributions by the Irminger rings show a large spread (from 12 to 108 MJ m−2 and from −0.5 to −4.7 cm, respectively) for two reasons. First, the large range of radii leads to large differences in transported volume. Second, the seasonal cycle leads to changes in heat and salt content per unit volume. This implies that estimates of heat and freshwater transport by eddies should take the distribution of eddy properties into account in order to accurately assess their contribution to the restratification.
    Description: This work was supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation and the Postdoctoral Scholar Program at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, with funding provided by the Devonshire Foundation.
    Description: 2014-08-01
    Keywords: Geographic location/entity ; North Atlantic Ocean ; Circulation/ Dynamics ; Mesoscale processes ; Atm/Ocean Structure/ Phenomena ; Anticyclones ; Boundary currents ; Observational techniques and algorithms ; In situ oceanic observations ; Variability ; Seasonal cycle
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  • 24
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    Offshore transport of dense water from the East Greenland Shelf (2014)
    American Meteorological Society
    Details
    Publication Date: 2022-05-25
    Description: Author Posting. © American Meteorological Society, 2014. This article is posted here by permission of American Meteorological Society for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Physical Oceanography 44 (2014): 229–245, doi:10.1175/JPO-D-12-0218.1.
    Description: Data from a mooring deployed at the edge of the East Greenland shelf south of Denmark Strait from September 2007 to October 2008 are analyzed to investigate the processes by which dense water is transferred off the shelf. It is found that water denser than 27.7 kg m−3—as dense as water previously attributed to the adjacent East Greenland Spill Jet—resides near the bottom of the shelf for most of the year with no discernible seasonality. The mean velocity in the central part of the water column is directed along the isobaths, while the deep flow is bottom intensified and veers offshore. Two mechanisms for driving dense spilling events are investigated, one due to offshore forcing and the other associated with wind forcing. Denmark Strait cyclones propagating southward along the continental slope are shown to drive off-shelf flow at their leading edges and are responsible for much of the triggering of individual spilling events. Northerly barrier winds also force spilling. Local winds generate an Ekman downwelling cell. Nonlocal winds also excite spilling, which is hypothesized to be the result of southward-propagating coastally trapped waves, although definitive confirmation is still required. The combined effect of the eddies and barrier winds results in the strongest spilling events, while in the absence of winds a train of eddies causes enhanced spilling.
    Description: The authors wish to thank Paula Fratantoni, Frank Bahr, and Dan Torres for processing the mooring data. The mooring array was capably deployed by the crew of the R/V Arni Fridriksson and recovered by the crew of the R/V Knorr. We thank Hedinn Valdimarsson for his assistance in the field work. Ken Brink provided valuable insights regarding the dynamics of shelf waves. Funding for the study was provided by National Science Foundation Grant OCE-0722694, the Arctic Research Initiative of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. We also wish to thank the Natural Environment Research Council for Ph.D. studentship funding, and the University of East Anglia’s Roberts Fund and Royal Meteorological Society for supporting travel for collaboration.
    Description: 2014-07-01
    Keywords: Geographic location/entity ; Continental shelf/slope ; Circulation/ Dynamics ; Meridional overturning circulation ; Upwelling/downwelling ; Atm/Ocean Structure/ Phenomena ; Eddies ; Extreme events ; Physical Meteorology and Climatology ; Air-sea interaction
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  • 25
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    Coupled impacts of the diurnal cycle of sea surface temperature on the Madden–Julian oscillation (2014)
    American Meteorological Society
    Details
    Publication Date: 2022-05-25
    Description: Author Posting. © American Meteorological Society, 2014. This article is posted here by permission of American Meteorological Society for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Climate 27 (2014): 8422–8443, doi:10.1175/JCLI-D-14-00141.1.
    Description: This study quantifies, from a systematic set of regional ocean–atmosphere coupled model simulations employing various coupling intervals, the effect of subdaily sea surface temperature (SST) variability on the onset and intensity of Madden–Julian oscillation (MJO) convection in the Indian Ocean. The primary effect of diurnal SST variation (dSST) is to raise time-mean SST and latent heat flux (LH) prior to deep convection. Diurnal SST variation also strengthens the diurnal moistening of the troposphere by collocating the diurnal peak in LH with those of SST. Both effects enhance the convection such that the total precipitation amount scales quasi-linearly with preconvection dSST and time-mean SST. A column-integrated moist static energy (MSE) budget analysis confirms the critical role of diurnal SST variability in the buildup of column MSE and the strength of MJO convection via stronger time-mean LH and diurnal moistening. Two complementary atmosphere-only simulations further elucidate the role of SST conditions in the predictive skill of MJO. The atmospheric model forced with the persistent initial SST, lacking enhanced preconvection warming and moistening, produces a weaker and delayed convection than the diurnally coupled run. The atmospheric model with prescribed daily-mean SST from the coupled run, while eliminating the delayed peak, continues to exhibit weaker convection due to the lack of strong moistening on a diurnal basis. The fact that time-evolving SST with a diurnal cycle strongly influences the onset and intensity of MJO convection is consistent with previous studies that identified an improved representation of diurnal SST as a potential source of MJO predictability.
    Description: The authors gratefully acknowledge support from the Office of Naval Research (N00014-13-1-0133 and N00014-13-1-0139) and National Science Foundation EaSM-3 (OCE-1419235). HS especially thanks the Penzance Endowed Fund for their support of Assistant Scientists at WHOI.
    Description: 2015-05-15
    Keywords: Deep convection ; Diurnal effects ; Madden-Julian oscillation ; Air-sea interaction ; Numerical weather prediction/forecasting ; Regional models
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  • 26
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    Regime-dependent nonstationary relationship between the East Asian winter monsoon and North Pacific Oscillation (2014)
    American Meteorological Society
    Details
    Publication Date: 2022-05-25
    Description: Author Posting. © American Meteorological Society, 2014. This article is posted here by permission of American Meteorological Society for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Climate 27 (2014): 8185–8204, doi:10.1175/JCLI-D-13-00500.1.
    Description: The East Asian winter monsoon (EAWM) and the North Pacific Oscillation (NPO) constitute two outstanding surface atmospheric circulation patterns affecting the winter sea surface temperature (SST) variability in the western North Pacific. The present analyses show the relationship between the EAWM and NPO and their impact on the SST are nonstationary and regime-dependent with a sudden change around 1988. These surface circulation patterns are tightly linked to the upper-level Ural and Kamchatka blockings, respectively. During the 1973–87 strong winter monsoon epoch, the EAWM and NPO were significantly correlated to each other, but their correlation practically vanishes during the 1988–2002 weak winter monsoon epoch. This nonstationary relationship is related to the pronounced decadal weakening of the Siberian high system over the Eurasian continent after the 1988 regime shift as well as the concomitant positive NPO-like dipole change and its eastward migration in tropospheric circulation over the North Pacific. There is a tight tropical–extratropical teleconnection in the western North Pacific in the strong monsoon epoch, which disappears in the weak monsoon epoch when there is a significant eastward shift of tropical influence and enhanced storm tracks into the eastern North Pacific. A tentative mechanism of the nonstationary relationship between the EAWM and NPO is proposed, stressing the pivotal role played in the above teleconnection by a decadal shift of the East Asian trough resulting from the abrupt decline of the EAWM since the late 1980s.
    Description: G. Pak has been supported from the Brain Korea 21 Project of SNU, for which we are very grateful to K.-R. Kim, and also from the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, South Korea (OCCAPA and EAST-I projects). Y.-O. Kwon is supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation Climate and Large-Scale Dynamics program (AGS-1035423) and Department of Energy (DOE) Climate and Environmental Science Division (DESC0007052).
    Description: 2015-05-01
    Keywords: Climate variability ; Interannual variability ; Interdecadal variability ; North Pacific Oscillation
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  • 27
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    On the attribution of a single event to climate change (2014)
    American Meteorological Society
    Details
    Publication Date: 2022-05-25
    Description: Author Posting. © American Meteorological Society, 2014. This article is posted here by permission of American Meteorological Society for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Climate 27 (2014): 8297–8301, doi:10.1175/JCLI-D-14-00399.1.
    Description: There is growing interest in assessing the role of climate change in observed extreme weather events. Recent work in this area has focused on estimating a measure called attributable risk. A statistical formulation of this problem is described and used to construct a confidence interval for attributable risk. The resulting confidence is shown to be surprisingly wide even in the case where the event of interest is unprecedented in the historical record.
    Description: GH acknowledges funding from the Federal Ministry for Education and Research. MA acknowledges partial support from the Giannini Foundation.
    Description: 2015-05-15
    Keywords: Climate change ; Statistics
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  • 28
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    The impact of finite-amplitude bottom topography on internal wave generation in the Southern Ocean (2014)
    American Meteorological Society
    Details
    Publication Date: 2022-05-25
    Description: Author Posting. © American Meteorological Society, 2014. This article is posted here by permission of American Meteorological Society for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Physical Oceanography 44 (2014): 2938–2950, doi:10.1175/JPO-D-13-0201.1.
    Description: Direct observations in the Southern Ocean report enhanced internal wave activity and turbulence in a kilometer-thick layer above rough bottom topography collocated with the deep-reaching fronts of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current. Linear theory, corrected for finite-amplitude topography based on idealized, two-dimensional numerical simulations, has been recently used to estimate the global distribution of internal wave generation by oceanic currents and eddies. The global estimate shows that the topographic wave generation is a significant sink of energy for geostrophic flows and a source of energy for turbulent mixing in the deep ocean. However, comparison with recent observations from the Diapycnal and Isopycnal Mixing Experiment in the Southern Ocean shows that the linear theory predictions and idealized two-dimensional simulations grossly overestimate the observed levels of turbulent energy dissipation. This study presents two- and three-dimensional, realistic topography simulations of internal lee-wave generation from a steady flow interacting with topography with parameters typical of Drake Passage. The results demonstrate that internal wave generation at three-dimensional, finite bottom topography is reduced compared to the two-dimensional case. The reduction is primarily associated with finite-amplitude bottom topography effects that suppress vertical motions and thus reduce the amplitude of the internal waves radiated from topography. The implication of these results for the global lee-wave generation is discussed.
    Description: This research was supported by the National Science Foundation under Award CMG-1024198.
    Description: 2015-05-01
    Keywords: Circulation/ Dynamics ; Diapycnal mixing ; Internal waves ; Mixing ; Mountain waves ; Topographic effects ; Waves, oceanic
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  • 29
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    Near-inertial internal wave field in the Canada Basin from ice-tethered profilers (2014)
    American Meteorological Society
    Details
    Publication Date: 2022-05-25
    Description: Author Posting. © American Meteorological Society, 2014. This article is posted here by permission of American Meteorological Society for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Physical Oceanography 44 (2014): 413–426, doi:10.1175/JPO-D-13-0117.1.
    Description: Salinity and temperature profiles from drifting ice-tethered profilers in the Beaufort gyre region of the Canada Basin are used to characterize and quantify the regional near-inertial internal wave field over one year. Vertical displacements of potential density surfaces from the surface to 750-m depth are tracked from fall 2006 to fall 2007. Because of the time resolution and irregular sampling of the ice-tethered profilers, near-inertial frequency signals are marginally resolved. Complex demodulation is used to determine variations with a time scale of several days in the amplitude and phase of waves at a specified near-inertial frequency. Characteristics and variability of the wave field over the course of the year are investigated quantitatively and related to changes in surface wind forcing and sea ice cover.
    Description: The ITP program and J. Toole’s contributions were supported by the National Science Foundation Office of Polar Programs Arctic Observing Network. We acknowledge the support of the Office of Naval Research (Grant N00014-11-1-0454) for this study. Support for H. Dosser was also provided by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.
    Description: 2014-08-01
    Keywords: Geographic location/entity ; Arctic ; Circulation/ Dynamics ; Inertia-gravity waves ; Internal waves ; Observational techniques and algorithms ; Profilers, oceanic
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  • 30
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    Geology of the Millen Thrust System, northern Victoria Land, Antarctica (2014)
    Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research & German Society of Polar Research
    In:  EPIC3Polarforschung, Bremerhaven, Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research & German Society of Polar Research, 84(1), pp. 39-47, ISSN: 00322490
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    Publication Date: 2019-07-17
    Repository Name: EPIC Alfred Wegener Institut
    Type: "Polarforschung" , peerRev
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  • 31
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    The Ross-orogenic Tiger Gabbro (northern Victoria Land, Antarctica): Insights into the lower crust of a Cambrian island arc? (2014)
    Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research & German Society of Polar Research
    In:  EPIC3Polarforschung, Bremerhaven, Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research & German Society of Polar Research, 84(1), pp. 23-38, ISSN: 00322490
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    Publication Date: 2019-07-17
    Repository Name: EPIC Alfred Wegener Institut
    Type: "Polarforschung" , peerRev
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  • 32
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    Tropical Pacific influence on the source and transport of marine aerosols to West Antarctica (2014)
    American Meteorological Society
    Details
    Publication Date: 2022-05-26
    Description: Author Posting. © American Meteorological Society, 2014. This article is posted here by permission of American Meteorological Society for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Climate 27 (2014): 1343–1363, doi:10.1175/JCLI-D-13-00148.1.
    Description: The climate of West Antarctica is strongly influenced by remote forcing from the tropical Pacific. For example, recent surface warming over West Antarctica reflects atmospheric circulation changes over the Amundsen Sea, driven by an atmospheric Rossby wave response to tropical sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies. Here, it is demonstrated that tropical Pacific SST anomalies also influence the source and transport of marine-derived aerosols to the West Antarctic Ice Sheet. Using records from four firn cores collected along the Amundsen coast of West Antarctica, the relationship between sea ice–modulated chemical species and large-scale atmospheric variability in the tropical Pacific from 1979 to 2010 is investigated. Significant correlations are found between marine biogenic aerosols and sea salts, and SST and sea level pressure in the tropical Pacific. In particular, La Niña–like conditions generate an atmospheric Rossby wave response that influences atmospheric circulation over Pine Island Bay. Seasonal regression of atmospheric fields on methanesulfonic acid (MSA) reveals a reduction in onshore wind velocities in summer at Pine Island Bay, consistent with enhanced katabatic flow, polynya opening, and coastal dimethyl sulfide production. Seasonal regression of atmospheric fields on chloride (Cl−) reveals an intensification in onshore wind velocities in winter, consistent with sea salt transport from offshore source regions. Both the source and transport of marine aerosols to West Antarctica are found to be modulated by similar atmospheric dynamics in response to remote forcing. Finally, the regional ice-core array suggests that there is both a temporally and a spatially varying response to remote tropical forcing.
    Description: This research was supported by an award from the Department of Energy Office of Science Graduate Fellowship Program (DOE SCGF) to ASC, a James E. and Barbara V. Moltz Research Fellowship to SBD, and grants from NSF-OPP (ANT- 0632031 and ANT-0631973), NSF-MRI (EAR- 1126217), and the NASA Cryosphere Program (NNX10AP09G), and a WHOI Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Award for Innovative Research.
    Description: 2014-08-01
    Keywords: Antarctica ; Sea ice ; Teleconnections ; Atmosphere-ocean interaction ; Climate records ; Interannual variability
    Repository Name: Woods Hole Open Access Server
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    Four current meter models compared in strong currents in Drake Passage (2014)
    American Meteorological Society
    Details
    Publication Date: 2022-05-26
    Description: Author Posting. © American Meteorological Society, 2013. This article is posted here by permission of American Meteorological Society for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology 30 (2013): 2465–2477, doi:10.1175/JTECH-D-13-00032.1.
    Description: Seven current meters representing four models on a stiffly buoyed mooring were placed for an 11-month deployment to intercompare their velocity measurements: two vector-measuring current meters (VMCMs), two Aanderaa recording current meter (RCM) 11s, two Aanderaa SEAGUARDs, and a Nortek Aquadopp. The current meters were placed 6-m apart from each other at about 4000-m depth in an area of Drake Passage expected to have strong currents, nearly independent of depth near the bottom. Two high-current events occurred in bursts of semidiurnal pulses lasting several days, one with peak speeds up to 67 cm s−1 and the other above 35 cm s−1. The current-speed measurements all agreed within 7% of the median value when vector averaged over simultaneous time intervals. The VMCMs, chosen as the reference measurements, were found to measure the median of the mean-current magnitudes. The RCM11 and SEAGUARD current speeds agreed within 2% of the median at higher speeds (35–67 cm s−1), whereas in lower speed ranges (0–35 cm s−1) the vector-averaged speeds for the RCM11 and SEAGUARD were 4%–5% lower and 3%–5% higher than the median, respectively. The shorter-record Aquadopp current speeds were about 6% higher than the VMCMs over the range (0–40 cm s−1) encountered.
