Effects of sinking of salt rejected during formation of sea ice on results of an ocean-atmosphere-sea ice climate model

We show that results of an ocean-atmosphere-sea-ice model are sensitive to the treatment of salt rejected during formation of sea ice. In our Control simulation, we place all rejected salt in the top ocean-model level. In the Plume simulation, we instantaneously mix rejected salt into the subsurface ocean, to a maximum depth which depends on local density gradients. This mimics the effects of subgrid-scale convection of rejected salt. The results of the Plume simulation are more realistic than those of the Control simulation: the spatial pattern of simulated salinities (especially in the Southern Ocean), deep-ocean temperatures, simulated sea-ice extents and surface air temperatures all agree better with observations. A similar pair of simulations using horizontal tracer diffusion instead of the Gent-McWilliams eddy parameterization show similar changes due to instantaneous mixing of rejected salt.