Physical oceanography articles within Nature Communications

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  • Article
    | Open Access

    The nature of the El Niño-like variability in the Atlantic Ocean and its limited predictability remain unresolved. Here, via multi-model numerical experiments, the authors show that much of the variability can be explained by the interaction of stochastic atmospheric fluctuations with the ocean mixed layer.

    • Hyacinth C. Nnamchi
    • , Jianping Li
    •  & Riccardo Farneti

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Unique cooling in the tropical Pacific and warming in the Indian Ocean over the past 15 years is postulated to have an effect on Asian rainfall. Here, based on a numerical modelling experiment, the authors investigate this relationship and provide insight into the atmospheric dynamics at play.

    • Hiroaki Ueda
    • , Youichi Kamae
    •  & Atsuki Kumai

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The retreat of the Antarctic Ice Sheet and its potential contribution to future sea-level rise, is a major focus of climate research. Here, the authors show that positive feedbacks involving bedrock uplift and sea surface drop, may significantly impact the timing and extent of local ice-sheet retreat.

    • Natalya Gomez
    • , David Pollard
    •  & David Holland

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The cause and timing of early Pliocene cooling in the Nordic Seas remains uncertain. Here, the authors present palynological data from the Norwegian and Iceland Seas that demonstrate regional cooling and the development of modern surface circulation around 4.5 Ma, likely related to Bering Strait gateway changes.

    • Stijn De Schepper
    • , Michael Schreck
    •  & Gunn Mangerud

  • Article |

    In contrast to the significant retreat of Arctic sea-ice, Antarctic sea-ice has exhibited a modest expansion in recent decades. Here, the authors employ model simulations to investigate the drivers of this unexpected trend.

    • Richard J. Matear
    • , Terence J. O’Kane
    •  & Matt Chamberlain

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Tidewater glacier calving is assumed to be dependent on ice dynamics, but direct evidence is lacking. Here, Luckman et al. use satellite data to derive frontal ablation rates for dynamically contrasting Svalbard glaciers, and show that frontal ablation rate varies primarily with sub-surface ocean temperature.

    • Adrian Luckman
    • , Douglas I. Benn
    •  & Mark Inall

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Lower glacial atmospheric CO2has been linked to enhanced carbon storage in the Southern Ocean, yet the associated biological and physical mechanisms are poorly understood. Here, the authors combine diatom and radiolarian isotope measurements, and model simulations to investigate surface–subsurface processes.

    • Andrea Abelmann
    • , Rainer Gersonde
    •  & Ralf Tiedemann

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The failure of a broad fringing coral reef to protect the village of Hemani from a tsunami-like wave during Typhoon Haiyan came as a destructive surprise. Here, the authors present results from a phase-resolving wave model and show that the steep reef face facilitated the release of energetic infragravity waves.

    • Volker Roeber
    •  & Jeremy D. Bricker

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Late Pliocene cooling led to the glaciation of the Northern Hemisphere, yet its trigger remains unclear. Here, the authors present neodymium and lead isotope records from the Bering Sea, and propose that the introduction of low-salinity water into the Arctic Ocean preconditioned Pliocene cooling.

    • Keiji Horikawa
    • , Ellen E. Martin
    •  & Kimitaka Kawamura

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Recent numerical simulations suggest that the fronts that develop along the rims of ocean eddies are stronger in winter than in summer. Here, the authors present observational confirmation, which informs how these frontal flows are formed.

    • Jörn Callies
    • , Raffaele Ferrari
    •  & Jonathan Gula

  • Article |

    Extreme sea level rises are a threat to coastal communities, but their cause, in terms of seasonal or interannual time scales, has received little attention. Here, the authors combine observational and model data to show that one such rise in 2009–10 was caused by a 30% downturn in the Atlantic overturning circulation.

    • Paul B. Goddard
    • , Jianjun Yin
    •  & Shaoqing Zhang

  • Article |

    Marine sedimentary 231Pa/230Th ratios are considered a promising tool for the investigation of past modes of ocean circulation. Here, the authors present a compilation of new and existing Atlantic sedimentary 231Pa/230Th ratios and interpret these data in the context of abrupt cooling during Heinrich Stadial 1.

    • Louisa I. Bradtmiller
    • , Jerry F. McManus
    •  & Laura F. Robinson

  • Article |

    Reconstructing past sea ice coverage in the Arctic is important for future climate predictions. Here, the authors present a new sea ice record from the Eurasian sector of the Arctic Ocean and report that Arctic sea ice reached its modern winter maximum for the first time 2.6 million years ago.