    Description: This work was supported by U.S. National Science Foundation Grants ANT-0635437 and ANT-0636493.
    Description: 2014-04-01
    Keywords: Currents ; Acoustic measurements/effects ; In situ oceanic observations ; Instrumentation/sensors
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    Modeling and analysis of internal-tide generation and beamlike onshore propagation in the vicinity of shelfbreak canyons (2014)
    American Meteorological Society
    Details
    Publication Date: 2022-05-26
    Description: Author Posting. © American Meteorological Society, 2014. This article is posted here by permission of American Meteorological Society for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Physical Oceanography 44 (2014): 834-849, doi:10.1175/JPO-D-13-0179.1.
    Description: A hydrostatic numerical model with alongshore-uniform barotropic M2 tidal boundary forcing and idealized shelfbreak canyon bathymetries is used to study internal-tide generation and onshore propagation. A control simulation with Mid-Atlantic Bight representative bathymetry is supported by other simulations that serve to identify specific processes. The canyons and adjacent slopes are transcritical in steepness with respect to M2 internal wave characteristics. Although the various canyons are symmetrical in structure, barotropic-to-baroclinic energy conversion rates Cυ are typically asymmetrical within them. The resulting onshore-propagating internal waves are the strongest along beams in the horizontal plane, with the stronger beam in the control simulation lying on the side with higher Cυ. Analysis of the simulation results suggests that the cross-canyon asymmetrical Cυ distributions are caused by multiple-scattering effects on one canyon side slope, because the phase variation in the spatially distributed internal-tide sources, governed by variations in the orientation of the bathymetry gradient vector, allows resonant internal-tide generation. A less complex, semianalytical, modal internal wave propagation model with sources placed along the critical-slope locus (where the M2 internal wave characteristic is tangent to the seabed) and variable source phasing is used to diagnose the physics of the horizontal beams of onshore internal wave radiation. Model analysis explains how the cross-canyon phase and amplitude variations in the locally generated internal tides affect parameters of the internal-tide beams. Under the assumption that strong internal tides on continental shelves evolve to include nonlinear wave trains, the asymmetrical internal-tide generation and beam radiation effects may lead to nonlinear internal waves and enhanced mixing occurring preferentially on one side of shelfbreak canyons, in the absence of other influencing factors.
    Description: All three authors were supported by Office of Naval Research (ONR) Grant N00014-11-1-0701. WGZ was additionally supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) Grant OCE-1154575, and TFD was additionally supported by NSF Grant OCE-1060430.
    Description: 2014-09-01
    Keywords: Circulation/ Dynamics ; Baroclinic flows ; Internal waves ; Ocean circulation ; Topographic effects ; Waves, oceanic ; Models and modeling ; Numerical analysis/modeling
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    The fate of North Atlantic Subtropical Mode Water in the FLAME model (2014)
    American Meteorological Society
    Details
    Publication Date: 2022-05-26
    Description: Author Posting. © American Meteorological Society, 2014. This article is posted here by permission of American Meteorological Society for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Physical Oceanography 44 (2014): 1354–1371, doi:10.1175/JPO-D-13-0202.1.
    Description: North Atlantic Subtropical Mode Water, also known as Eighteen Degree Water (EDW), has the potential to store heat anomalies through its seasonal cycle: the water mass is in contact with the atmosphere in winter, isolated from the surface for the rest of the year, and reexposed the following winter. Though there has been recent progress in understanding EDW formation processes, an understanding of the fate of EDW following formation remains nascent. Here, particles are launched within the EDW of an eddy-resolving model, and their fate is tracked as they move away from the formation region. Particles in EDW have an average residence time of ~10 months, they follow the large-scale circulation around the subtropical gyre, and stratification is the dominant criteria governing the exit of particles from EDW. After sinking into the layers beneath EDW, particles are eventually exported to the subpolar gyre. The spreading of particles is consistent with the large-scale potential vorticity field, and there are signs of a possible eddy-driven mean flow in the southern portion of the EDW domain. The authors also show that property anomalies along particle trajectories have an average integral time scale of ~3 months for particles that are in EDW and ~2 months for particles out of EDW. Finally, it is shown that the EDW turnover time for the model in an Eulerian frame (~3 yr) is consistent with the turnover time computed from the Lagrangian particles provided that the effects of exchange between EDW and the surrounding waters are included.
    Description: The authors are thankful for financial support from the U.S. National Science Foundation for S. F. G., M. S. L., Y.-O. K., and J. J. P.
    Description: 2014-11-01
    Keywords: Circulation/ Dynamics ; Lagrangian circulation/transport ; Potential vorticity ; Atm/Ocean Structure/ Phenomena ; Water masses
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  • 36
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    Suppression of internal wave breaking in the Antarctic Circumpolar Current near topography (2014)
    American Meteorological Society
    Details
    Publication Date: 2022-05-26
    Description: Author Posting. © American Meteorological Society, 2014. This article is posted here by permission of American Meteorological Society for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Physical Oceanography 44 (2014): 1466–1492, doi:10.1175/JPO-D-12-0154.1.
    Description: Simultaneous full-depth microstructure measurements of turbulence and finestructure measurements of velocity and density are analyzed to investigate the relationship between turbulence and the internal wave field in the Antarctic Circumpolar Current. These data reveal a systematic near-bottom overprediction of the turbulent kinetic energy dissipation rate by finescale parameterization methods in select locations. Sites of near-bottom overprediction are typically characterized by large near-bottom flow speeds and elevated topographic roughness. Further, lower-than-average shear-to-strain ratios indicative of a less near-inertial wave field, rotary spectra suggesting a predominance of upward internal wave energy propagation, and enhanced narrowband variance at vertical wavelengths on the order of 100 m are found at these locations. Finally, finescale overprediction is typically associated with elevated Froude numbers based on the near-bottom shear of the background flow, and a background flow with a systematic backing tendency. Agreement of microstructure- and finestructure-based estimates within the expected uncertainty of the parameterization away from these special sites, the reproducibility of the overprediction signal across various parameterization implementations, and an absence of indications of atypical instrument noise at sites of parameterization overprediction, all suggest that physics not encapsulated by the parameterization play a role in the fate of bottom-generated waves at these locations. Several plausible underpinning mechanisms based on the limited available evidence are discussed that offer guidance for future studies.
    Description: The SOFine project is funded by the United Kingdom’s Natural Environmental Research Council (NERC) (Grant NE/G001510/1). SW acknowledges the support of anARCDiscovery Early CareerResearchAward (Grant DE120102927), as well as the Grantham Institute for Climate Change, Imperial College London, and the ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate System Science (Grant CE110001028). ACNG acknowledges the support of a NERC Advanced Research Fellowship (Grant NE/C517633/1).KLP acknowledges support fromWoods Hole Oceanographic Institution bridge support funds.
    Description: 2014-11-01
    Keywords: Circulation/ Dynamics ; Diapycnal mixing ; Internal waves ; Small scale processes ; Turbulence ; Observational techniques and algorithms ; In situ oceanic observations ; Profilers, oceanic
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    Eulerian and Lagrangian correspondence of high-frequency radar and surface drifter data : effects of radar resolution and flow components (2014)
    American Meteorological Society
    Details
    Publication Date: 2022-05-26
    Description: Author Posting. © American Meteorological Society, 2014. This article is posted here by permission of American Meteorological Society for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology 31 (2014): 945–966, doi:10.1175/JTECH-D-13-00146.1.
    Description: This study investigated the correspondence between the near-surface drifters from a mass drifter deployment near Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, and the surface current observations from a network of three high-resolution, high-frequency radars to understand the effects of the radar temporal and spatial resolution on the resulting Eulerian current velocities and Lagrangian trajectories and their predictability. The radar-based surface currents were found to be unbiased in direction but biased in magnitude with respect to drifter velocities. The radar systematically underestimated velocities by approximately 2 cm s−1 due to the smoothing effects of spatial and temporal averaging. The radar accuracy, quantified by the domain-averaged rms difference between instantaneous radar and drifter velocities, was found to be about 3.8 cm s−1. A Lagrangian comparison between the real and simulated drifters resulted in the separation distances of roughly 1 km over the course of 10 h, or an equivalent separation speed of approximately 2.8 cm s−1. The effects of the temporal and spatial radar resolution were examined by degrading the radar fields to coarser resolutions, revealing the existence of critical scales (1.5–2 km and 3 h) beyond which the ability of the radar to reproduce drifter trajectories decreased more rapidly. Finally, the importance of the different flow components present during the experiment—mean, tidal, locally wind-driven currents, and the residual velocities—was analyzed, finding that, during the study period, a combination of tidal, locally wind-driven, and mean currents were insufficient to reliably reproduce, with minimal degradation, the trajectories of real drifters. Instead, a minimum combination of the tidal and residual currents was required.
    Description: I.R. was supported by the WHOI Coastal Ocean Institute Project 27040148 and by the WHOI Access to the Sea Program 27500036. I.R. and A.K. acknowledge support fromthe NSF project 83264600. A.K. acknowledges support from the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC) via the New England Marine Renewable Energy Center (MREC).
    Description: 2014-10-01
    Keywords: Coastal flows ; Currents ; Lagrangian circulation/transport ; Trajectories ; Radars/Radar observations
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    Global patterns of diapycnal mixing from measurements of the turbulent dissipation rate (2014)
    American Meteorological Society
    Details
    Publication Date: 2022-05-26
    Description: Author Posting. © American Meteorological Society, 2014. This article is posted here by permission of American Meteorological Society for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Physical Oceanography 44 (2014): 1854–1872, doi:10.1175/JPO-D-13-0104.1.
    Description: The authors present inferences of diapycnal diffusivity from a compilation of over 5200 microstructure profiles. As microstructure observations are sparse, these are supplemented with indirect measurements of mixing obtained from (i) Thorpe-scale overturns from moored profilers, a finescale parameterization applied to (ii) shipboard observations of upper-ocean shear, (iii) strain as measured by profiling floats, and (iv) shear and strain from full-depth lowered acoustic Doppler current profilers (LADCP) and CTD profiles. Vertical profiles of the turbulent dissipation rate are bottom enhanced over rough topography and abrupt, isolated ridges. The geography of depth-integrated dissipation rate shows spatial variability related to internal wave generation, suggesting one direct energy pathway to turbulence. The global-averaged diapycnal diffusivity below 1000-m depth is O(10−4) m2 s−1 and above 1000-m depth is O(10−5) m2 s−1. The compiled microstructure observations sample a wide range of internal wave power inputs and topographic roughness, providing a dataset with which to estimate a representative global-averaged dissipation rate and diffusivity. However, there is strong regional variability in the ratio between local internal wave generation and local dissipation. In some regions, the depth-integrated dissipation rate is comparable to the estimated power input into the local internal wave field. In a few cases, more internal wave power is dissipated than locally generated, suggesting remote internal wave sources. However, at most locations the total power lost through turbulent dissipation is less than the input into the local internal wave field. This suggests dissipation elsewhere, such as continental margins.
    Description: This research was funded by the Climate Process Team (CPT) on internal wave–driven mixing throughNSF GrantOCE-0968721. GSC acknowledges support from NSF Grants OCE-0825266 (EXITS), OCE-1029483 (SPAM), and OCE-1029722 (MIXET). LDT and CBW acknowledge support from NSF Grant OCE-0927650. SWand ACNG acknowledge support from NERC Grant NE/G001510/1 (SOFine).
    Description: 2015-01-01
    Keywords: Circulation/ Dynamics ; Diapycnal mixing ; Internal waves
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    Direct estimate of lateral eddy diffusivity upstream of Drake Passage (2014)
    American Meteorological Society
    Details
    Publication Date: 2022-05-26
    Description: Author Posting. © American Meteorological Society, 2014. This article is posted here by permission of American Meteorological Society for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Physical Oceanography 44 (2014): 2593–2616, doi:10.1175/JPO-D-13-0120.1.
    Description: The first direct estimate of the rate at which geostrophic turbulence mixes tracers across the Antarctic Circumpolar Current is presented. The estimate is computed from the spreading of a tracer released upstream of Drake Passage as part of the Diapycnal and Isopycnal Mixing Experiment in the Southern Ocean (DIMES). The meridional eddy diffusivity, a measure of the rate at which the area of the tracer spreads along an isopycnal across the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, is 710 ± 260 m2 s−1 at 1500-m depth. The estimate is based on an extrapolation of the tracer-based diffusivity using output from numerical tracers released in a one-twentieth of a degree model simulation of the circulation and turbulence in the Drake Passage region. The model is shown to reproduce the observed spreading rate of the DIMES tracer and suggests that the meridional eddy diffusivity is weak in the upper kilometer of the water column with values below 500 m2 s−1 and peaks at the steering level, near 2 km, where the eddy phase speed is equal to the mean flow speed. These vertical variations are not captured by ocean models presently used for climate studies, but they significantly affect the ventilation of different water masses.
    Description: NSF support through Awards OCE-1233832, OCE-1232962, and OCE-1048926 is gratefully acknowledged.
    Description: 2015-04-01
    Keywords: Geographic location/entity ; Southern Ocean ; Circulation/ Dynamics ; Diffusion ; Eddies ; Ocean circulation ; Turbulence ; Physical Meteorology and Climatology ; Isopycnal mixing
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    Strong downslope wind events in Ammassalik, southeast Greenland (2014)
    American Meteorological Society
    Details
    Publication Date: 2022-05-26
    Description: Author Posting. © American Meteorological Society, 2014. This article is posted here by permission of American Meteorological Society for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Climate 27 (2014): 977–99, doi:10.1175/JCLI-D-13-00067.1.
    Description: Ammassalik in southeast Greenland is known for strong wind events that can reach hurricane intensity and cause severe destruction in the local town. Yet, these winds and their impact on the nearby fjord and shelf region have not been studied in detail. Here, data from two meteorological stations and the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts Interim Re-Analysis (ERA-Interim) are used to identify and characterize these strong downslope wind events, which are especially pronounced at a major east Greenland fjord, Sermilik Fjord, within Ammassalik. Their local and regional characteristics, their dynamics and their impacts on the regional sea ice cover, and air–sea fluxes are described. Based on a composite of the events it is concluded that wind events last for approximately a day, and seven to eight events occur each winter. Downslope wind events are associated with a deep synoptic-scale cyclone between Iceland and Greenland. During the events, cold dry air is advected down the ice sheet. The downslope flow is accelerated by gravitational acceleration, flow convergence inside the Ammassalik valley, and near the coast by an additional thermal and synoptic-scale pressure gradient acceleration. Wind events are associated with a large buoyancy loss over the Irminger Sea, and it is estimated that they drive one-fifth of the net wintertime loss. Also, the extreme winds drive sea ice out of the fjord and away from the shelf.
    Description: This study was supported by grants of the National Science Foundation (OCE-0751554 and OCE-1130008) as well as the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.
    Description: 2014-08-01
    Keywords: Downslope winds ; Synoptic climatology ; Katabatic winds ; Air-sea interaction
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    Variations of the North Pacific Subtropical Mode Water from direct observations (2014)
    American Meteorological Society
    Details
    Publication Date: 2022-05-26
    Description: Author Posting. © American Meteorological Society, 2014. This article is posted here by permission of American Meteorological Society for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Climate 27 (2014): 2842–2860, doi:10.1175/JCLI-D-13-00227.1.
    Description: Mooring measurements from the Kuroshio Extension System Study (June 2004–June 2006) and from the ongoing Kuroshio Extension Observatory (June 2004–present) are combined with float measurements of the Argo network to study the variability of the North Pacific Subtropical Mode Water (STMW) across the entire gyre, on time scales from days, to seasons, to a decade. The top of the STMW follows a seasonal cycle, although observations reveal that it primarily varies in discrete steps associated with episodic wind events. The variations of the STMW bottom depth are tightly related to the sea surface height (SSH), reflecting mesoscale eddies and large-scale variations of the Kuroshio Extension and recirculation gyre systems. Using the observed relationship between SSH and STMW, gridded SSH products and in situ estimates from floats are used to construct weekly maps of STMW thickness, providing nonbiased estimates of STMW total volume, annual formation and erosion volumes, and seasonal and interannual variability for the past decade. Year-to-year variations are detected, particularly a significant decrease of STMW volume in 2007–10 primarily attributable to a smaller volume formed. Variability of the heat content in the mode water region is dominated by the seasonal cycle and mesoscale eddies; there is only a weak link to STMW on interannual time scales, and no long-term trends in heat content and STMW thickness between 2002 and 2011 are detected. Weak lagged correlations among air–sea fluxes, oceanic heat content, and STMW thickness are found when averaged over the northwestern Pacific recirculation gyre region.
