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The Drake Passage opening from an experimental fluid dynamics point of view.

ABSTRACT: Pronounced global cooling around the Eocene-Oligocene transition (EOT) was a pivotal event in Earth's climate history, controversially associated with the opening of the Drake Passage. Using a physical laboratory model we revisit the fluid dynamics of this marked reorganization of ocean circulation. Here we show, seemingly contradicting paleoclimate records, that in our experiments opening the pathway yields higher values of mean water surface temperature than the "closed" configuration. This mismatch points to the importance of the role ice albedo feedback plays in the investigated EOT-like transition, a component that is not captured in the laboratory model. Our conclusion is supported by numerical simulations performed in a global climate model (GCM) of intermediate complexity, where both "closed" and "open" configurations were explored, with and without active sea ice dynamics. The GCM results indicate that sea surface temperatures would change in the opposite direction following an opening event in the two sea ice dynamics settings, and the results are therefore consistent both with the laboratory experiment (slight warming after opening) and the paleoclimatic data (pronounced cooling after opening). It follows that in the hypothetical case of an initially ice-free Antarctica the continent could have become even warmer after the opening, a scenario not indicated by paleotemperature reconstructions.

SUBMITTER: Vincze M

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8497466 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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The Drake Passage opening from an experimental fluid dynamics point of view.

Vincze Miklós M Bozóki Tamás T Herein Mátyás M Borcia Ion Dan ID Harlander Uwe U Horicsányi Attila A Nyerges Anita A Rodda Costanza C Pál András A Pálfy József J

Scientific reports 20211007 1

Pronounced global cooling around the Eocene-Oligocene transition (EOT) was a pivotal event in Earth's climate history, controversially associated with the opening of the Drake Passage. Using a physical laboratory model we revisit the fluid dynamics of this marked reorganization of ocean circulation. Here we show, seemingly contradicting paleoclimate records, that in our experiments opening the pathway yields higher values of mean water surface temperature than the "closed" configuration. This mi ...[more]

PMID: 34620925

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Project description:BackgroundSpatial distribution of zooplankton communities influenced by various environmental factors is always important for understanding pelagic ecosystems. The area of the Drake Passage (Southern Ocean) is of particular interest owing to the high spatial and temporal variability of hydrological parameters affecting marine fauna. This study provides a survey of zooplankton composition and spatial distribution along a transect in the Drake Passage sampled during the 31th Cruise of RV "Akademik Sergey Vavilov" in November, 2010. The main aim was to trace the main regularities in spatial zooplankton structure and its relationships with the environmental parameters.MethodologyA total of 43 vertical hauls from the surface to 1,000 m depth were made at 13 stations using the Juday plankton net. 60 taxa were recorded, abundance and biomass of each were assessed. Environmental parameters including temperature, salinity, depth, horizontal distance between stations and surface chlorophyll concentration were tested as environmental factors possibly explaining plankton distribution.ResultsHigher zooplankton abundance and biomass with lower diversity were observed near the Polar Front. Cluster analysis revealed five different groups of zooplankton samples, four of which were arranged mostly by depth. Along the transect within the 1,000 m depth range, the qualitative taxonomical composition differed significantly with depth and to some extent differed also among horizontal hydrological regimes, while the quantitative structure of the communities (abundance of taxa) was mainly determined by depth. Plankton assemblages within the upper 300-m layer depended on hydrological fronts. Abundance of dominant taxa as well as total zooplankton abundance showed a clear correlation with depth, salinity and surface chlorophyll concentration. Some taxa also showed correlations with temperature and latitude. Between the stations the similarity in zooplankton structure was clearly dependent on the distance among them which indicates an importance of latitudinal gradient. Surface chlorophyll concentration was not correlated with zooplankton biomass, which can be explained by the uncompleted seasonal migrations of zooplankton from deeper waters in early spring.

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The Drake Passage opening from an experimental fluid dynamics point of view.

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The Drake Passage opening from an experimental fluid dynamics point of view.

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