    • Jochen Knies
    • , Patricia Cabedo-Sanz
    •  & Antoni Rosell-Melé

  • Article |

    Detailed sea-level records beyond ~150,000 years ago are limited. Here, the authors present a radiometrically constrained sea-level record from the Red Sea, spanning five glacial cycles and examine sea-level rise rates and the effects of past global ice-volume changes on monsoon intensity.

    • K. M. Grant
    • , E. J. Rohling
    •  & F. Williams

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The Great Barrier Reef (GBR) is under threat from rising ocean temperatures, yet its response to past temperature change is poorly known. Felis et al. show that the GBR experienced a much steeper temperature gradient during the last deglaciation, suggesting it may be more resilient than previously thought.

    • Thomas Felis
    • , Helen V. McGregor
    •  & Jody M. Webster

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The Late Cretaceous experienced significant cooling, yet a lack of low-latitude records mean the regional extent of this cooling is poorly constrained. Linnert et al. present a TEX86sea surface temperature record from a palaeolatitude of ~35 °N and show that Late Cretaceous cooling was global in nature.

    • Christian Linnert
    • , Stuart A. Robinson
    •  & Ernest E. Russell

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Arctic sea ice has been in rapid decline in recent decades, yet the impact on biogeochemical cycling is unknown due to insufficient sampling. Watanabe et al.combine year-long mooring observations with numerical models to show that an eddy-induced biological pump would be enhanced by sea ice retreat.

    • Eiji Watanabe
    • , Jonaotaro Onodera
    •  & Michio J. Kishi

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Whether all rapid climate events during the last ice age impacted the global carbon cycle is not clearly understood. Ahn and Brook present a high-resolution record of atmospheric CO2 from Antarctica and suggest that only Greenland stadials associated with massive iceberg discharge influenced atmospheric CO2.

    • Jinho Ahn
    •  & Edward J. Brook

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Pumice rafts result from volcanic eruptions into and onto water, and can be extensive and potentially hazardous, but tracking their dispersal is difficult. Jutzeler et al.combine satellite imagery and an ocean model to accurately forecast pumice raft dispersal routes.

    • Martin Jutzeler
    • , Robert Marsh
    •  & Leif Karlstrom

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Global sea levels are rising as a result of climate change, but at what rate, and whether this rate is increasing is open to debate. Haigh et al.show that the earliest detection of significant increase in the rate of sea level rise can only be achieved once interannual and multidecadal variability is removed.

    • Ivan D. Haigh
    • , Thomas Wahl
    •  & Sönke Dangendorf

  • Article
    | Open Access

    El Niño Southern Oscillation has a strong impact on current strength and ocean temperatures off the western Australian coast, but long-term variability is poorly understood. Zinke et al.show a strong link between La Niña and El Niño events and decadal Leeuwin current variability in coral records since 1795.

    • J. Zinke
    • , A. Rountrey
    •  & M.T. McCulloch

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation strongly influences Northern Hemisphere climate, yet its primary driver is poorly understood. Knudsen et al.analyse proxy records from the past ~450 years and show that external forcing has dominated control of the oscillation since the termination of the Little Ice Age.

    • Mads Faurschou Knudsen
    • , Bo Holm Jacobsen
    •  & Jesper Olsen

  • Article |

    Modelling studies suggest that oceanic mesoscale eddies play an important role in the global transport of heat and salt, yet there are few direct observations. Dong et al.present a method to calculate eddy transport through the use of satellite data and Argo profiles and confirm model-based estimates.

    • Changming Dong
    • , James C. McWilliams
    •  & Dake Chen

  • Article |

    Totten Glacier discharges the largest volume of ice in East Antarctica, but the mechanisms causing its recent thinning are relatively unknown. Khazendar et al.combine remote-sensing data with high-resolution ice–ocean modelling to link this recent thinning to reduced sea ice production in polynyas.

    • A. Khazendar
    • , M.P. Schodlok
    •  & M.R. van den Broeke

  • Article |

    The El Niño-Southern Oscillation is one of the largest sources of global climate variability, yet our understanding relative to the Topical Pacific mean state is poor. Here, geochemical analyses of marine plankton reveal a strong link between zonal sea-surface temperatures and ENSO variability.