    Description: This work was sponsored by the National Science Foundation (Grants OCE-0220161, OCE-0825152, and OCE-0827125).
    Description: 2014-10-15
    Keywords: Atmosphere-ocean interaction ; Mesoscale processes ; Mesoscale systems ; Ocean dynamics ; Eddies ; Water masses
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    The dispersal of dense water formed in an idealized coastal polynya on a shallow sloping shelf (2014)
    American Meteorological Society
    Details
    Publication Date: 2022-05-26
    Description: Author Posting. © American Meteorological Society, 2014. This article is posted here by permission of American Meteorological Society for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Physical Oceanography 44 (2014): 1563–1581, doi:10.1175/JPO-D-13-0188.1.
    Description: This study examines the dispersal of dense water formed in an idealized coastal polynya on a sloping shelf in the absence of ambient circulation and stratification. Both numerical and laboratory experiments reveal two separate bottom pathways for the dense water: an offshore plume moving downslope into deeper ambient water and a coastal current flowing in the direction of Kelvin wave propagation. Scaling analysis shows that the velocity of the offshore plume is proportional not only to the reduced gravity, bottom slope, and inverse of the Coriolis parameter, but also to the ratio of the dense water depth to total water depth. The dense water coastal current is generated by the along-shelf baroclinic pressure gradient. Its dynamics can be separated into two stages: (i) near the source region, where viscous terms are negligible, its speed is proportional to the reduced gravity wave speed and (ii) in the far field, where bottom drag becomes important and balances the pressure gradient, the velocity is proportional to Hc[g′/(LCd)]1/2 in which Hc is the water depth at the coast, g′ the reduced gravity, Cd the quadratic bottom drag coefficient, and L the along-shelf span of the baroclinic pressure gradient. The velocity scalings are verified using numerical and laboratory sensitivity experiments. The numerical simulations suggest that only 3%–23% of the dense water enters the coastal pathway, and the percentage depends highly on the ratio of the velocities of the offshore and coastal plumes. This makes the velocity ratio potentially useful for observational studies to assess the amount of dense water formed in coastal polynyas.
    Description: WGZ was sponsored by the WHOI Arctic Research Initiative program. CC received support from the National Science Foundation Project OCE-1130008.
    Description: 2014-12-01
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    CMIP5 model intercomparison of freshwater budget and circulation in the North Atlantic (2014)
    American Meteorological Society
    Details
    Publication Date: 2022-05-26
    Description: Author Posting. © American Meteorological Society, 2014. This article is posted here by permission of American Meteorological Society for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Climate 27 (2014): 3298–3317, doi:JCLI-D-12-00700.1.
    Description: The subpolar North Atlantic is a center of variability of ocean properties, wind stress curl, and air–sea exchanges. Observations and hindcast simulations suggest that from the early 1970s to the mid-1990s the subpolar gyre became fresher while the gyre and meridional circulations intensified. This is opposite to the relationship of freshening causing a weakened circulation, most often reproduced by climate models. The authors hypothesize that both these configurations exist but dominate on different time scales: a fresher subpolar gyre when the circulation is more intense, at interannual frequencies (configuration A), and a saltier subpolar gyre when the circulation is more intense, at longer periods (configuration B). Rather than going into the detail of the mechanisms sustaining each configuration, the authors’ objective is to identify which configuration dominates and to test whether this depends on frequency, in preindustrial control runs of five climate models from phase 5 of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP5). To this end, the authors have developed a novel intercomparison method that enables analysis of freshwater budget and circulation changes in a physical perspective that overcomes model specificities. Lag correlations and a cross-spectral analysis between freshwater content changes and circulation indices validate the authors’ hypothesis, as configuration A is only visible at interannual frequencies while configuration B is mostly visible at decadal and longer periods, suggesting that the driving role of salinity on the circulation depends on frequency. Overall, this analysis underscores the large differences among state-of-the-art climate models in their representations of the North Atlantic freshwater budget.
    Description: JD and RC were funded by NSF through Project 0751896. JD was also funded by IFREMER through project RICCO.
    Description: 2014-11-01
    Keywords: Atmosphere-ocean interaction ; Freshwater ; Climate models ; Model comparison ; Climate variability ; North Atlantic Oscillation
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    Scaling turbulent dissipation in the transition layer (2014)
    American Meteorological Society
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    Publication Date: 2022-05-26
    Description: Author Posting. © American Meteorological Society, 2013. This article is posted here by permission of American Meteorological Society for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Physical Oceanography 43 (2013): 2475–2489, doi:10.1175/JPO-D-13-057.1.
    Description: Data from three midlatitude, month-long surveys are examined for evidence of enhanced vertical mixing associated with the transition layer (TL), here defined as the strongly stratified layer that exists between the well mixed layer and the thermocline below. In each survey, microstructure estimates of turbulent dissipation were collected concurrently with fine-structure stratification and shear. Survey-wide averages are formed in a “TL coordinate” zTL, which is referenced around the depth of maximum stratification for each profile. Averaged profiles show characteristic TL structures such as peaks in stratification N2 and shear variance S2, which fall off steeply above zTL = 0 and more gradually below. Turbulent dissipation rates ɛ are 5–10 times larger than those found in the upper thermocline (TC). The gradient Richardson number Ri = N2/S2 becomes unstable (Ri 〈 0.25) within ~10 m of the TL upper boundary, suggesting that shear instability is active in the TL for zTL 〉 0. Ri is stable for zTL ≤ 0. Turbulent dissipation is found to scale exponentially with depth for zTL ≤ 0, but the decay scales are different for the TL and upper TC: ɛ scales well with either N2 or S2. Owing to the strong correlation between S2 and N2, existing TC scalings of the form ɛ ~ |S|p|N|q overpredict variations in ɛ. The scale dependence of shear variance is not found to significantly affect the scalings of ɛ versus N2 and S2 for zTL ≤ 0. However, the onset of unstable Ri at the top of the TL is sensitively dependent to the resolution of the shears.
    Description: This work was funded by NSF Grant OCE-0968787 as part of a Climate Process Team for internal wave-driven mixing.
    Keywords: Atm/Ocean Structure/ Phenomena ; Diapycnal mixing ; Mixed layer ; Thermocline ; Physical Meteorology and Climatology ; Heat budgets/fluxes ; Observational techniques and algorithms ; In situ oceanic observations ; Profilers, oceanic
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    Diurnal restratification events in the southeast Pacific trade wind regime (2014)
    American Meteorological Society
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    Publication Date: 2022-05-26
    Description: Author Posting. © American Meteorological Society, 2014. This article is posted here by permission of American Meteorological Society for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Physical Oceanography 44 (2014): 2569–2587, doi:10.1175/JPO-D-14-0026.1.
    Description: This paper describes the occurrence of diurnal restratification events found in the southeast trade wind regime off northern Chile. This is a region where persistent marine stratus clouds are found and where there is a less than complete understanding of the dynamics that govern the maintenance of the sea surface temperature. A surface mooring deployed in the region provides surface meteorological, air–sea flux, and upper-ocean temperature, salinity, and velocity data. In the presence of steady southeast trade winds and strong evaporation, a warm, salty surface mixed layer is found in the upper ocean. During the year, these trade winds, at times, drop dramatically and surface heating leads to the formation of shallow, warm diurnal mixed layers over one to several days. At the end of such a low wind period, mean sea surface temperature is warmer. Though magnitudes of the individual diurnal warming events are consistent with local forcing, as judged by running a one-dimensional model, the net warming at the end of a low wind event is more difficult to predict. This is found to stem from differences between the observed and predicted near-inertial shear and the depths over which the warmed water is distributed. As a result, the evolution of SST has a dependency on these diurnal restratification events and on near-surface processes that govern the depth over which the heat gained during such events is distributed.
    Description: RAW was supported by the NOAA Climate Program Office. SM and AT were supported by NASA Grant NNX12AD47G,ONR Grant N000140910196, and NSF-OCE 0928138 RAW.
    Description: 2015-03-01
    Keywords: Atm/Ocean Structure/ Phenomena ; Atmosphere-ocean interaction ; Boundary layer ; Diurnal effects ; Mixed layer
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    The surface-forced overturning of the North Atlantic : estimates from modern era atmospheric reanalysis datasets (2014)
    American Meteorological Society
    Details
    Publication Date: 2022-05-26
    Description: Author Posting. © American Meteorological Society, 2014. This article is posted here by permission of American Meteorological Society for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Climate 27 (2014): 3596–3618, doi:10.1175/JCLI-D-13-00070.1.
    Description: Estimates of the recent mean and time varying water mass transformation rates associated with North Atlantic surface-forced overturning are presented. The estimates are derived from heat and freshwater surface fluxes and sea surface temperature fields from six atmospheric reanalyses—the Japanese 25-yr Reanalysis (JRA), the NCEP–NCAR reanalysis (NCEP1), the NCEP–U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) reanalysis (NCEP2), the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) Interim Re-Analysis (ERA-I), the Climate Forecast System Reanalysis (CFSR), and the Modern-Era Reanalysis for Research and Applications (MERRA)—together with sea surface salinity fields from two globally gridded datasets (World Ocean Atlas and Met Office EN3 datasets). The resulting 12 estimates of the 1979–2007 mean surface-forced streamfunction all depict a subpolar cell, with maxima north of 45°N, near σ = 27.5 kg m−3, and a subtropical cell between 20° and 40°N, near σ = 26.1 kg m−3. The mean magnitude of the subpolar cell varies between 12 and 18 Sv (1 Sv ≡ 106 m3 s−1), consistent with estimates of the overturning circulation from subsurface observations. Analysis of the thermal and haline components of the surface density fluxes indicates that large differences in the inferred low-latitude circulation are largely a result of the biases in reanalysis net heat flux fields, which range in the global mean from −13 to 19 W m−2. The different estimates of temporal variability in the subpolar cell are well correlated with each other. This suggests that the uncertainty associated with the choice of reanalysis product does not critically limit the ability of the method to infer the variability in the subpolar overturning. In contrast, the different estimates of subtropical variability are poorly correlated with each other, and only a subset of them captures a significant fraction of the variability in independently estimated North Atlantic Subtropical Mode Water volume.
    Description: JPG is funded by UK Natural Environment Research Council New Investigator Grant NE/I001654/1. Y-OK was supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation under Grant OCE-0424492. RJB is supported by a fellowship from the UK National Centre for Earth Observation.
    Description: 2014-11-15
    Keywords: Atmosphere-ocean interaction ; Meridional overturning circulation ; Ocean circulation
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    Ocean–cloud–atmosphere–land interactions in the southeastern Pacific : the VOCALS Program (2014)
    American Meteorological Society
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    Publication Date: 2022-05-26
    Description: Author Posting. © American Meteorological Society, 2014. This article is posted here by permission of American Meteorological Society for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society 95 (2014): 357–375, doi:10.1175/BAMS-D-11-00246.1.
    Description: The present paper describes the Variability of the American Monsoon Systems (VAMOS) Ocean–Cloud–Atmosphere–Land Study (VOCALS), an international research program focused on the improved understanding and modeling of the southeastern Pacific (SEP) climate system on diurnal to interannual time scales. In the framework of the SEP climate, VOCALS has two fundamental objectives: 1) improved simulations by coupled atmosphere–ocean general circulation models (CGCMs), with an emphasis on reducing systematic errors in the region; and 2) improved estimates of the indirect effects of aerosols on low clouds and climate, with an emphasis on the more precise quantification of those effects. VOCALS major scientific activities are outlined, and selected achievements are highlighted. Activities described include monitoring in the region, a large international field campaign (the VOCALS Regional Experiment), and two model assessments. The program has already produced significant advances in the understanding of major issues in the SEP: the coastal circulation and the diurnal cycle, the ocean heat budget, factors controlling precipitation and formation of pockets of open cells in stratocumulus decks, aerosol impacts on clouds, and estimation of the first aerosol indirect effect. The paper concludes with a brief presentation on VOCALS contributions to community capacity building before a summary of scientific findings and remaining questions.
    Description: 2014-09-01
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    AUV observations of the diurnal surface layer in the North Atlantic salinity maximum (2014)
    American Meteorological Society
    Details
    Publication Date: 2022-05-26
    Description: Author Posting. © American Meteorological Society, 2014. This article is posted here by permission of American Meteorological Society for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Physical Oceanography 44 (2014): 1595–1604, doi:10.1175/JPO-D-13-0140.1.
    Description: Autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) surveys of temperature, salinity, and velocity in the upper 10 m of the ocean were carried out in low-wind conditions near the North Atlantic surface salinity maximum as part of the Salinity Processes in the Upper Ocean Regional Study (SPURS) project. Starting from a well-mixed state, the development, deepening, and decay of a warm salty diurnal surface layer was observed at 〈1-h resolution. The evaporation rate deduced from the freshwater anomaly of the layer corroborates measurements at a nearby flux mooring. Profiles within a few hundred meters of the stationary research vessel showed evidence of mixing, highlighting the effectiveness of AUVs for collecting uncontaminated time series of near-surface thermohaline structure. A two-dimensional horizontal subsurface survey within the diurnal warm layer revealed coherent warm and cool bands, which are interpreted as internal waves on the diurnal thermocline.
    Description: NASA supported this work under Grant NNX11AE82G.
    Description: 2014-12-01
    Keywords: Atm/Ocean Structure/ Phenomena ; Surface layer ; Observational techniques and algorithms ; In situ oceanic observations
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    Cold tongue and warm pool ENSO events in CMIP5 : mean state and future projections (2014)
    American Meteorological Society
    Details
    Publication Date: 2022-05-26
    Description: Author Posting. © American Meteorological Society, 2014. This article is posted here by permission of American Meteorological Society for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Climate 27 (2014): 2861–2885, doi:10.1175/JCLI-D-13-00437.1.
    Description: The representation of the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) under historical forcing and future projections is analyzed in 34 models from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project phase 5 (CMIP5). Most models realistically simulate the observed intensity and location of maximum sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies during ENSO events. However, there exist systematic biases in the westward extent of ENSO-related SST anomalies, driven by unrealistic westward displacement and enhancement of the equatorial wind stress in the western Pacific. Almost all CMIP5 models capture the observed asymmetry in magnitude between the warm and cold events (i.e., El Niños are stronger than La Niñas) and between the two types of El Niños: that is, cold tongue (CT) El Niños are stronger than warm pool (WP) El Niños. However, most models fail to reproduce the asymmetry between the two types of La Niñas, with CT stronger than WP events, which is opposite to observations. Most models capture the observed peak in ENSO amplitude around December; however, the seasonal evolution of ENSO has a large range of behavior across the models. The CMIP5 models generally reproduce the duration of CT El Niños but have biases in the evolution of the other types of events. The evolution of WP El Niños suggests that the decay of this event occurs through heat content discharge in the models rather than the advection of SST via anomalous zonal currents, as seems to occur in observations. No consistent changes are seen across the models in the location and magnitude of maximum SST anomalies, frequency, or temporal evolution of these events in a warmer world.
    Description: 2014-10-15
    Keywords: Atmosphere-ocean interaction ; Climate change ; Climate variability ; ENSO ; Climate models ; Model evaluation/performance
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    Ekman veering, internal waves, and turbulence observed under Arctic sea ice (2014)
    American Meteorological Society
    Details
    Publication Date: 2022-05-26
    Description: Author Posting. © American Meteorological Society, 2014. This article is posted here by permission of American Meteorological Society for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Physical Oceanography 44 (2014): 1306–1328, doi:10.1175/JPO-D-12-0191.1.
