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10.07.2023: Ocean Circulation and Climate Dynamics Colloquium
Dr. Caroline Ummenhofer, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA, USA: "The Indian Ocean and its Role in Regional Climate – From Obscurity to Centre Stage"
When? Monday, 10 July 2023 at 11 am
Where? Hörsaal, Düsternbrooker Weg 20
Abstract:
The Indian Ocean is unique and different to other tropical ocean basins. Yet, our understanding of its variability and perceived influence on regional and global climate has been limited. Due to the presence of the Asian continent, the Indian Ocean features seasonally reversing winds and ocean currents, as well as a lack of northward heat export. The lack of steady easterly winds, combined with a low-latitude connection to the Pacific Ocean, result in a relatively deep thermocline in the eastern equatorial Indian Ocean. These characteristics shape the Indian Ocean’s air-sea interactions, as well as its variability on (intra)seasonal, interannual, and (multi-)decadal timescales. These features also make the basin and its surrounding regions – home to more than a third of the world’s population – particularly vulnerable to anthropogenic climate change.
Over the past 20 years, the Indian Ocean has evolved from being termed “oceanographers’ stepchild” to a headline grabbing climate driver. Our knowledge about the Indian Ocean’s influence on regional and global climate across a range of timescales has grown considerably. Significant changes in heat and freshwater transport have been recorded in recent decades in the Indian Ocean and the Maritime Continent region. Implications of these observed low-frequency changes for interannual variability in the Indian Ocean and extreme events across the region, including hydroclimatic extremes in surrounding countries, will be discussed.
