How much upwelling occurs in the abyssal bottom boundary layer? ...

<!--!introduction!--> We examine (i) what sets the vertical stratification in the abyssal ocean, and (ii) the rate of upwelling of water in the bottom boundary layer of the abyssal ocean. We restrict attention to the bottom-most, densest, 2000m of the ocean and analyse the buoyancy budget in b...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: McDougall, Trevor, Holmes, Ryan, Gunn, Kathryn
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:unknown
Published: GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences 2023
Subjects:
Online Access:https://dx.doi.org/10.57757/iugg23-0207
https://gfzpublic.gfz-potsdam.de/pubman/item/item_5016268
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Summary:<!--!introduction!--> We examine (i) what sets the vertical stratification in the abyssal ocean, and (ii) the rate of upwelling of water in the bottom boundary layer of the abyssal ocean. We restrict attention to the bottom-most, densest, 2000m of the ocean and analyse the buoyancy budget in buoyancy coordinates, taking into account the bottom-intensified nature of the rate of diapycnal mixing in the ocean. This bottom-intensified nature of diapycnal mixing means that the diapycnal velocity in the ocean interior is downwards towards denser fluid, and all the diapycnal upwelling occurs in the first ~50m above the sea floor, with the upwelling transport in this Bottom Boundary Layer often being two or three times the net diapycnal upwelling needed to balance the sinking transport of Antarctic Bottom Water. The geometry and conservation equations of this problem can be described as a steady-state filling-box problem. The rate of sinking of dense Antarctic Bottom Water and the area-integrated diffusive ... : The 28th IUGG General Assembly (IUGG2023) (Berlin 2023) ...