    Description: The ice–ocean system is investigated on inertial to monthly time scales using winter 2009–10 observations from the first ice-tethered profiler (ITP) equipped with a velocity sensor (ITP-V). Fluctuations in surface winds, ice velocity, and ocean velocity at 7-m depth were correlated. Observed ocean velocity was primarily directed to the right of the ice velocity and spiraled clockwise while decaying with depth through the mixed layer. Inertial and tidal motions of the ice and in the underlying ocean were observed throughout the record. Just below the ice–ocean interface, direct estimates of the turbulent vertical heat, salt, and momentum fluxes and the turbulent dissipation rate were obtained. Periods of elevated internal wave activity were associated with changes to the turbulent heat and salt fluxes as well as stratification primarily within the mixed layer. Turbulent heat and salt fluxes were correlated particularly when the mixed layer was closest to the freezing temperature. Momentum flux is adequately related to velocity shear using a constant ice–ocean drag coefficient, mixing length based on the planetary and geometric scales, or Rossby similarity theory. Ekman viscosity described velocity shear over the mixed layer. The ice–ocean drag coefficient was elevated for certain directions of the ice–ocean shear, implying an ice topography that was characterized by linear ridges. Mixing length was best estimated using the wavenumber of the beginning of the inertial subrange or a variable drag coefficient. Analyses of this and future ITP-V datasets will advance understanding of ice–ocean interactions and their parameterizations in numerical models.
    Description: Support for this study and the overall ITP program was provided by the National Science Foundation and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Support for S. Cole was partially though the Postdoctoral Scholar Program at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, with funding provided by the Devonshire Foundation.
    Description: 2014-11-01
    Keywords: Geographic location/entity ; Arctic ; Sea ice ; Circulation/ Dynamics ; Ekman pumping/transport ; Internal waves ; Turbulence ; Atm/Ocean Structure/ Phenomena ; Oceanic mixed layer
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    Two modes of Gulf Stream variability revealed in the last two decades of satellite altimeter data (2014)
    American Meteorological Society
    Details
    Publication Date: 2022-05-26
    Description: Author Posting. © American Meteorological Society, 2014. This article is posted here by permission of American Meteorological Society for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Physical Oceanography 44 (2014): 149–163, doi:10.1175/JPO-D-13-0136.1.
    Description: Monthly mapped sea level anomalies (MSLAs) of the NW Atlantic in the region immediately downstream of the Gulf Stream (GS) separation point reveal a leading mode in which the path shifts approximately 100 km meridionally about a nominal latitude of 39°N, producing coherent sea level anomaly (SLA) variability from 72° to 50°W. This mode can be captured by use of a simple 16-point index based on SLA data taken along the maximum of the observed variability in the region 33°–46°N and 45°–75°W. The GS shifts between 2010 and 2012 are the largest of the last decade and equal to the largest of the entire record. The second group of EOF modes of variability describes GS meanders, which propagate mainly westward interrupted by brief periods of eastward or stationary meanders. These meanders have wavelengths of approximately 400 km and can be seen in standard EOFs by spatial phase shifting of a standing meander pattern in the SLA data. The spectral properties of these modes indicate strong variability at interannual and longer periods for the first mode and periods of a few to several months for the meanders. While the former is quite similar to a previous use of the altimeter for GS path, the simple index is a useful measure of the large-scale shifts in the GS path that is quickly estimated and updated without changes in previous estimates. The time-scale separation allows a low-pass filtered 16-point index to be reflective of large-scale, coherent shifts in the GS path.
    Description: Agencia Canaria de Investigación, Innovación y Sociedad de la Información (ACIISI) grant program of Apoyo al Personal Investigador en Formación and NSF Grant OCE-0726720
    Description: 2014-07-01
    Keywords: Atlantic Ocean ; Circulation/ Dynamics ; Boundary currents ; Indices ; Ocean dynamics ; Observational techniques and algorithms ; Altimetry ; Mathematical and statistical techniques ; Empirical orthogonal functions
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    Coastal trapped waves, alongshore pressure gradients, and the California Undercurrent (2014)
    American Meteorological Society
    Details
    Publication Date: 2022-05-26
    Description: Author Posting. © American Meteorological Society, 2014. This article is posted here by permission of American Meteorological Society for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Physical Oceanography 44 (2014): 319–342, doi:10.1175/JPO-D-13-095.1.
    Description: The California Undercurrent (CUC), a poleward-flowing feature over the continental slope, is a key transport pathway along the west coast of North America and an important component of regional upwelling dynamics. This study examines the poleward undercurrent and alongshore pressure gradients in the northern California Current System (CCS), where local wind stress forcing is relatively weak. The dynamics of the undercurrent are compared in the primitive equation Navy Coastal Ocean Model and a linear coastal trapped wave model. Both models are validated using hydrographic data and current-meter observations in the core of the undercurrent in the northern CCS. In the linear model, variability in the predominantly equatorward wind stress along the U.S. West Coast produces episodic reversals to poleward flow over the northern CCS slope during summer. However, reproducing the persistence of the undercurrent during late summer requires additional incoming energy from sea level variability applied south of the region of the strongest wind forcing. The relative importance of the barotropic and baroclinic components of the modeled alongshore pressure gradient changes with latitude. In contrast to the southern and central portions of the CCS, the baroclinic component of the alongshore pressure gradient provides the primary poleward force at CUC depths over the northern CCS slope. At time scales from weeks to months, the alongshore pressure gradient force is primarily balanced by the Coriolis force associated with onshore flow.
    Description: This work was supported by grants to B. Hickey from the Coastal Ocean Program of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) (NA17OP2789 and NA09NOS4780180) and the National Science Foundation (NSF) (OCE0234587 and OCE0942675) as part of the Ecology of Harmful Algal Blooms Pacific Northwest (ECOHAB PNW) and Pacific Northwest Toxin (PNWTOX) projects. I. Shulman was supported by the Naval Research Laboratory.
    Description: 2014-07-01
    Keywords: Geographic location/entity ; Continental shelf/slope ; Circulation/ Dynamics ; Baroclinic flows ; Coastal flows ; Models and modeling ; Model evaluation/performance ; Variability ; Intraseasonal variability ; Seasonal variability
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    Inner-shelf response to cross-chelf wind stress : the importance of the cross-shelf density gradient in an idealized numerical model and field observations (2014)
    American Meteorological Society
    Details
    Publication Date: 2022-05-26
    Description: Author Posting. © American Meteorological Society, 2014. This article is posted here by permission of American Meteorological Society for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Physical Oceanography 44 (2014): 86–103, doi:10.1175/JPO-D-13-075.1.
    Description: This study investigates the effects of horizontal and vertical density gradients on the inner-shelf response to cross-shelf wind stress by using an idealized numerical model and observations from a moored array deployed south of Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts. In two-dimensional (no along-shelf variation) numerical model runs of an initially stratified shelf, a cross-shelf wind stress drives vertical mixing that results in a nearly well-mixed inner shelf with a cross-shelf density gradient because of the sloping bottom. The cross-shelf density gradient causes an asymmetric response to on- and offshore wind stresses. For density increasing offshore, an offshore wind stress drives a near-surface offshore flow and near-bottom onshore flow that slightly enhances the vertical stratification and the cross-shelf circulation. An onshore wind stress drives the reverse cross-shelf circulation reducing the vertical stratification and the cross-shelf circulation. A horizontal Richardson number is shown to be the nondimensional parameter that controls the dependence of the wind-driven nondimensional cross-shelf transport on the cross-shelf density gradient. Field observations show the same empirical relationship between the horizontal Richardson number and transport fraction as the model predicts. These results show that it is the cross-shelf rather than vertical density gradient that is critical to predicting the inner-shelf cross-shelf transport driven by a cross-shelf wind stress.
    Description: This work was funded by Ocean Sciences Division of the National Science Foundation Grant OCE-0548961 and by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution through the Academic Programs Office and the Coastal Ocean Institute. Data central to this study were provided by the Martha’s Vineyard Coastal Observatory, which is funded by WHOI and the Jewett/EDUC/Harrison Foundation.
    Description: 2014-07-01
    Keywords: Circulation/ Dynamics ; Coastal flows ; Circulation/ Dynamics ; Upwelling/downwelling
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    On the observability of oceanic gyres (2014)
    American Meteorological Society
    Details
    Publication Date: 2022-05-26
    Description: Author Posting. © American Meteorological Society, 2014. This article is posted here by permission of American Meteorological Society for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Physical Oceanography 44 (2014): 2498–2523, doi:10.1175/JPO-D-13-0183.1.
    Description: This study examines the observability of a stratified ocean in a square flat basin on a midlatitude beta plane. Here, “observability” means the ability to establish, in a finite interval of time, the time-dependent ocean state given density observations over the same interval and with no regard for errors. The dynamics is linearized and hydrostatic, so that the motion can be decomposed into normal modes and the observability analysis is simplified. An observability Gramian (a symmetric matrix) is determined for the flows in an inviscid interior, in frictional boundary layers, and in a closed basin. Its properties are used to establish the condition for complete observability and to identify optimal data locations for each of these flows. It is found that complete observability of an oceanic interior in time-dependent Sverdrup balance requires that the observations originate from the westernmost location at each considered latitude. The degree of observability increases westward due to westward propagation of long baroclinic Rossby waves: data collected in the west are more informative than data collected in the east. Likewise, the best locations for observing variability in the western (eastern) boundary layer are near (far from) the boundary. The observability of a closed basin is influenced by the westward propagation and the boundaries. Optimal data locations that are identified for different resolutions (0.01 to 1 yr) and lengths of data records (0.2 to 20 yr) show a variable influence of the planetary vorticity gradient. Data collected near the meridional boundaries appear always less informative, from the viewpoint of basin observability, than data collected away from these boundaries.
    Description: This work was supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation.
    Description: 2015-03-01
    Keywords: Circulation/ Dynamics ; Ocean circulation ; Rossby waves ; Mathematical and statistical techniques ; Inverse methods ; Variability ; Oceanic variability
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    On the circulation of Atlantic Water in the Arctic Ocean (2014)
    American Meteorological Society
    Details
    Publication Date: 2022-05-26
    Description: Author Posting. © American Meteorological Society, 2013. This article is posted here by permission of American Meteorological Society for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Physical Oceanography 43 (2013): 2352–2371, doi:10.1175/JPO-D-13-079.1.
    Description: An idealized eddy-resolving numerical model and an analytic three-layer model are used to develop ideas about what controls the circulation of Atlantic Water in the Arctic Ocean. The numerical model is forced with a surface heat flux, uniform winds, and a source of low-salinity water near the surface around the perimeter of an Arctic basin. Despite this idealized configuration, the model is able to reproduce many general aspects of the Arctic Ocean circulation and hydrography, including exchange through Fram Strait, circulation of Atlantic Water, a halocline, ice cover and transport, surface heat flux, and a Beaufort Gyre. The analytic model depends on a nondimensional number, and provides theoretical estimates of the halocline depth, stratification, freshwater content, and baroclinic shear in the boundary current. An empirical relationship between freshwater content and sea surface height allows for a prediction of the transport of Atlantic Water in the cyclonic boundary current. Parameters typical of the Arctic Ocean produce a cyclonic boundary current of Atlantic Water of O(1 − 2 Sv; where 1 Sv ≡ 106 m3 s−1) and a halocline depth of O(200 m), in reasonable agreement with observations. The theory compares well with a series of numerical model calculations in which mixing and environmental parameters are varied, thus lending credibility to the dynamics of the analytic model. In these models, lateral eddy fluxes from the boundary and vertical diffusion in the interior are important drivers of the halocline and the circulation of Atlantic Water in the Arctic Ocean.
    Description: This study was supported by the National Science Foundation under Grants OCE- 0850416, OCE-0959381, and OCE-1232389.
    Description: 2014-05-01
    Keywords: Arctic
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    Combined effect of rotation and topography on shoaling oceanic internal solitary waves (2014)
    American Meteorological Society
    Details
    Publication Date: 2022-05-26
    Description: Author Posting. © American Meteorological Society, 2014. This article is posted here by permission of American Meteorological Society for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Physical Oceanography 44 (2014): 1116–1132, doi:10.1175/JPO-D-13-0194.1.
    Description: Internal solitary waves commonly observed in the coastal ocean are often modeled by a nonlinear evolution equation of the Korteweg–de Vries type. Because these waves often propagate for long distances over several inertial periods, the effect of Earth’s background rotation is potentially significant. The relevant extension of the Kortweg–de Vries is then the Ostrovsky equation, which for internal waves does not support a steady solitary wave solution. Recent studies using a combination of asymptotic theory, numerical simulations, and laboratory experiments have shown that the long time effect of rotation is the destruction of the initial internal solitary wave by the radiation of small-amplitude inertia–gravity waves, and the eventual emergence of a coherent, steadily propagating, nonlinear wave packet. However, in the ocean, internal solitary waves are often propagating over variable topography, and this alone can cause quite dramatic deformation and transformation of an internal solitary wave. Hence, the combined effects of background rotation and variable topography are examined. Then the Ostrovsky equation is replaced by a variable coefficient Ostrovsky equation whose coefficients depend explicitly on the spatial coordinate. Some numerical simulations of this equation, together with analogous simulations using the Massachusetts Institute of Technology General Circulation Model (MITgcm), for a certain cross section of the South China Sea are presented. These demonstrate that the combined effect of shoaling and rotation is to induce a secondary trailing wave packet, induced by enhanced radiation from the leading wave.
    Description: KH was supported by Grants N00014-09-10227 and N00014-11-0701 from the Office of Naval Research.
    Description: 2014-10-01
    Keywords: Circulation/ Dynamics ; Internal waves ; Solitary waves ; Models and modeling ; Nonlinear models
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    Aerial imaging of fluorescent dye in the near shore (2014)
    American Meteorological Society
    Details
    Publication Date: 2022-05-26
    Description: Author Posting. © American Meteorological Society, 2014. This article is posted here by permission of American Meteorological Society for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology 31 (2014): 1410–1421, doi:10.1175/JTECH-D-13-00230.1.
    Description: Aerial images are used to quantify the concentration of fluorescent Rhodamine water tracing (WT) dye in turbid and optically deep water. Tracer releases near the shoreline of an ocean beach and near a tidal inlet were observed with a two-band multispectral camera and a pushbroom hyperspectral imager, respectively. The aerial observations are compared with near-surface in situ measurements. The ratio of upwelling radiance near the Rhodamine WT excitation and emission peaks varies linearly with the in situ dye concentrations for concentrations 〈20 ppb (r2 = 0.70 and r2 = 0.85–0.88 at the beach and inlet, respectively). The linear relationship allows for relative tracer concentration estimates without in situ calibration. The O(1 m) image pixels resolve complex flow structures on the inner shelf that transport and mix tracer.
    Description: We thank ONR and NSF for funding this work.
    Description: 2014-12-01
    Keywords: Coastal flows ; Mixing ; Transport ; Aircraft observations ; Remote sensing ; Tracers
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    Corrigendum : On the exchange of momentum over the open ocean (2014)
    American Meteorological Society
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    Publication Date: 2022-05-26
    Description: Author Posting. © American Meteorological Society, 2014. This article is posted here by permission of American Meteorological Society for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Physical Oceanography 44 (2014): 2590, doi:10.1175/JPO-D-14-0140.1.
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    Geometry, kinematics, and displacement characteristics of tear-fault systems: An example from the deep-water Niger Delta (2014)
    American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
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    Publication Date: 2014-03-04
    Description: We use three-dimensional seismic reflection data and new map-based structural restoration methods to define the displacement history and characteristics of a series of tear faults in the deep-water Niger Delta. Deformation in the deep-water Niger Delta is focused mostly within two fold-and-thrust belts that accommodate downdip shortening produced by updip extension on the continental shelf. This shortening is accommodated by a series of thrust sheets that are locally cut by strike-slip faults. Through seismic mapping and interpretation, we resolve these strike-slip faults to be tear faults that share a common detachment level with the thrust faults. Acting in conjunction, these structures have accommodated a north–south gradient in westward-directed shortening. We apply a map-based restoration technique implemented in Gocad to restore an upper stratigraphic horizon of the late Oligocene and use this analysis to calculate slip profiles along the strike-slip faults. The slip magnitudes and directions change abruptly along the lengths of the tear faults as they interact with numerous thrust sheets. The discontinuous nature of these slip profiles reflects the manner in which they have accommodated differential movement between the footwall and hanging-wall blocks of the thrust sheets. In cases for which the relationship between a strike-slip fault and multiple thrust faults is unclear, the recognition of this type of slip profile may distinguish thin-skinned tear faults from more conventional deep-seated, throughgoing strike-slip faults.
