Significance of Diapycnal Mixing Within the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation ...
AbstractDiapycnal mixing shapes the distribution of climatically important tracers, such as heat and carbon, as these are carried by dense water masses in the ocean interior. Here, we analyze a suite of observation‐based estimates of diapycnal mixing to assess its role within the Atlantic Meridional...
Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , |
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Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
American Geophysical Union (AGU)
2023
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Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://dx.doi.org/10.17863/cam.94666 https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/347251 |
Summary: | AbstractDiapycnal mixing shapes the distribution of climatically important tracers, such as heat and carbon, as these are carried by dense water masses in the ocean interior. Here, we analyze a suite of observation‐based estimates of diapycnal mixing to assess its role within the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC). The rate of water mass transformation in the Atlantic Ocean's interior shows that there is a robust buoyancy increase in the North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW, neutral density γ n ≃ 27.6–28.15), with a diapycnal circulation of 0.5–8 Sv between 48°N and 32°S in the Atlantic Ocean. Moreover, tracers within the southward‐flowing NADW may undergo a substantial diapycnal transfer, equivalent to a vertical displacement of hundreds of meters in the vertical. This result, confirmed with a zonally averaged numerical model of the AMOC, indicates that mixing can alter where tracers upwell in the Southern Ocean, ultimately affecting their global pathways and ventilation timescales. These results ... |
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