Ventilation of the abyss in the Atlantic sector of the Southern Ocean
Abstract The Atlantic sector of the Southern Ocean is the world’s main production site of Antarctic Bottom Water, a water-mass that is ventilated at the ocean surface before sinking and entraining older water-masses—ultimately replenishing the abyssal global ocean. In recent decades, numerous attemp...
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2021
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-86043-2 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-86043-2.pdf https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-86043-2 |
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crspringernat:10.1038/s41598-021-86043-2 2023-05-15T14:05:37+02:00 Ventilation of the abyss in the Atlantic sector of the Southern Ocean Akhoudas, Camille Hayatte Sallée, Jean-Baptiste Haumann, F. Alexander Meredith, Michael P. Garabato, Alberto Naveira Reverdin, Gilles Jullion, Loïc Aloisi, Giovanni Benetti, Marion Leng, Melanie J. Arrowsmith, Carol European Research Council Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung 2021 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-86043-2 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-86043-2.pdf https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-86043-2 en eng Springer Science and Business Media LLC https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 CC-BY Scientific Reports volume 11, issue 1 ISSN 2045-2322 Multidisciplinary journal-article 2021 crspringernat https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-86043-2 2022-01-04T08:25:27Z Abstract The Atlantic sector of the Southern Ocean is the world’s main production site of Antarctic Bottom Water, a water-mass that is ventilated at the ocean surface before sinking and entraining older water-masses—ultimately replenishing the abyssal global ocean. In recent decades, numerous attempts at estimating the rates of ventilation and overturning of Antarctic Bottom Water in this region have led to a strikingly broad range of results, with water transport-based calculations (8.4–9.7 Sv) yielding larger rates than tracer-based estimates (3.7–4.9 Sv). Here, we reconcile these conflicting views by integrating transport- and tracer-based estimates within a common analytical framework, in which bottom water formation processes are explicitly quantified. We show that the layer of Antarctic Bottom Water denser than 28.36 kg m $$^{-3}$$ - 3 $$\gamma _{n}$$ γ n is exported northward at a rate of 8.4 ± 0.7 Sv, composed of 4.5 ± 0.3 Sv of well-ventilated Dense Shelf Water, and 3.9 ± 0.5 Sv of old Circumpolar Deep Water entrained into cascading plumes. The majority, but not all, of the Dense Shelf Water (3.4 ± 0.6 Sv) is generated on the continental shelves of the Weddell Sea. Only 55% of AABW exported from the region is well ventilated and thus draws down heat and carbon into the deep ocean. Our findings unify traditionally contrasting views of Antarctic Bottom Water production in the Atlantic sector, and define a baseline, process-discerning target for its realistic representation in climate models. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Southern Ocean Weddell Sea Springer Nature (via Crossref) Antarctic Southern Ocean Weddell Weddell Sea Scientific Reports 11 1 |
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Open Polar |
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Springer Nature (via Crossref) |
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crspringernat |
language |
English |
topic |
Multidisciplinary |
spellingShingle |
Multidisciplinary Akhoudas, Camille Hayatte Sallée, Jean-Baptiste Haumann, F. Alexander Meredith, Michael P. Garabato, Alberto Naveira Reverdin, Gilles Jullion, Loïc Aloisi, Giovanni Benetti, Marion Leng, Melanie J. Arrowsmith, Carol Ventilation of the abyss in the Atlantic sector of the Southern Ocean |
topic_facet |
Multidisciplinary |
description |
Abstract The Atlantic sector of the Southern Ocean is the world’s main production site of Antarctic Bottom Water, a water-mass that is ventilated at the ocean surface before sinking and entraining older water-masses—ultimately replenishing the abyssal global ocean. In recent decades, numerous attempts at estimating the rates of ventilation and overturning of Antarctic Bottom Water in this region have led to a strikingly broad range of results, with water transport-based calculations (8.4–9.7 Sv) yielding larger rates than tracer-based estimates (3.7–4.9 Sv). Here, we reconcile these conflicting views by integrating transport- and tracer-based estimates within a common analytical framework, in which bottom water formation processes are explicitly quantified. We show that the layer of Antarctic Bottom Water denser than 28.36 kg m $$^{-3}$$ - 3 $$\gamma _{n}$$ γ n is exported northward at a rate of 8.4 ± 0.7 Sv, composed of 4.5 ± 0.3 Sv of well-ventilated Dense Shelf Water, and 3.9 ± 0.5 Sv of old Circumpolar Deep Water entrained into cascading plumes. The majority, but not all, of the Dense Shelf Water (3.4 ± 0.6 Sv) is generated on the continental shelves of the Weddell Sea. Only 55% of AABW exported from the region is well ventilated and thus draws down heat and carbon into the deep ocean. Our findings unify traditionally contrasting views of Antarctic Bottom Water production in the Atlantic sector, and define a baseline, process-discerning target for its realistic representation in climate models. |
author2 |
European Research Council Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Akhoudas, Camille Hayatte Sallée, Jean-Baptiste Haumann, F. Alexander Meredith, Michael P. Garabato, Alberto Naveira Reverdin, Gilles Jullion, Loïc Aloisi, Giovanni Benetti, Marion Leng, Melanie J. Arrowsmith, Carol |
author_facet |
Akhoudas, Camille Hayatte Sallée, Jean-Baptiste Haumann, F. Alexander Meredith, Michael P. Garabato, Alberto Naveira Reverdin, Gilles Jullion, Loïc Aloisi, Giovanni Benetti, Marion Leng, Melanie J. Arrowsmith, Carol |
author_sort |
Akhoudas, Camille Hayatte |
title |
Ventilation of the abyss in the Atlantic sector of the Southern Ocean |
title_short |
Ventilation of the abyss in the Atlantic sector of the Southern Ocean |
title_full |
Ventilation of the abyss in the Atlantic sector of the Southern Ocean |
title_fullStr |
Ventilation of the abyss in the Atlantic sector of the Southern Ocean |
title_full_unstemmed |
Ventilation of the abyss in the Atlantic sector of the Southern Ocean |
title_sort |
ventilation of the abyss in the atlantic sector of the southern ocean |
publisher |
Springer Science and Business Media LLC |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-86043-2 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-86043-2.pdf https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-86043-2 |
geographic |
Antarctic Southern Ocean Weddell Weddell Sea |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic Southern Ocean Weddell Weddell Sea |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Southern Ocean Weddell Sea |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Southern Ocean Weddell Sea |
op_source |
Scientific Reports volume 11, issue 1 ISSN 2045-2322 |
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/s41598-021-86043-2 |
container_title |
Scientific Reports |
container_volume |
11 |
container_issue |
1 |
_version_ |
1766277535726829568 |