    Print ISSN: 0149-1423
    Electronic ISSN: 0149-1423
    Topics: Geosciences
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    Integrated reservoir characterization and simulation of a shallow, light-oil, low-temperature reservoir: Umiat field, National Petroleum Reserve, Alaska (2014)
    American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
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    Publication Date: 2014-03-04
    Description: Umiat field in northern Alaska is a shallow, light-oil accumulation with an estimated original oil in place of more than 1.5 billion bbl and 99 bcf associated gas. The field, discovered in 1946, was never considered viable because it is shallow, in permafrost, and far from any infrastructure. Modern drilling and production techniques now make Umiat a more attractive target if the behavior of a rock, ice, and light oil system at low pressure can be understood and simulated. The Umiat reservoir consists of shoreface and deltaic sandstones of the Cretaceous Nanushuk Formation deformed by a thrust-related anticline. Depositional environment imparts a strong vertical and horizontal permeability anisotropy to the reservoir that may be further complicated by diagenesis and open natural fractures. Experimental and theoretical studies indicate that there is a significant reduction in the relative permeability of oil in the presence of ice, with a maximum reduction when connate water is fresh and less reduction when water is saline. A representative Umiat oil sample was reconstituted by comparing the composition of a severely weathered Umiat fluid to a theoretical Umiat fluid composition derived using the Pedersen method. This sample was then used to determine fluid properties at reservoir conditions such as bubble point pressure, viscosity, and density. These geologic and engineering data were integrated into a simulation model that indicate recoveries of 12%–15% can be achieved over a 50-yr production period using cold gas injection from five well pads with a wagon-wheel configuration of multilateral wells.
    Print ISSN: 0149-1423
    Electronic ISSN: 0149-1423
    Topics: Geosciences
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    Evolution of shelf-margin clinoforms and deep-water fans during the middle Eocene in the Sorvestsnaget Basin, southwest Barents Sea (2014)
    American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
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    Publication Date: 2014-03-04
    Description: Interpretation of seismic data from the Sørvestsnaget Basin, southwest Barents Sea, demonstrates gradual middle Eocene basin infilling (from the north) generated by southward-prograding shelf-margin clinoforms. The basin experienced continued accommodation development during the middle Eocene because of differential subsidence caused by the onset of early Eocene sea-floor spreading in the Norwegian-Greenland Sea, faulting, salt movement, and different tectonic activity between the Sørvestsnaget Basin and Veslemøy high. During this time, the margin shows transformation from an initially high-relief margin to a progradation in the final stage. The early stage of progradation is characterized by the establishment of generally oblique clinoform shifts creating a flat shelf-edge trajectory that implies a gentle falling or stable relative sea level and low accommodation-to-sediment supply ratio (〈1) in the topsets. During the early stage of basin development, the high-relief margin, narrow shelf, stable or falling relative sea level, seismicity, and presumably high sedimentation rate caused accumulation of thick and areally extensive deep-water fans. Seismic-scale sandstone injections deform the fans. A fully prograding margin developed when the shelf-to-basin profile lowered, apparently because of increased subsidence of the northern part. This stage of the basin development is generally characterized by the presence of sigmoid clinoform shifts creating an ascending shelf-edge trajectory that is implying steady or rising relative sea level with an accommodation-to-sediment supply ratio of greater than 1, implying sand accumulation on the shelf. This study suggests that some volume of sand was transported into the deep water during relative sea level rise considering the narrow shelf and inferred high rates of sediment supply.
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    Athabasca oil sands: Megatrap restoration and charge timing (2014)
    American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
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    Publication Date: 2014-03-04
    Description: The petroleum trap for the Athabasca oil sands has remained elusive because it was destroyed by flexural loading of the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin during the Late Cretaceous and Paleocene. The original trap extent is preserved because the oil was biodegraded to immobile bitumen as the trap was being charged during the Late Cretaceous. Using well and outcrop data, it is possible to reconstruct the Cretaceous overburden horizons beyond the limit of present-day erosion. Sequential restoration of the reconstructed horizons reveals a megatrap at the top of the Wabiskaw-McMurray reservoir in the Athabasca area at 84 Ma (late Santonian). The megatrap is a four-way anticline with dimensions 285 x 125 km (177 x 78 mi) and maximum amplitude of 60 m (197 ft). The southeastern margin of the anticline shows good conformance to the bitumen edge for 140 km (87 mi). To the northeast of the anticline, bitumen is present in a shallower trap domain in what is interpreted to be an onlap trap onto the Canadian Shield; leakage along the onlap edge is indicated by tarry bitumen outliers preserved in basement rocks farther to the northeast. Peripheral trap domains that lie below the paleospillpoint, in northern, southern, and southwestern Athabasca, and Wabasca, are interpreted to represent a late charge of oil that was trapped by bitumen already emplaced in the anticline and the northeastern onlap trap. This is consistent with kimberlite intrusions containing live bitumen, which indicate that the northern trap domain was charged not before 78 Ma. The trap restoration has been tested using bitumen-water contact well picks. The restored picks fall into groups that are consistent both with the trap domains determined from the top reservoir restoration and the conceptual charge model in which the four-way anticline was filled first, followed by the northeastern onlap trap, and then the peripheral trap domains.
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    Constraining the origin of reservoirs formed by sandstone intrusions: Insights from heavy mineral studies of the Eocene in the Forties area, United Kingdom central North Sea (2014)
    American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
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    Publication Date: 2014-03-04
    Description: The presence of hydrocarbon-bearing sandstones within the Eocene of the Forties area was first documented in 1985, when a Forties field (Paleocene) development well discovered the Brimmond field. Further hydrocarbons in the Eocene were discovered in the adjacent Maule field in 2009. Reservoir geometry derived from three-dimensional seismic data has provided evidence for both a depositional and a sand injectite origin for the Eocene sandstones. The Brimmond field is located in a deep-water channel complex that extends to the southeast, whereas the Maule field sandstones have the geometry of an injection sheet on the updip margin of the Brimmond channel system with a cone-shape feature emanating from the top of the Forties Sandstone Member (Paleocene). The geometry of the Eocene sandstones in the Maule field indicates that they are intrusive and originated by the fluidization and injection of sand during burial. From seismic and borehole data, it is unclear whether the sand that was injected to form the Maule reservoir was derived from depositional Eocene sandstones or from the underlying Forties Sandstone Member. These two alternatives are tested by comparing the heavy mineral and garnet geochemical characteristics of the injectite sandstones in the Maule field with the depositional sandstones of the Brimmond field and the Forties sandstones of the Forties field. The study revealed significant differences between the sandstones in the Forties field and those of the Maule and Brimmond fields), both in terms of heavy mineral and garnet geochemical data. The Brimmond-Maule and Forties sandstones therefore have different provenances and are genetically unrelated, indicating that the sandstones in the Maule field did not originate by the fluidization of Forties sandstones. By contrast, the provenance characteristics of the depositional Brimmond sandstones are closely comparable with sandstone intrusions in the Maule field. We conclude that the injectites in the Maule field formed by the fluidization of depositional Brimmond sandstones but do not exclude the important function of water from the huge underlying Forties Sandstone Member aquifer as the agent for developing the fluid supply and elevating pore pressure to fluidize and inject the Eocene sand. The study has demonstrated that heavy mineral provenance studies are an effective method of tracing the origin of injected sandstones, which are increasingly being recognized as an important hydrocarbon play.
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  • 64
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    Sequence stratigraphy and depositional environments of the Shamokin (Union Springs) Member, Marcellus Formation, and associated strata in the middle Appalachian Basin (2014)
    American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
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    Publication Date: 2014-03-04
    Description: Organic-carbon–rich shales of the lower Marcellus Formation were deposited at the toe and basinward of a prograding clinothem associated with a Mahantango Formation delta complex centered near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Distribution of these organic-carbon–rich shales was influenced by shifts in the delta complex driven by changes in rates of accommodation creation and by a topographically high carbonate bank that formed along the Findlay-Algonquin arch during deposition of the Onondaga Formation. Specifically, we interpret the Union Springs member (Shamokin Member of the Marcellus Formation) and the Onondaga Formation as comprising a single third-order depositional sequence. The Onondaga Formation was deposited in the lowstand to transgressive systems tract, and the Union Springs member was deposited in the transgressive, highstand, and falling-stage systems tract. The regional extent of parasequences, systems tracts, and the interpreted depositional sequence suggest that base-level fluctuations were primarily caused by allogenic forcing—eustasy, climate, or regional thermal uplift or subsidence—instead of basement fault reactivation as argued by previous workers. Paleowater depths in the region of Marcellus Formation black mudrock accumulation were at least 330 ft (100 m) as estimated by differences in strata thickness between the northwestern carbonate bank and basinal facies to the southeast. Geochemical analysis indicates anoxic to euxinic bottom-water conditions. These conditions were supported by a deep, stratified basin with a lack of circulation.
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    The petrophysical and petrographical properties of hyaloclastite deposits: Implications for petroleum exploration (2014)
    American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
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    Publication Date: 2014-03-04
    Description: Offshore sequences of volcaniclastic rocks (such as hyaloclastite deposits) are poorly understood in terms of their rock properties and their response to compaction and burial. As petroleum exploration targets offshore volcanic rifted margins worldwide, understanding of volcanic rock properties becomes important both in terms of drilling and how the rocks may behave as seals, reservoirs, or permeability pathways. The Hawaiian Scientific Drilling Project phase II in 2001 obtained a 3 km-(2-mi)-long core of volcanic and volcaniclastic rocks that records the emergence of the largest of the Hawaiian islands. Core recovery of 2945 m (9662 ft) resulted in an unparalleled data set of volcanic and volcaniclastic rocks. Detailed logging, optical petrology, and major element analysis of two sections at depths 1831–1870 and 2530–2597 m (6007–6135 and 8300–8520 ft) are compared to recovered petrophysical logs (gamma ray, resistivity, and P-wave velocity). This study concludes deviation in petrophysical properties does not seem to correlate to changes in grain size or clast sorting, but instead correlates with alteration type (zeolite component) and bulk mineralogy (total olivine phenocryst percentage component). These data sets are important in helping to calibrate well-log responses through hyaloclastite intervals in areas of active petroleum exploration such as the North Atlantic (e.g., Faroe-Shetland Basin, United Kingdom, and Faroe Islands, the Norwegian margin and South Atlantic margins bordering Brazil and Angola).
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    Prediction of channel connectivity and fluvial style in the flood-basin successions of the Upper Permian Rangal coal measures (Queensland) (2014)
    American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
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    Publication Date: 2014-02-03
    Description: Predicting the presence and connectivity of reservoir-quality facies in otherwise mud-prone fluvial overbank successions is important because such sand bodies can potentially provide connectivity between larger neighboring sand bodies. This article addresses minor channelized fluvial elements (crevasse-splay and distributary channels) and attempts to predict the connectivity between such sand bodies in two interseam packages of the Upper Permian Rangal Coal Measures of northeastern Australia. Channel-body percent as measured in well logs was 2% in the upper (Aries-Castor) interseam and 17% in the lower (Castor-Pollux) interseam. Well spacing were too great to allow accurate correlation of channel bodies. The Ob River, Siberia, was used as a modern analog to supply planform geometric measurements of splay and distributary channels so that stochastic modeling of channel bodies was possible. The resulting models demonstrated that (1) channel-body connectivity is more uniform between minor distributary channels than between crevasse-splay channels; (2) relatively good connectivity is seen in proximal positions in splays but decreases distally from the source as channel elements diverge; and (3) connectivity tends to be greater down the axis of splays, with more isolated channel bodies occurring at the margins.
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    A surprising asymmetric paleothermal anomaly around El Gordo diapir, La Popa Basin, Mexico (2014)
    American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
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    Publication Date: 2014-02-03
    Description: Thirty-seven mudstone samples were collected from the uppermost Lower Mudstone Member of the Potrerillos Formation in El Gordo minibasin within La Popa Basin, Mexico. The unit is exposed in a circular pattern at the earth's surface and is intersected by El Gordo diapir in the northeast part of the minibasin. Vitrinite reflectance (R o ) results show that samples along the eastern side of the minibasin (i.e., south of the diapir) are mostly thermally immature to low maturity (R o ranges from 0.53% to 0.64%). Vitrinite values along the southern, western, and northwestern part of the minibasin range between 0.67% and 0.85%. Values of R o immediately northwest of the diapir are the highest, reaching a maximum of 1.44%. The results are consistent with two different possibilities: (1) that the diapir plunges to the northwest, or (2) that a focused high-temperature heat flow existed along just the northwest margin of the diapir. If the plunging diapir interpretation is correct, then the thermally immature area south of the diapir was in a subsalt position, and the high-maturity area northwest of the diapir was in a suprasalt position prior to Tertiary uplift and erosion. If a presumed salt source at depth to the northwest of El Gordo also fed El Papalote diapir, which is located just to the north of El Gordo diapir, then the tabular halokinetic sequences that are found only along the east side of El Papalote may be subsalt features. However, if the diapir is subvertical and the high-maturity values northwest of the diapir are caused by prolonged, high-temperature fluid flow along just the northwestern margin of the diapir, then both of these scenarios are in disagreement with previously published numerical models. This disagreement arises because the models predict that thermal anomalies will extend outward from a diapir a distance roughly 1.5 times the radius of the diapir, but the results reported here show that the anomalous values on one side of the diapir are about two times the radius, whereas they are as much as five times the radius on the other side of the diapir. The results indicate that strata adjacent to salt margins may experience significantly different heat histories adjacent to different margins of diapirs that result in strikingly different diagenetic histories, even at the same depth.
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    Evaluation of hydrocarbon generation and migration in the Molasse fold and thrust belt(Central Eastern Alps, Austria) using structural and thermal basin models (2014)
    American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
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    Publication Date: 2014-02-03
    Description: The Molasse Basin represents the northern foreland basin of the Alps. After decades of exploration, it is considered to be mature in terms of hydrocarbon exploration. However, geological evolution and hydrocarbon potential of its imbricated southernmost part (Molasse fold and thrust belt) are still poorly understood. In this study, structural and petroleum systems models are integrated to explore the hydrocarbon potential of the Perwang imbricates in the western part of the Austrian Molasse Basin. The structural model shows that total tectonic shortening in the modeled north–south section is at least 32.3 km (20.1 mi) and provides a realistic input for the petroleum systems model. Formation temperatures show present-day heat flows decreasing toward the south from 60 to 41 mW/m 2 . Maturity data indicate very low paleoheat flows decreasing southward from 43 to 28 mW/m 2 . The higher present-day heat flow probably indicates an increase in heat flow during the Pliocene and Pleistocene. Apart from oil generated below the imbricated zone and captured in autochthonous Molasse rocks in the foreland area, oil stains in the Perwang imbricates and oil-source rock correlations argue for a second migration system based on hydrocarbon generation inside the imbricates. This assumption is supported by the models presented in this study. However, the model-derived low transformation ratios (〈20%) indicate a charge risk. In addition, the success for future exploration strongly depends on the existence of migration conduits along the thrust planes during charge and on potential traps retaining their integrity during recent basin uplift.
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    Sequence stratigraphy of the Eocene turbidite reservoirs in Albacora field, Campos Basin, offshore Brazil (2014)
    American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
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    Publication Date: 2014-02-03
    Description: This article describes a 250-m (820-ft)-thick upper Eocene deep-water clastic succession. This succession is divided into two reservoir zones: the lower sandstone zone (LSZ) and the upper sandstone zone, separated by a package of pelitic rocks with variable thickness on the order of tens of meters. The application of sequence-stratigraphic methodology allowed the subdivision of this stratigraphic section into third-order systems tracts. The LSZ is characterized by blocky and fining-upward beds on well logs, and includes interbedded shale layers of as much as 10 m (33 ft) thick. This zone reaches a maximum thickness of 150 m (492 ft) and fills a trough at least 4 km (2 mi) wide, underlain by an erosional surface. The lower part of this zone consists of coarse- to medium-grained sandstones with good vertical pressure communication. We interpret this unit as vertically and laterally amalgamated channel-fill deposits of high-density turbidity flows accumulated during late forced regression. The sandstones in the upper part of this trough are dominantly medium to fine grained and display an overall fining-upward trend. We interpret them as laterally amalgamated channel-fill deposits of lower density turbidity flows, relative to the ones in the lower part of the LSZ, accumulated during lowstand to early transgression. The pelitic rocks that separate the two sandstone zones display variable thickness, from 35 to more than 100 m (115–〉328 ft), indistinct seismic facies, and no internal markers on well logs, and consist of muddy diamictites with contorted shale rip-up clasts. This section is interpreted as cohesive debris flows and/or mass-transported slumps accumulated during late transgression. The upper sandstone zone displays a weakly defined blocky well-log signature, where the proportion of sand is higher than 80%, and a jagged well-log signature, where the sand proportion is lower than 60%. The high proportions of sand are associated with a channelized geometry that is well delineated on seismic amplitude maps. Several depositional elements are identified within this zone, including leveed channels, crevasse channels, and splays associated with turbidity flows. This package is interpreted as the product of increased terrigenous sediment supply during highstand normal regression.
