A coupled air–sea general circulation model is used to simulate the global circulation. Different parameterizations of lateral mixing in the ocean by eddies, horizontal, isopycnal, and isopycnal plus eddy advective flux, are compared from the perspective of water mass transformation in the Southern Ocean. The different mixing physics imply different buoyancy equilibria in the surface mixed laye...

Antarctic Intermediate Water is formed at the high mid-latitudes of the Southern Ocean. In many ocean general circulation model simulations with coarse resolution and a z-coordinate, a mid-depth salinity minimum characteristic of this intermediate water is reproduced. However, for the real ocean it remains unclear which are the dominant processes in the formation of this water mass and which ar...