PC21A:
Tracking Ocean Heat Content and Its Role in Earth's Climate Variability and Change I


Session ID#: 36891

Session Description:
The ocean’s capacity to store heat and to redistribute it geographically and over depth is fundamental to understanding Earth’s climate and sea level variability and change. More than 90% of the Earth's energy imbalance and about one-third of observed global mean sea level rise are explained by ocean heat uptake. This session aims to bring together studies tracking ocean heat content and thermosteric sea level and its implications for climate and sea level variability and change, from global to regional scales. We welcome studies based on in situ and satellite observing systems, ocean or coupled reanalyses, and climate modelling as well as process studies. Studies focusing on the ocean’s role in the Earth energy imbalance, climate sensitivity and regional changes associated to natural climate modes of variability are also solicited.
Primary Chair:  Karina von Schuckmann, Mercator Océan, Ramonville-Saint-Agne, France; Mercator Ocean International, Ramonville-Saint-Agne, France
Co-chairs:  Tim Boyer, National Oceanographic Data Center, Silver Spring, MD, United States, Cheng Lijing, Institute of Atmospheric Physics, International Center for Climate and Environment Sciences, Beijing, China and Andrea Storto, Fondazione CMCC, Bolognia, Italy
Moderators:  Andrea Storto, Fondazione CMCC, Bolognia, Italy and Tim Boyer, National Centers for Environmental Information (formerly NODC), NESDIS/NOAA, Silver Spring, MD, United States
Student Paper Review Liaison:  Tim Boyer, National Centers for Environmental Information (formerly NODC), NESDIS/NOAA, Silver Spring, MD, United States
Index Terms:

4215 Climate and interannual variability [OCEANOGRAPHY: GENERAL]
4260 Ocean data assimilation and reanalysis [OCEANOGRAPHY: GENERAL]
4262 Ocean observing systems [OCEANOGRAPHY: GENERAL]
4556 Sea level: variations and mean [OCEANOGRAPHY: PHYSICAL]
Cross-Topics:
  • IS - Ocean Observatories, Instrumentation and Sensing Technologies
  • OM - Ocean Modeling
  • PL - Physical Oceanography: Mesoscale and Larger

Abstracts Submitted to this Session:

Examining Processes Responsible for the Evolution of Global Mean Sea Surface Temperature (313461)
Rui M Ponte, Atmospheric and Environmental Research, Lexington, MA, United States and Christopher G Piecuch, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Physical Oceanography, Woods Hole, MA, United States
Deep Ocean Temperature Observations and the Global Energy Imbalance: Past, Present, and Future (Invited) (305188)
Gregory C Johnson, Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory, Seattle, WA, United States, John M Lyman, JIMAR/PMEL, Seattle, WA, United States and Sarah G Purkey, Scripps Institution of Oceanography UCSD, La Jolla, CA, United States

See more of: Past, Present and Future Climate