Temperature and salinity variability in thermohaline staircase layers

• Main Author: Stuebe, David Allen
• Other Authors: Raymond Schmitt., Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution., Joint Program in Physical Oceanography, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences
• Format: Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: Massachusetts Institute of Technology 2005
• Subjects: Joint Program in Physical Oceanography; Earth; Atmospheric; and Planetary Sciences; Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution; North Atlantic
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/39194

Thesis (S.M.)--Joint Program in Physical Oceanography (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences; and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution), 2005. Includes bibliographical references (p. 65-67). A moored profiler record from the western tropical North Atlantic provides the first continuous time series of temperature, salinity and velocity profiles in a thermohaline staircase. Variations in the intensity of layering and the evolution of layer properties are well documented during the 4.3 month record. Such staircases are the result of strong salt fingering at the interfaces between the mixed layers, and these data provide unique insights into the dynamics of salt fingers. In particular, a striking linear correlation between the temperature and salinity of the layers may be interpreted as resulting from vertical salt finger flux divergences. Data from this record allow new interpretations of previous work on this topic by McDougall (1991). by David Allen Stuebe. S.M.