Impact of climate change on surface stirring and transport in the Mediterranean Sea
Résumé
Understanding how climate change will affect oceanic fluid transport is crucial forenvironmental applications and human activities. However, a synoptic characterizationof the influence of climate change on mesoscale stirring and transport in the surfaceocean is missing. To bridge this gap, we exploit a high-resolution, fully-coupled climatemodel of the Mediterranean basin using a Network Theory approach. We projectsignificant increases of horizontal stirring and kinetic energies in the next century,likely due to increments of available potential energy. The future evolution of basin-scale transport patterns hint at a rearrangement of the main hydrodynamic provinces,defined as regions of the surface ocean that are well-mixed internally but with minimalcross-flow across their boundaries. This results in increased heterogeneity of provincesizes and stronger mixing in their interiors. Our approach can be readily applied toother oceanic regions, providing information for the present and future marine spatialplanning
Domaines
Océan, Atmosphère
Origine : Fichiers produits par l'(les) auteur(s)
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