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    Subsalt pressure prediction in the Miocene Mad Dog field, Gulf of Mexico (2014)
    American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
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    Publication Date: 2014-02-03
    Description: Sandstone pressures follow the hydrostatic gradient in Miocene strata of the Mad Dog field, deep-water Gulf of Mexico, whereas pore pressures in the adjacent mudstones track a trend from well to well that can be approximated by the total vertical stress gradient. The sandstone pressures within these strata are everywhere less than the bounding mudstone pore pressures, and the difference between them is proportional to the total vertical stress. The mudstone pressure is predicted from its porosity with an exponential porosity-versus-vertical effective stress relationship, where porosity is interpreted from wireline velocity. Sonic velocities in mudstones bounding the regional sandstones fall within a narrow range throughout the field from which we interpret their vertical effective stresses can be approximated as constant. We show how to predict sandstone and mudstone pore pressure in any offset well at Mad Dog given knowledge of the local total vertical stress. At Mad Dog, the approach is complicated by the extraordinary lateral changes in total vertical stress that are caused by changing bathymetry and the presence or absence of salt. A similar approach can be used in other subsalt fields. We suggest that pore pressures within mudstones can be systematically different from those of the nearby sandstones, and that this difference can be predicted. Well programs must ensure that the borehole pressure is not too low, which results in borehole closure in the mudstone intervals, and not too high, which can result in lost circulation to the reservoir intervals.
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    Gas saturation and CO2 enhancement potential of coalbed methane reservoirs as a function of depth (2014)
    American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
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    Publication Date: 2014-02-03
    Description: The influence of moisture, temperature, coal rank, and differential enthalpy on the methane (CH 4 ) and carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) sorption capacity of coals of different rank has been investigated by using high-pressure sorption isotherms at 303, 318, and 333 K (CH 4 ) and 318, 333, and 348 K (CO 2 ), respectively. The variation of sorption capacity was studied as a function of burial depth of coal seams using the corresponding Langmuir parameters in combination with a geothermal gradient of 0.03 K/m and a normal hydrostatic pressure gradient. Taking the gas content corresponding to 100% gas saturation at maximum burial depth as a reference value, the theoretical CH 4 saturation after the uplift of the coal seam was computed as a function of depth. According to these calculations, the change in sorption capacity caused by changing pressure, temperature conditions during uplift will lead consistently to high saturation values. Therefore, the commonly observed undersaturation of coal seams is most likely related to dismigration (losses into adjacent formations and atmosphere). Finally, we attempt to identify sweet spots for CO 2 -enhanced coalbed methane (CO 2 -ECBM) production. The CO 2 -ECBM is expected to become less effective with increasing depth because the CO 2 -to-CH 4 sorption capacity ratio decreases with increasing temperature and pressure. Furthermore, CO 2 -ECBM efficiency will decrease with increasing maturity because of the highest sorption capacity ratio and affinity difference between CO 2 and CH 4 for low mature coals.
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    Geologic and baseline groundwater evidence for naturally occurring, shallowly sourced, thermogenic gas in northeastern Pennsylvania (2014)
    American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
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    Publication Date: 2014-02-03
    Description: The origin of thermogenic natural gas in the shallow stratigraphy of northeastern Pennsylvania is associated, in part, with interbedded coal identified in numerous outcrops of the Upper Devonian Catskill and Lock Haven Formations. Historically documented and newly identified locations of Upper Devonian coal stringers are shown to be widespread, both laterally across the region and vertically throughout the stratigraphic section of the Catskill and Lock Haven Formations. Coal samples exhibited considerable gas source potential with total organic carbon as high as 44.40% by weight, with a mean of 13.66% for 23 sample locations analyzed. Upper Devonian coal is thermogenically mature; calculated vitrinite reflectances range from 1.25% to 2.89%, with most samples falling within the dry-gas window. Source potential is further supported by gas shows observed while drilling through shallow, identifiable coal horizons, which are at times located within fresh groundwater aquifers. Thermogenic gas detected in area water wells during predrill baseline sampling is determined not only to be naturally occurring, but also common in the region.
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    Effect of pore structure on the producibility of tight-gas sandstones (2014)
    American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
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    Publication Date: 2014-04-03
    Description: The estimated ultimate recovery (EUR) is one of the most significant properties of tight-gas sandstone reservoirs, but it remains difficult to predict. Estimated ultimate recovery is dependent on the success of stimulation by hydraulic fracturing, the existence and connectivity of natural fractures, and as illustrated in this article, the pore structure of the matrix. Here, we analyze the lab measurements that are indicative of the pore structure, and then we predict the effect of pore structure on producibility. We develop a relationship between the EUR of tight-gas sandstones and their petrophysical properties measured by drainage and imbibition tests (mercury intrusion, withdrawal, and porous plate) and by resistivity analyses. We use the ratio of residual mercury saturation after mercury withdrawal ( S gr ) to initial mercury saturation ( S gi ), which is the saturation at the start of withdrawal, as a measure of gas likely to be trapped in the matrix during production and, hence, a proxy for EUR. A multitype pore space model is required to explain mercury intrusion capillary pressures in these rocks. Implications of this model are supported by other available laboratory measurements. The model comprises a conventional network model and a treelike pore structure (an acyclic network) that mimic the intergranular and intragranular void spaces, respectively. The notion of the treelike pore structure is introduced here for the first time in the context of tight-gas sandstones. Applying the multitype model to porous plate data, we classify the pore spaces of rocks into intergranular dominant, intermediate, and intragranular dominant. This pore space classification is topological and is not based on scale or size. These classes have progressively less drainage and imbibition hysteresis, which leads to the prediction that significantly more hydrocarbon is recoverable from intragranular porosity than intergranular porosity. Available field data (production logs) corroborate the higher producibility of intervals with intragranular porosity, although the data are not sufficient to eliminate the possible contribution of other factors such as size and shape of the volume contacted by hydraulic fractures or the presence and attributes of natural fractures. The superior recovery of hydrocarbon from intragranular-dominant pore structures is despite its inferior initial production rate.
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    Geologic and seismic modeling of a coarse-grained deep-water channel reservoir analog (Black's Beach, La Jolla, California) (2014)
    American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
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    Publication Date: 2014-04-03
    Description: The Ardath Shale and Scripps Formation exposed along Black’s Beach north of La Jolla, California, record a deep-water channelized slope system of an Eocene forearc basin. The outcrop exposure, which is approximately 100 m (330 ft) high by 1.7 km (~1 mi) long, offers insight into reservoir distribution and connectivity within coarse-grained, confined, deep-water channel systems. To use this outcrop as a quantitative subsurface analog, a detailed two-dimensional lithologic model was constructed from measured sections and interpreted photopanels. Elastic rock properties, including compressional-wave velocity, shear-wave velocity, and density typical of shallow offshore west African reservoirs were used to construct an impedance model. This model was convolved with 15-, 25-, and 50-Hz quadrature-phase Ricker wavelets to generate near- and far-angle stack one-dimensional and two-dimensional synthetic seismic reflection models. Because deep-water lithofacies have distinct amplitude-variation-with-offset behaviors and the interpretation of surfaces is intimately coupled with predicting lithofacies, simple bed interface models of conglomerate, sandstone, interbedded sandstone and mudstone, and muddy sandy debrite were used to build a template for successful interpretation. Interpretation of these forward seismic models demonstrates (1) the limits of and uncertainty associated with the interpretation of seismic data at different frequencies commonly encountered in the exploration, development, and production of deep-water reservoirs; and (2) how the combination of near- and far-angle seismic data can be used to interpret channel-fill lithofacies and improve seismic interpretation. Large-scale channel complex set surfaces with significant impedance contrast (e.g., conglomerate overlying interbedded sandstone and mudstone) are readily interpretable at all frequencies with an increasing vertical error of 5 to 30 m (16 to 98 ft) from 50 to 15 Hz, respectively. Channel and channel complex surfaces can only be accurately mapped on the 50-Hz data, albeit with significant uncertainty. Near- to far-angle stack changes enable the identification of upward-fining, amalgamated, and fine-grained channel-fill lithofacies. Far-angle seismic reflections can provide a more detailed image of boundaries defining channel architecture and reservoir facies distribution.
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    Sedimentology, stratigraphy, and reservoir properties of an unconventional, shallow, frozen petroleum reservoir in the Cretaceous Nanushuk Formation at Umiat field, North Slope, Alaska (2014)
    American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
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    Publication Date: 2014-04-03
    Description: Numerous oil and gas accumulations exist in the Brooks Range foothills of the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska (NPRA). We use cores and well logs from 12 abandoned legacy wells at Umiat field, near the southeastern boundary of the NPRA, to characterize the sedimentology and stratigraphy of unconventional shallow frozen reservoirs in sandstones of the Cretaceous (Albian–Cenomanian) Nanushuk Formation. The Nanushuk Formation at Umiat has five facies associations: offshore and prodelta, lower shoreface, upper shoreface, delta front, and delta plain. Three stratigraphically distinct, regionally extensive Nanushuk Formation depositional systems at Umiat contain several potential petroleum reservoirs. The lower Nanushuk Formation, including a reservoir interval known informally as the lower Grandstand, primarily consists of marine mudstone and shoreface sandstones. The middle Nanushuk Formation is dominantly deltaic and contains a second major reservoir interval in the informal upper Grandstand sandstone. Both the upper Grandstand and lower Grandstand are regressive. The transgressive upper Nanushuk Formation contains an additional potential reservoir interval in shoreface sandstones of the informal Ninuluk interval. The primary reservoir intervals at Umiat field are upper shoreface and delta-front sandstones in the upper Grandstand and lower Grandstand, where increased sorting and decreased bioturbation in high-energy depositional environments affect overall permeability and permeability anisotropy.
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    A comparative study of reservoir modeling techniques and their impact on predicted performance of fluvial-dominated deltaic reservoirs (2014)
    American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
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    Publication Date: 2014-04-03
    Description: Multiple techniques are available to construct three-dimensional reservoir models. This study uses comparative analysis to test the impact of applying four commonly used stochastic modeling techniques to capture geologic heterogeneity and fluid-flow behavior in fluvial-dominated deltaic reservoirs of complex facies architecture: (1) sequential indicator simulation; (2) object-based modeling; (3) multiple-point statistics (MPS); and (4) spectral component geologic modeling. A reference for comparison is provided by a high-resolution model of an outcrop analog that captures facies architecture at the scale of parasequences, delta lobes, and facies-association belts. A sparse, pseudosubsurface data set extracted from the reference model is used to condition models constructed using each stochastic reservoir modeling technique. Models constructed using all four algorithms fail to match the facies-association proportions of the reference model because they are conditioned to well data that sample a small, unrepresentative volume of the reservoir. Simulated sweep efficiency is determined by the degree to which the modeling algorithms reproduce two aspects of facies architecture that control sand-body connectivity: (1) the abundance, continuity, and orientation of channelized fluvial sand bodies; and (2) the lateral continuity of barriers to vertical flow associated with flooding surfaces. The MPS algorithm performs best in this regard. However, the static and dynamic performance of the models (as measured against facies-association proportions, facies architecture, and recovery factor of the reference model) is more dependent on the quality and quantity of conditioning data and on the interpreted geologic scenario(s) implicit in the models than on the choice of modeling technique.
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    Dolomites of the Boat Harbour Formation in the Northern Peninsula, western Newfoundland, Canada: Implications for dolomitization history and porosity control (2014)
    American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
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    Publication Date: 2014-04-03
    Description: The Boat Harbour Formation constitutes the upper part of the Lower Ordovician St. George Group on the Northern Peninsula, western Newfoundland. It ranges in thickness from 140 m (459 ft) at Main Brook to 96 m (315 ft) at Daniel's Harbour. Dolomitization of the carbonate sequence is more pervasive in the lower 30 to 40 m (98 to 131 ft) at Main Brook, whereas at Daniel's Harbour, the section is entirely dolomitized. Petrography suggests that the Boat Harbour Formation has been affected by three phases of dolomitization. The earliest (near surface or synsedimentary) phase is D1 dolomicrite (4–55 μm), which exhibits dull to no luminescence. It commonly occurs as laminae-capping cycles and as breccias in the younger dolomite phases. It has low Sr (228 ± 30 ppm) and an average 18 O value of –6.0 ± 0.8 (Vienna Peedee belemnite [VPDB]) in the Main Brook section but more depleted signatures for 18 O of –8.8 ± 1 (VPDB) and lower Sr contents (45 ± 8 ppm) in the Daniel's Harbour section. The geochemical composition suggests that D1 was developed from fluids of a mixture of meteoric and marine waters. The midburial phase D2 dolomite consists of coarse planar subeuhedral crystals (30–400 μm) that show concentric cathodoluminescence zoning and are also crosscut by microstylolites. Its 18 O values range between –6.6 ± 1.3 (VPDB) at Main Brook and –9.0 ± 0.5 (VPDB) at Daniel's Harbour. This dolomite likely precipitated from fluids that circulated through crustal rocks with progressive burial ( T h value of 114°C ± 11°C and salinity value of 23 ± 1.8 eq. wt. % NaCl). The late-stage D3 dolomite has large and coarse nonplanar crystals (125 μm–7 mm) that exhibit sweeping extinction under crossed polars, which is characteristic of saddle dolomite and also sometimes shows thin brightly luminescent rims. It was likely precipitated during deeper burial in pulses and from hot fluids ( T h values of 148°C ± 19°C and 115°C ± 19.6°C and mean salinities of 23 ± 2 and 22 ± 2 eq. wt. % NaCl at Main Brook and Daniel's Harbour, respectively). This is also supported by their relatively more depleted 18 O (–11.1 ± 1.2 and –12.3 ± 1.4 VPDB, respectively) and low Sr contents (88 ± 36 and 38 ± 5.9 ppm, respectively). Porosity in the Boat Harbour Formation is mainly associated with the midburial D2 dolomite. Intercrystalline porosity is the dominant type, and it ranges in the formation from less than 1% to 8% at Main Brook and from 7% to 12% at Daniel's Harbour. Vugs are less common but are associated with D3 dolomite. The porous zone in the formation at Main Brook starts approximately 10 to 15 m (33 to 49 ft) below the lower Boat Harbour disconformity and extends down to the lower formational boundary, whereas porous zones in the formation at Daniel's Harbour are indiscriminately distributed throughout the section.
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    Modern internal waves and internal tides along oceanic pycnoclines: Challenges and implications for ancient deep-marine baroclinic sands: Discussion (2014)
    American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
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    Publication Date: 2014-04-03
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    Structural analysis of a salt-cored transfer zone in the South Timbalier Block 54, offshore Gulf of Mexico: Implications for restoration of salt-related extensional structures (2014)
    American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
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    Publication Date: 2014-04-03
    Description: The style of faulting in offshore Louisiana, Gulf of Mexico, is characterized by short, arcuate regional and counterregional growth faults, which commonly form complex transfer zones above shallow, Miocene level salt bodies. South Timbalier Block 54 (ST54) constitutes one such area where a basinward-dipping regional and a landward-dipping counterregional growth fault form a convergent transfer zone. Structural interpretation using three-dimensional (3-D) seismic and well data reveals that the eastern and western flanks of the structure contain salt in the footwalls of the main regional and counterregional faults. The salt rises to a much shallower stratigraphic level in the central part of the transfer zone, forming a symmetric salt diapir. Secondary antithetic and synthetic faults adjacent to the two main faults and extending into the transfer zone accommodate slip between the main faults. Kinematic restoration of a series of north–south-trending cross sections across the structure show that upslope evacuation of salt is the result of sediment loading and growth fault movement, and the location of the transfer zone is possibly controlled by the allochthonous salt. The entire area is characterized by down-to-basin movement, with the major regional and counterregional faults displaying footwall and hanging-wall fixed deformation, respectively. The presence of the crestal graben above the salt high and the timing of maximum salt evacuation from the flanks suggest that active or reactive diapirism occurred during part of the deformation history. A 3-D structural model using depth-converted horizons, balanced cross sections, and well tops accurately portrays the subsurface structure. Understanding the evolution of the structure in ST54 provides insight on similar structures in other areas in offshore Louisiana and the relationship between salt evacuation and transfer zone development.
