Diffusion controls the ventilation of a Pacific Shadow Zone above abyssal overturning
Abstract Mid-depth North Pacific waters are rich in nutrients and respired carbon accumulated over centuries. The rates and pathways with which these waters exchange with the surface ocean are uncertain, with divergent paradigms of the Pacific overturning: one envisions bottom waters upwelling to 1....
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2021
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crspringernat:10.1038/s41467-021-24648-x 2023-05-15T14:08:26+02:00 Diffusion controls the ventilation of a Pacific Shadow Zone above abyssal overturning Holzer, Mark DeVries, Tim de Lavergne, Casimir 2021 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-24648-x http://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-24648-x.pdf http://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-24648-x en eng Springer Science and Business Media LLC https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 CC-BY Nature Communications volume 12, issue 1 ISSN 2041-1723 General Physics and Astronomy General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology General Chemistry journal-article 2021 crspringernat https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-24648-x 2021-11-02T13:31:59Z Abstract Mid-depth North Pacific waters are rich in nutrients and respired carbon accumulated over centuries. The rates and pathways with which these waters exchange with the surface ocean are uncertain, with divergent paradigms of the Pacific overturning: one envisions bottom waters upwelling to 1.5 km depth; the other confines overturning beneath a mid-depth Pacific shadow zone (PSZ) shielded from mean advection. Here global inverse modelling reveals a PSZ where mean ages exceed 1400 years with overturning beneath. The PSZ is supplied primarily by Antarctic and North-Atlantic ventilated waters diffusing from below and from the south. Half of PSZ waters re-surface in the Southern Ocean, a quarter in the subarctic Pacific. The abyssal North Pacific, despite strong overturning, has mean re-surfacing times also exceeding 1400 years because of diffusion into the overlying PSZ. These results imply that diffusive transports – distinct from overturning transports – are a leading control on Pacific nutrient and carbon storage. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic North Atlantic Southern Ocean Subarctic Springer Nature (via Crossref) Antarctic Pacific Southern Ocean Nature Communications 12 1 |
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Open Polar |
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Springer Nature (via Crossref) |
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crspringernat |
language |
English |
topic |
General Physics and Astronomy General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology General Chemistry |
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General Physics and Astronomy General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology General Chemistry Holzer, Mark DeVries, Tim de Lavergne, Casimir Diffusion controls the ventilation of a Pacific Shadow Zone above abyssal overturning |
topic_facet |
General Physics and Astronomy General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology General Chemistry |
description |
Abstract Mid-depth North Pacific waters are rich in nutrients and respired carbon accumulated over centuries. The rates and pathways with which these waters exchange with the surface ocean are uncertain, with divergent paradigms of the Pacific overturning: one envisions bottom waters upwelling to 1.5 km depth; the other confines overturning beneath a mid-depth Pacific shadow zone (PSZ) shielded from mean advection. Here global inverse modelling reveals a PSZ where mean ages exceed 1400 years with overturning beneath. The PSZ is supplied primarily by Antarctic and North-Atlantic ventilated waters diffusing from below and from the south. Half of PSZ waters re-surface in the Southern Ocean, a quarter in the subarctic Pacific. The abyssal North Pacific, despite strong overturning, has mean re-surfacing times also exceeding 1400 years because of diffusion into the overlying PSZ. These results imply that diffusive transports – distinct from overturning transports – are a leading control on Pacific nutrient and carbon storage. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Holzer, Mark DeVries, Tim de Lavergne, Casimir |
author_facet |
Holzer, Mark DeVries, Tim de Lavergne, Casimir |
author_sort |
Holzer, Mark |
title |
Diffusion controls the ventilation of a Pacific Shadow Zone above abyssal overturning |
title_short |
Diffusion controls the ventilation of a Pacific Shadow Zone above abyssal overturning |
title_full |
Diffusion controls the ventilation of a Pacific Shadow Zone above abyssal overturning |
title_fullStr |
Diffusion controls the ventilation of a Pacific Shadow Zone above abyssal overturning |
title_full_unstemmed |
Diffusion controls the ventilation of a Pacific Shadow Zone above abyssal overturning |
title_sort |
diffusion controls the ventilation of a pacific shadow zone above abyssal overturning |
publisher |
Springer Science and Business Media LLC |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-24648-x http://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-24648-x.pdf http://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-24648-x |
geographic |
Antarctic Pacific Southern Ocean |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic Pacific Southern Ocean |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic North Atlantic Southern Ocean Subarctic |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic North Atlantic Southern Ocean Subarctic |
op_source |
Nature Communications volume 12, issue 1 ISSN 2041-1723 |
op_rights |
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-24648-x |
container_title |
Nature Communications |
container_volume |
12 |
container_issue |
1 |
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1766280463857483776 |