Radiocarbon as a thermocline proxy for the eastern equatorial Pacific
[1] An ocean model is used to test the idea that sea surface Δ 14 C behaves as a thermocline proxy in the eastern equatorial Pacific. The ORCA2 model, which includes Δ 14 C as a passive tracer, has been forced with reanalysis fluxes over 1948-1999, and the output is compared with a previously report...
Published in: | Geophysical Research Letters |
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Main Authors: | , , , , , , , |
Other Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
HAL CCSD
2004
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Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://hal.science/hal-00154546 https://hal.science/hal-00154546/document https://hal.science/hal-00154546/file/2004GL019764.pdf https://doi.org/10.1029/2004GL019764 |
Summary: | [1] An ocean model is used to test the idea that sea surface Δ 14 C behaves as a thermocline proxy in the eastern equatorial Pacific. The ORCA2 model, which includes Δ 14 C as a passive tracer, has been forced with reanalysis fluxes over 1948-1999, and the output is compared with a previously reported Galapagos Δ 14 C record. The model reproduces the abrupt increase in the seasonally minimum Δ 14 C in 1976/77 found in the data. This increase is associated with neither a shift of thermocline depth over the NINO3 region, nor a change in the relative proportion of Northern/Southern source waters. Rather, it is due to a decrease in the Sub-Antarctic Mode Water (SAMW) component of the upwelling water, thereby representing a decrease in entrainment of water from below the base of the directly ventilated thermocline. |
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