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    Modern internal waves and internal tides along oceanic pycnoclines: Challenges and implications for ancient deep-marine baroclinic sands: Reply (2014)
    American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
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    Publication Date: 2014-04-03
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  • 81
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    Assessing the internal character, reservoir potential, and seal competence of mass-transport deposits using seismic texture: A geophysical and petrophysical approach (2014)
    American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
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    Publication Date: 2014-04-03
    Description: Three-dimensional (3-D) seismic volumes from southeast Brazil, southeast Japan, and borehole data from the Ocean Drilling and Integrated Ocean Drilling Programs are used to demonstrate a new method to distinguish mass-transport deposits (MTDs) from confining hemipelagites, quantify MTDs internal architecture, and assess their reservoir potential or seal competence—the contrast, directionality, energy (CDE) method. The CDE values extracted from 3-D seismic data can be tied to any ground-truthed property of strata regardless of their depositional history, age, and lithology. The application of the CDE method is, however, dependent on seismic-data acquisition parameters and selected processing sequences and should be independently applied to different seismic volumes. Borehole data indicate contrast (C) to reflect MTDs lithological heterogeneity and degree of disaggregation, which increase proportionally to the absolute value of C. More uniform values of P-wave velocity ( V p ) and peak shear strength are recorded in strata with lower contrast. Directionality (D) relates to the existence of syn- or postdepositional fabric such as compressional ridges, imbricated strata or faults. Energy (E) relates to the acoustic impedance of strata, with high-amplitude reflections correlating with strata with higher shear strength, i.e., high V p and shear-wave velocity ( V s ) values, or with abrupt contrasts in density (bright spots). This work shows that distinct values of C, D, and E reflect variable degrees of vertical and horizontal connectivity in strata and, consequently, their seal and reservoir potential. The CDE values are thus subdivided in nine classes, which are represented in ternary plots to cover the full spectrum of MTDs and any confining strata. As a result, the data in this article confirm that lower seal competence, and higher reservoir potential, is recorded in strata with large D or moderate CDE values.
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  • 82
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    Deformation conditions for fracturing in the Middle Devonian sequence of the central Appalachians during the Late Paleozoic Alleghenian orogeny (2014)
    American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
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    Publication Date: 2014-10-28
    Description: In the central Appalachians, fluid inclusion microthermometry and oxygen and carbon stable isotope analysis vein minerals from the Middle Devonian shale section show that fluid conditions (pressure, temperature, and composition) are constantly changing during deformation and vary spatially across the fold-thrust belt. The earliest fractures in the region formed prior to folding, early during the Alleghenian orogeny as the rocks were buried into the oil generation window. They contain minerals that contain degraded hydrocarbon inclusions and basinal brine inclusions. During multiple vein reopening events, later mineral stages contain increasingly more mature hydrocarbon fluids. Late quartz mineralization is pervasive and typically contains the high-temperature brine inclusions. The vein opening history is related to changes in fluid connectivity associated with (1) burial by over-thrusting and/or syntectonic depositional loading and/or (2) folding during uplift and erosion. Initial fracture formation and fluid-trapping depths range from 3.5 km (2.2 mi) in the Plateau province and along the Appalachian structural front to 4.5 to 5.0 km (2.8 to 3.1 mi) in the Valley and Ridge province. Late-stage fracturing and fracture reopening is related to the maximum syntectonic burial, which varies from about 4 km (2.5 mi) in the Plateau to over 11 km (6.8 mi) in the Valley and Ridge. Fractures in the Valley and Ridge and western Pennsylvania Plateau provinces cannot be categorized into the simple $${\mathrm{J}}_{1}$$ and $${\mathrm{J}}_{2}$$ classification model. Burial history modeling indicates that fractures forming within and near the end of the oil window were NNW- and NW-striking, not ENE-striking, $${\mathrm{J}}_{1}$$ fractures.
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    The concept of joint saturation and its application (2014)
    American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
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    Publication Date: 2014-10-28
    Description: Two of the major joint-driving mechanisms are joint-normal stretching and poroelastic shrinkage, and these lead to joint sets commonly associated with structural bending and natural hydraulic fracturing, respectively. Regardless of joint-driving mechanism, joint infilling is a nonhomogeneous Poisson process in the presence of stress shadows. Through probability modeling, we show that in all cases joint spacing is best fit with gamma distributions. The shape parameter of the best-fit gamma distribution to joint-spacing data is a quantitative means to assess the extent of saturation, which is represented in a new parameter, the joint-saturation ratio (JSR). To test the utility of JSR, we call upon published structural bending joint data (Elk Basin, Lilstock, and Rives plate-bending experiment). The shape parameters for these well-developed structural bending joints are equal to around three, corresponding to a JSR of approximately 30%. Using the same analysis on the spacing of natural hydraulic fractures collected from outcrops in the gas-prone Devonian sections of the Appalachian Basin, we find that natural hydraulic fractures differ in two aspects from structural bending joints. First, the joint spacing is proportional to bed thickness in bedded rocks but not in gas shale sections. Second, the joint saturation of natural hydraulic fractures is generally lower than in well-developed structural bending joints. Thus, the JSR is a means to distinguish the joint-driving mechanism and to represent joint-saturation level independent of bed thickness effects. It can be used to distinguish natural fractures from drilling-induced fractures and to improve the fracture-network modeling.
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    Characterization and development of subsurface fractures observed in the Marcellus Formation, Appalachian Plateau, north-central Pennsylvania (2014)
    American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
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    Publication Date: 2014-10-28
    Description: We report on subsurface deformation features measured from recently acquired core and image logs from the Marcellus Formation in north-central Pennsylvania, supplemented with data collected from Valley and Ridge outcrop. The subsurface data are from an area that bridges a gap in existing published data between outcrop in the Valley and Ridge province of Pennsylvania and the relatively undeformed outcrop exposed on the Appalachian Plateau of New York. We find one distinct set of vertical veins that strike orthogonal to Appalachian Plateau fold axes and an associated set of low-angle reverse faults and stylolites that strike parallel to fold axes. As the trend of the fold axes changes around the Pennsylvania salient, the trend of associated mesostructures changes to maintain kinematic compatibility with the shortening direction change along the salient. These structures are interpreted to support a single, although possibly protracted, strain event during Alleghanian deformation, as opposed to multiple events previously interpreted to occur in different regions and stratigraphic levels within the fold belt. The veins are associated with clusters of bedding-plane slip surfaces, which are found at distinct mechanical stratigraphic positions where the competence contrast between shale and stiff limestone units is greatest. We interpret this association to indicate that bed parallel-shear within detachment zones provides the sufficient driving force required to nucleate vertical veins, and the decoupling of beds accommodates extension orthogonal to the shortening direction. Although these veins are oriented orthogonal to the present-day maximum principal horizontal stress, they remain propped open by crystalline cements. Homogenization temperatures of fluid inclusions trapped in the veins, combined with one-dimensional burial and thermal history models, suggest that the pervasive vein set formed during the Late Pennsylvanian–Permian during the Alleghanian orogeny.
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    Natural fractures in shale: A review and new observations (2014)
    American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
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    Publication Date: 2014-10-28
    Description: Natural fractures have long been suspected as a factor in production from shale reservoirs because gas and oil production commonly exceeds the rates expected from low-porosity and low-permeability shale host rock. Many shale outcrops, cores, and image logs contain fractures or fracture traces, and microseismic event patterns associated with hydraulic-fracture stimulation have been ascribed to natural fracture reactivation. Here we review previous work, and present new core and outcrop data from 18 shale plays that reveal common types of shale fractures and their mineralization, orientation, and size patterns. A wide range of shales have a common suite of types and configurations of fractures: those at high angle to bedding, faults, bed-parallel fractures, early compacted fractures, and fractures associated with concretions. These fractures differ markedly in their prevalence and arrangement within each shale play, however, constituting different fracture stratigraphies—differences that depend on interface and mechanical properties governed by depositional, diagenetic, and structural setting. Several mechanisms may act independently or in combination to cause fracture growth, including differential compaction, local and regional stress changes associated with tectonic events, strain accommodation around large structures, catagenesis, and uplift. Fracture systems in shales are heterogeneous; they can enhance or detract from producibility, augment or reduce rock strength and the propensity to interact with hydraulic-fracture stimulation. Burial history and fracture diagenesis influence fracture attributes and may provide more information for fracture prediction than is commonly appreciated. The role of microfractures in production from shale is currently poorly understood yet potentially critical; we identify a need for further work in this field and on the role of natural fractures generally.
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  • 86
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    Failure of cap-rock seals as determined from mechanical stratigraphy, stress history, and tensile-failure analysis of exhumed analogs (2014)
    American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
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    Publication Date: 2014-10-28
    Description: The sedimentologic and tectonic histories of clastic cap rocks and their inherent mechanical properties control the nature of permeable fractures within them. The migration of fluid through mm- to cm-scale fracture networks can result in focused fluid flow allowing hydrocarbon production from unconventional reservoirs or compromising the seal integrity of fluid traps. To understand the nature and distribution of subsurface fluid-flow pathways through fracture networks in cap-rock seals we examine four exhumed Paleozoic and Mesozoic seal analogs in Utah. We combine these outcrop analyses with subsidence analysis, paleoloading histories, and rock-strength testing data in modified Mohr–Coulomb–Griffith analyses to evaluate the effects of differential stress and rock type on fracture mode. Relative to the underlying sandstone reservoirs, all four seal types are low-permeability, heterolithic sequences that show mineralized hydraulic-extension fractures, extensional-shear fractures, and shear fractures. Burial-history models suggest that the cap-rock seal analogs reached a maximum burial depth 〉4 km (2.5 mi) and experienced a lithostatic load of up to 110 MPa (15,954 psi). Median tensile strength from indirect mechanical tests ranges from 2.3 MPa (334 psi) in siltstone to 11.5 MPa (1668 psi) in calcareous shale. Analysis of the pore-fluid factor ( $${\lambda }_{\mathrm{v}}={P}_{\mathrm{f}}/{\sigma }_{\mathrm{v}}$$ ) through time shows changes in the expected failure mode (extensional shear or hydraulic extension), and that failure mode depends on a combination of mechanical rock properties and differential stress. As expected with increasing lithostatic load, the amount of overpressure that is required to induce failure increases but is also lithology dependent.
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  • 87
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    Natural fractures in a United Kingdom shale reservoir analog, Cleveland Basin, northeast England (2014)
    American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
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    Publication Date: 2014-10-28
    Description: Faults and fractures within the well-exposed Lower Jurassic Cleveland Ironstone and Whitby Mudstone Formations may provide insights into the tectonic history of gas-prospective, Mississippian shale in northern England. Subvertical opening mode fractures occur throughout the Cleveland Basin. Bed-parallel fractures, some of which contain blocky calcite fills, occur preferentially within well-bedded, clay-rich mudstones of the Cleveland Ironstone and Whitby Mudstone Formations at Jet Wyke and Port Mulgrave. Subvertical fractures display abutting or curving-parallel relationships with under- and overlying bed-parallel fractures. Together, these observations suggest that bed-parallel fractures, at times, acted as free surfaces. Some bed-parallel fractures curve toward and branch from calcite-filled fault slip surfaces, indicating that bed-parallel fracturing and normal faulting were synchronous, occurring within a regional stress field with vertical maximum principal stress. This apparent paradox can be explained by normal compaction, followed by cementation and coupling between pore pressure and minimum horizontal stress driven by poroelastic deformation or incipient slip along critically stressed normal faults, causing elevation of horizontal stress in excess of the vertical stress within clay-rich units. Propagation of bed-parallel fractures was enhanced by dilatational strains adjacent to normal fault planes. Bed-parallel fractures have not been observed within more $${\mathrm{SiO}}_{2}$$ -rich units at the top of the Whitby Mudstone Formation at Whitby East Cliff, or within well-bedded, clay-rich shale at Saltwick Nab. This observation is consistent with the lack of normal faulting at Saltwick Nab, and the Whitby Mudstone Formation having been drained by structural and/or stratigraphical juxtaposition against permeable Middle Jurassic sandstones at both these localities.
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  • 88
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    Control of mechanical stratigraphy on bed-restricted jointing and normal faulting: Eagle Ford Formation, south-central Texas (2014)
    American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
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    Publication Date: 2014-10-28
    Description: Outcrops of the middle Eagle Ford Formation in south-central Texas reveal well-developed joint networks in subhorizontal competent carbonate (chalk) beds and less well developed networks in interlayered incompetent calcareous mudrock beds. Northeast-striking bed-perpendicular joints in competent beds have the longest trace lengths and are abutted by northwest-striking joints. All observed joints terminate vertically in incompetent beds. Normal faults are common but less abundant than joints; dominantly dip north, northwest, or southeast; and are abutted by the joint sets and, thus, predated jointing. The faults cut multiple competent and incompetent beds, providing vertical connectivity across mechanical layering. Products of hybrid and shear failure, the dip of these faults is steep through competent beds and moderate through incompetent beds, resulting in refracted fault profiles with dilation and calcite precipitation along steep segments. Fluid inclusions in fault zone calcite commonly contain liquid hydrocarbons. Rare two-phase fluid inclusions homogenized between about (1) 40 and 58°C, and (2) 90 and 100°C, suggesting trapping of aqueous fluids at elevated temperatures and depths on the order of 2 km (6562 ft). Fluid inclusion and stable isotope geochemistry analyses suggest that faults transmitted externally derived fluids. These faults likely formed at depths equivalent to portions of the present-day oil and gas production from the Eagle Ford play in south Texas. Faults connect across layering and provide pathways for vertical fluid movement within the Eagle Ford Formation, in contrast to vertically restricted joints that produce bed-parallel fracture permeability. These observations elucidate natural fractures and induced hydraulic fracturing within the Eagle Ford Formation.
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    Faulting and fracturing in shale and self-sourced reservoirs: Introduction (2014)
    American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
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    Publication Date: 2014-10-28
    Description: Production from self-sourced reservoirs relies on natural and induced fracturing for permeability and conductance of hydrocarbons to the producing wellbores, thus natural or induced fracturing is often a key to success in unconventional reservoir plays. On the other hand, fractures may compromise seals and large or well-connected fractures or faults may cause undesirable complications for unconventional reservoirs. Natural and induced fractures are influenced by (1) mechanical stratigraphy, (2) pre-existing natural deformation such as faults, fractures, and folds, and (3) in situ stress conditions, both natural and as modified by stimulation and pressure depletion. This special issue of the AAPG Bulletin elucidates some of these structural geologic and geomechanical controls. Understanding the occurrence and controls on natural and induced faulting and fracturing in self-sourced reservoirs is a key component for developing effective approaches for exploiting self-sourced reservoirs.
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    Geomechanics of hydraulic fracturing microseismicity: Part 2. Stress state determination (2014)
    American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
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    Publication Date: 2014-10-28
    Description: We investigate the hydraulic fracturing process by analysis of the associated microseismicity. In part 1, we recognized double-couple and hybrid microseismic events and their fault plane orientations. Critical stress (instability) and stress inversion techniques were used to assess fracture activation conditions. In part 2, we apply results from the tensile source model to investigate how activated faults relate to the stress state and geologic setting. We assess potential mechanisms for induced microseismicity including leakoff and diffuse pressurized fracture network flow, stress shadowing adjacent to large parent hydraulic fractures, and crack tip stress perturbations. Data are from the Mississippian Barnett Shale, Texas, and include microseismic events from sequential pumping stages in two adjacent horizontal wells that were recorded in two downhole monitor wells, as well as operations, wellbore-derived stress, and natural fracture data. Results point to activation of inclined faults whose orientation is dominantly northeast–southwest and vertical north–south faults. The activation stress states for a range of modeling scenarios show stress rotation, decreased mean stress, and increased deviatoric stress. This stress state cannot be explained by sidewall leakoff in the stress shadow region adjacent to hydrofractures, but is consistent with hybrid and shear activation obliquely ahead of pressurized fractures. Information about hydrofracture evolution and operationally related dynamic stress change is obscured by geomechanical heterogeneity that is likely geologic in nature. The most compelling observation is that the most highly misoriented microseismic faults occur in the same vicinity as a carbonate-dominated submarine fan feature that was previously expected to act as a minor fracture barrier.