    • Aleksey Yu Sadekov
    • , Raja Ganeshram
    •  & Alexander W. Tudhope

  • Article |

    Patchiness in the distribution of phytoplankton promotes many of the ecological interactions that underpin the marine food web. This study shows that turbulence, ubiquitous in the ocean, counter-intuitively ‘unmixes’ a population of motile phytoplankton, generating intense, small-scale patchiness in its distribution.

    • William M. Durham
    • , Eric Climent
    •  & Roman Stocker

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The abrupt ending of the Younger Dryas cooling episode marked the onset of the present interglacial and was the most prominent climate change in the Earth’s recent history. This study shows evidence for a sequence of events with a leading role of the ocean at the transition into the present day warm Holocene epoch.

    • Christof Pearce
    • , Marit-Solveig Seidenkrantz
    •  & Søren M. Kristiansen

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The branched inflow of warm Atlantic Water to the Arctic has been known for more than a hundred years, yet what controls the relative strengths of the two pathways remains poorly understood. Here, the authors identify the role of atmospheric circulation over the northern Barents Sea in controlling inflow.

    • Vidar S. Lien
    • , Frode B. Vikebø
    •  & Øystein Skagseth

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Palaeoclimate proxies, such as shells, record past ocean changes. A radiocarbon study based on a shell chronology from the Icelandic shelf is used to track changes in ocean circulation and climate for the past 1,350 years, suggesting a declining influence of North Atlantic surface waters on the Icelandic shelf over the last millennium.

    • Alan D. Wanamaker Jr
    • , Paul G. Butler
    •  & Christopher A. Richardson

  • Article |

    Small-scale ocean dynamics can have wide reaching impacts on the larger-scale ocean circulation. Using temperature and velocity data, this study shows the presence of abyssal vortices in the Eastern Mediterranean basin, adding complexity to the structure and evolution of water masses in this region.

    • A. Rubino
    • , F. Falcini
    •  & A. Capone

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The calving of the Mertz Glacier occurred in 2010 in East Antarctica, brought on by the re-positioning of a large iceberg. Using satellite data, this study shows a reduction in sea ice production following the calving, interpreted as a potential regime shift towards reduced sea ice production for the coming decades.

    • T. Tamura
    • , G.D. Williams
    •  & K.I. Ohshima

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Ocean circulation moves heat and gases between the ocean and atmosphere, impacting the carbon cycle at decadal timescales. Here, a radiocarbon coral record of ocean mixing from Bermuda suggests that the formation of mode water, and thus carbon uptake, have been more stable over the past 200 years than previously thought.

    • Nathalie F. Goodkin
    • , Ellen R. M. Druffel
    •  & Scott C. Doney

  • Article |

    Many organisms are responding to a warming climate by shifts in spatial distribution. The poleward movement of silver hake,Merluccius bilinearis, over the last forty years is related to the position of the Gulf Stream and Atlantic meridional overturning circulation through changes in local bottom water temperature.

    • Janet A. Nye
    • , Terrence M. Joyce
    •  & Jason S. Link

  • Article |

    Ocean acidification due to increasing carbon dioxide levels can affect the growth and viability of corals. In this study, the authors measured extension, calcification and density in Florida corals collected in 1996, and show that recent climate change did not cause a decline in their extension or calcification.

    • Kevin P. Helmle
    • , Richard E. Dodge
    •  & C. Mark Eakin

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The origin of the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation, a semi-periodic variability of sea-surface temperature, is unknown. Knudsenet al.show that 55- to 70-year climate oscillations existed throughout the last 8,000 years, suggesting that the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation is a permanent feature of the Holocene climate induced by internal ocean variability.

    • Mads Faurschou Knudsen
    • , Marit-Solveig Seidenkrantz
    •  & Antoon Kuijpers

  • Article |

    Antarctic bottom water is important for the global climate system, but its main source in East Antarctica was altered recently because of calving of the Mertz Glacier Tongue. The authors model this event and find large changes in dense water exports from the region.

    • Kazuya Kusahara
    • , Hiroyasu Hasumi
    •  & Guy D. Williams

  • Article |

    Ocean tides and infragravity waves—the Earths 'hum'—have very different periods and wavelengths. Sugioka and colleagues report resonance between these two phenomena using arrays of broadband ocean-bottom seismometers and show that some tidal energy is transferred to the deep oceans through this coupling.

    • Hiroko Sugioka
    • , Yoshio Fukao
    •  & Toshihiko Kanazawa

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