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    Failure modes of shales and their implications for natural and man-made fracture assemblages (2014)
    American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
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    Publication Date: 2014-10-28
    Description: Shale is one of the most common rock types, with a rich and complex variety of failure structures in the Earth’s continental crust. In this paper, a synopsis of these structures including joints, pressure-solution seams and cleavages, faults, and shear bands is presented. First, two main categories, sharp and diffuse structures, each of which has subclasses based on its displacement discontinuity type including shear, compaction, and dilation are defined. Then, natural field examples are provided for each class as well as complex structural assemblages that include more than one type of failure-mode structures. Finally, the significances of these assemblages in terms of how older structures may influence later natural and man-made fractures and how they may interact in terms of fluid and gas flow are briefly discussed.
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    The role of seismic attributes in understanding the hydraulically fracturable limits and reservoir performance in shale reservoirs: An example from the Eagle Ford Shale, south Texas (2014)
    American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
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    Publication Date: 2014-10-28
    Description: As the importance of self-sourcing reservoirs continues to increase, it is more important than ever to evaluate rock properties that contribute to productive wells. It has become increasingly evident that in order to maximize potential returns, an integrated approach to shale play characterization is necessary to identify productive areas. Numerous criteria exist to characterize ultra-low permeability shale reservoirs and their associated resource potential; these include measures of organic richness, thermal maturity, lithologic heterogeneity, and formation brittleness. The latter, a descriptor of the geomechanical rock properties, can play a significant role in overall well performance and is commonly a key productivity driver. Thus, an understanding of the mechanical properties of the target section is fundamental for high-grading prospective areas, well placement design, and hydraulic stimulation effectiveness. Observation of geomechanical attributes extracted from seismic data in the Eagle Ford Shale captures changing mechanical properties indicative of strike-oriented lithologic facies changes. Using acoustic logs, core, and three-dimensional seismic data, we assess the mechanical contrast between Eagle Ford facies units and their effect on well performance. We use three-dimensional seismic data to map the structure and facies distribution in an area where identification of reservoir facies is a major challenge to development drilling. In this study, we demonstrate how Young’s modulus and density, inverted from three-dimensional seismic data, prove as effective discriminators for the purpose of identifying and mapping facies changes and establishing the hydraulically fracturable limits in areas where effective stimulation and proppant embedment in the formation during pressure drawdown is a concern. The result is an interpretation that identifies and uses the mechanical changes from three-dimensional seismic data attributes associated with the brittle carbonate-rich Eagle Ford facies to predict both the reservoirs hydraulically fracturable limits as well as the variability in well performance associated with proppant embedment. The changes in mechanical properties of the Eagle Ford facies are important in high-grading productive intervals in these ultra-low permeability rocks. We believe we can apply this method to other shale reservoirs where rock mechanics may play an important role.
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    Geomechanical modeling of hydraulic fracturing: Why mechanical stratigraphy, stress state, and pre-existing structure matter (2014)
    American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
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    Publication Date: 2014-10-28
    Description: The increasing exploration and production in unconventional resource plays in the past decade has been accompanied by a greater need for understanding the effectiveness of multistage hydraulic fracturing programs, particularly in long (〉1500 m or 5000 ft) subhorizontal boreholes (laterals). Traditional (analytical) analysis techniques for estimating the size and orientation of fractures induced by fluid injection typically result in predictions of relatively long and planar extension (mode I) bi-wing fractures, which may not be representative of natural systems. Although these traditional approaches offer the advantage of rapid analysis, neglect of key features of the natural system (e.g., realistic mechanical stratigraphy, pre-existing natural faults and fractures, and heterogeneity of in situ stresses) may render results unrealistic for planning, executing, and interpreting multimillion-dollar hydraulic stimulation programs. Numerical geomechanical modeling provides a means of including key aspects of natural complexity in simulations of hydraulic fracturing. In this study, we present the results of two-dimensional finite element modeling of fluid-injection-induced rock deformation that combines a coupled stress–pore pressure analysis with a continuum damage-mechanics-based constitutive relationship. The models include both the natural mechanical stratigraphic variability as well as the in situ stress-state anisotropy, and permit tracking of the temporal and spatial development of shear and tensile permanent strains that develop in response to fluid injection. Our results show that simple, long planar fractures are unlikely to be induced in most mechanically layered natural systems under typical in situ stress conditions. Analyses that assume this type of fracture geometry may significantly overestimate the reach of hydraulically induced fractures and/or effectively stimulated rock volume.
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    Geomechanics of hydraulic fracturing microseismicity: Part 1. Shear, hybrid, and tensile events (2014)
    American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
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    Publication Date: 2014-10-28
    Description: We investigate the geomechanical behavior of hydraulic-fracturing-induced microseismicity. Microseismic events are commonly used to discern stimulation patterns and hydraulic fracture evolution; however, techniques beyond fracture mapping are required to explain the mechanisms of microseismicity. In this series we present an approach to combine seismological and geomechanical techniques to investigate how microseismicity relates to propagating hydrofractures as well as existing natural fractures and faults. Part 1 describes the first analysis step, which is to characterize the microseismic events by their source parameters, focal mechanisms, and fault-plane orientations. These parameters are used to determine the mechanical conditions responsible for activation of discrete populations or subpopulations of microseismic events that then can be interpreted in their geological and operational context. First, we compare microseismic fault-plane populations from a Mississippian Barnett Shale, Texas data set that are determined using a traditional double-couple model (shear only) with a tensile source model (hybrid events), which may be more suitable for hydraulic fracturing conditions. Second, we employ a new method to distinguish fault planes from auxiliary planes using iterative stress inversion and critical stress (instability) selection criteria. The result is an enhanced microseismic characterization that includes geomechanical parameters such as slip tendency and local activation stress state during the operation. Using this approach on the Barnett Shale data, two microseismic fault sets are resolved: an inclined northeast–southwest set with dominant shear, and a vertical north–south set with more hybrid behavior. The results are used in part 2 to further investigate the heterogeneity of the stimulations and to compare models for microseismic activation.
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    The Upper Triassic paralic deposits of the De Geerdalen Formation on Hopen: Outcrop analog to the subsurface Snadd Formation in the Barents Sea (2014)
    American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
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    Publication Date: 2014-09-27
    Description: The long and narrow island Hopen exposes mainly the Late Triassic De Geerdalen Formation, which is time-equivalent to the upper part of the Snadd Formation: a proven hydrocarbon reservoir in the Barents Sea. The De Geerdalen Formation on Hopen has previously been superficially described in a regional context and has been suggested to represent tidally dominated, paralic coastal plain deposits. Recent sedimentological investigations explain subtle but important variability in sedimentary architecture pointing to different depositional processes. Tidal and fluvial channel deposits show equal size and geometry, but are distinguishable by virtue of characteristic internal heterogeneities and structures. Lateral correlation along the island suggests that the channel-sandstone deposits are positioned at different stratigraphic levels and that they were deposited in a dynamic, paralic depositional environment. Based on the interpreted gross depositional environments, sequence-stratigraphic intervals are defined; these can be used as a basis for correlation. The scales of depositional architectures at Hopen are found to be directly relatable to subsurface seismic data from the upper part of the Snadd Formation in the Barents Sea, and, through regionally correlatable maximum flooding surfaces, these depositional elements can be put in a stratigraphic context. Additionally, some of the channel features demonstrated at Hopen are of comparable size and geometry to plan-view channel bodies extracted from seismic attribute mapping in the Snadd Formation. Detailed sedimentological studies undertaken on Hopen explain these depositional elements in more detail than can be resolved in subsurface data, with implications for future exploration efforts in the Barents Sea.
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    Models for guiding and ranking well-to-well correlations of channel bodies in fluvial reservoirs (2014)
    American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
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    Publication Date: 2014-09-27
    Description: A probabilistic method has been devised to assess the geologic realism of subsurface well-to-well correlations that entail the lateral tracing of geologic bodies across well arrays with constant spacing. Models of geo-body correlability (based on the ratio between correlatable and penetrated geo-bodies) are obtained from total probabilities of penetration and correlation, which are themselves dependent on the distribution of lateral extent of the geo-body type. Employing outcrop-analog data to constrain the width distribution of the geo-bodies, it is possible to generate a model that describes realistic well-to-well correlation patterns for given types of depositional systems. This type of correlability model can be applied for checking the quality of correlation-based subsurface interpretations by assessing their geologic realism as compared with one or more suitable outcrop analogs. The approach is illustrated by generating total-probability curves that refer to fluvial channel complexes and that are categorized on the basis of outcrop-analog classifications (e.g., braided system, system with 20% net-to-gross), employing information from a large fluvial geo-body database, Fluvial Architecture Knowledge Transfer System (FAKTS), which stores information relating to fluvial architecture. From these total-probability functions, values can be drawn to adapt the correlability models to any well-array spacing. The method has been specifically applied to rank three published alternative interpretations of a stratigraphic interval of the Travis Peak Formation (Texas), previously interpreted as a braided fluvial depositional system, in terms of realism of correlation patterns as compared to (1) all analogs recorded in FAKTS and considered suitable for large-scale architectural characterization, and (2) a subset of them including only systems interpreted as braided.
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    Fault interactions and reactivation within a normal-fault network at Milne Point, Alaska (2014)
    American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
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    Publication Date: 2014-09-27
    Description: A normal-fault network from Milne Point, Alaska, is investigated focusing on characterizing geometry, displacement, strain, and different fault interactions. The network, constrained from three-dimensional seismic reflection data, comprises two generations of faults: Cenozoic north-northeast–trending faults and Jurassic west-northwest–trending faults, which highly compartmentalize Upper Triassic to Lower Cretaceous reservoirs. The west-northwest–trending faults are influenced by a similarly oriented underlying structural grain. This influence is characterized by increases in throw on several faults, strain localization, reorientation of faults and an increase in linkage maturity. Reconstructing fault plane geometries and mapping spatial variations in throw identified key characteristic features in their interactions and reactivation of pre-existing structures. Faults are divided into isolated, abutting, and splaying faults. Isolated faults exhibit a range of displacement profiles depending on the degree of restriction at fault tips. Fault splays accommodate step-like decreases in throw along larger main faults with a throw maximum at the intersection with the main fault. Throw profiles of abutting faults are divided into two groups: early stage abutting faults with throw minima at both the isolated and abutting tips, and developed abutting faults with throw maxima near the abutting tip. Developed abutting faults accumulate throw after initial abutment, locally reactivating and transferring throw onto the pre-existing fault. Two abutting faults can link kinematically by reactivating a segment of the pre-existing fault forming a trailing fault. The motion sense of the trailing fault can be synthetic or antithetic to the reactivated pre-existing fault, producing increases or decreases in the throw of the pre-existing fault, respectively.
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    Occurrence of Upper Jurassic-Lower Cretaceous black organic-rich pelitic sediments as targets for unconventional hydrocarbon exploration in the Outer Carpathians and adjacent part of the Alps (2014)
    American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
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    Publication Date: 2014-09-27
    Description: Our work on the dark pelitic sediments of the Polish Carpathians and eastern Alps shows that these Jurassic through Lower Cretaceous sediments owe their organic content to a combination of global processes, such as climatic changes and changes to the carbonate compensation depth (CCD), and local controls, such as basin morphology, input of terrestrial organic material, and local volcanic activity. These sediments developed in basins both floored by oceanic crust as well as within the continental crust (North European platform). Our data show that these anoxic or poorly oxygenated deposits (average total organic carbon [TOC] value is around 2.5 wt. %) were laid down in the individual basins at different times, from the Late Jurassic to the Barremian and almost continuously up to the early Cenomanian, a period of 30 to 50 m.y., and their thickness reached hundreds of meters. This long time span made it impossible to distinguish precisely the known Aptian and Albian oceanic anoxic events (OAE). Our data show that sedimentation of dark organic-rich deposits was not only controlled by global events such as climatic and CCD changes, but also by local ones as a result of differences in their basin morphology and development, input of land-plant detritus, and local volcanic activity. As an example of the anoxic succession, a detailed description of the black sediments of the proto-Silesian basin is presented. Some of these anoxic shales were buried to a depth of a few thousand meters during the folding and overthrusting movements. We propose that these shales could represent a unique shale-oil and shale-gas resource in an intensely structured basin.
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    A scaling law to characterize fault-damage zones at reservoir depths (2014)
    American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
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    Publication Date: 2014-09-27
    Description: We analyze fracture-density variations in subsurface fault-damage zones in two distinct geologic environments, adjacent to faults in the granitic SSC reservoir and adjacent to faults in arkosic sandstones near the San Andreas fault in central California. These damage zones are similar in terms of width, peak fracture or fault (FF) density, and the rate of FF density decay with distance from the main fault. Seismic images from the SSC reservoir exhibit a large basement master fault associated with 27 seismically resolvable second-order faults. A maximum of 5 to 6 FF/m (1.5 to 1.8 FF/ft) are observed in the 50 to 80 m (164 to 262 ft) wide damage zones associated with second-order faults that are identified in image logs from four wells. Damage zones associated with second-order faults immediately southwest of the San Andreas Fault are also interpreted using image logs from the San Andreas Fault Observatory at Depth (SAFOD) borehole. These damage zones are also 50–80 m wide (164 to 262 ft) with peak FF density of 2.5 to 6 FF/m (0.8 to 1.8 FF/ft). The FF density in damage zones observed in both the study areas is found to decay with distance according to a power law $$F={F}_{0}{r}^{-n}$$ . The fault constant $${F}_{0}$$ is the FF density at unit distance from the fault, which is about 10–30 FF/m (3.1–9.1 FF/ft) in the SSC reservoir and 6–17 FF/m (1.8–5.2 FF/ft) in the arkose. The decay rate $$n$$ ranges from 0.68 to 1.06 in the SSC reservoir, and from 0.4 to 0.75 in the arkosic section. This quantification of damage-zone attributes can facilitate the incorporation of the geometry and properties of damage zones in reservoir flow simulation models.
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    Tracing migration pathways by integrated geological, geophysical, and geochemical data: A case study from the JX1-1 oil field, Bohai Bay Basin, China (2014)
    American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
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    Publication Date: 2014-09-27
    Description: Tracing petroleum migration pathways is essential for predicting petroleum occurrence and reducing exploration risks associated with hydrocarbon charge, but a difficult task because of rapid lateral and vertical facies changes in lacustrine basins. An integration of geological, geophysical, and geochemical analysis is employed to investigate the origin of crude oil, the carrier-bed architecture, and migration pathways from source to trap in the JX1-1 oil field, Liaodong Bay subbasin, Bohai Bay Basin. Detailed geochemical studies suggest that three potential source-rock intervals ( $${\mathrm{E}}_{2}{\mathrm{s}}_{3}$$ , $${\mathrm{E}}_{2}{\mathrm{s}}_{1}$$ , and $${\mathrm{E}}_{3}{\mathrm{d}}_{3}$$ ) exist in the Liaodong Bay subbasin, and crude oil in the JX1-1 field was derived from the $${\mathrm{E}}_{2}{\mathrm{s}}_{3}$$ and $${\mathrm{E}}_{2}{\mathrm{s}}_{1}$$ source rocks. The carrier beds from $${\mathrm{E}}_{2}{\mathrm{s}}_{3}$$ and $${\mathrm{E}}_{2}{\mathrm{s}}_{1}$$ source rocks to the trap were characterized using geophysical data. The fan-delta sandstone in the $${\mathrm{E}}_{2}{\mathrm{s}}_{3}$$ Member has an immediate contact with $${\mathrm{E}}_{2}{\mathrm{s}}_{3}$$ source rock and served as dominant conduit for the expulsion and migration of oil generated from $${\mathrm{E}}_{2}{\mathrm{s}}_{3}$$ source rock. The $${\mathrm{E}}_{3}{\mathrm{d}}_{3}$$ braided-delta sandstones overlying the $${\mathrm{E}}_{2}{\mathrm{s}}_{1}$$ source rock served as dominant conduit for $${\mathrm{E}}_{2}{\mathrm{s}}_{1}$$ -sourced oil. The focusing of petroleum migration pathways and the merge of migration pathways in $${\mathrm{E}}_{2}{\mathrm{s}}_{3}$$ and $${\mathrm{E}}_{3}{\mathrm{d}}_{3}$$ sandstones account for the accumulation of the JX1-1 field and the mixing of $${\mathrm{E}}_{2}{\mathrm{s}}_{3}$$ - and $${\mathrm{E}}_{2}{\mathrm{s}}_{1}$$ -sourced oil in the field. This study suggests that the distribution of permeable sandstones and their stratigraphic contact with the source rocks are key for petroleum migration and occurrence, and integration of geophysical, geological, and geochemical studies provide an effective way to trace petroleum migration pathways.
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