Dense bottom layers in the Scotia Sea, Southern Ocean: Creation, lifespan, and destruction
The lower limb of the Atlantic overturning circulation is renewed by dense waters from the Southern Ocean, a substantial portion of which flow through the Scotia Sea. We report dense bottom layers here, with gradients in temperature and salinity comparable to those seen near the surface of the South...
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Online Access: | http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/501484/ https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/501484/1/grl50260.pdf https://doi.org/10.1002/grl.50260 |
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ftnerc:oai:nora.nerc.ac.uk:501484 2023-05-15T18:15:57+02:00 Dense bottom layers in the Scotia Sea, Southern Ocean: Creation, lifespan, and destruction Meredith, Michael P. Brown, Peter J. Naveira Garabato, Alberto C. Jullion, Loïc Venables, Hugh J. Messias, Marie-José 2013-03-16 text http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/501484/ https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/501484/1/grl50260.pdf https://doi.org/10.1002/grl.50260 en eng Wiley https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/501484/1/grl50260.pdf Meredith, Michael P. orcid:0000-0002-7342-7756 Brown, Peter J.; Naveira Garabato, Alberto C.; Jullion, Loïc; Venables, Hugh J.; Messias, Marie-José. 2013 Dense bottom layers in the Scotia Sea, Southern Ocean: Creation, lifespan, and destruction. Geophysical Research Letters, 40 (5). 933-936. https://doi.org/10.1002/grl.50260 <https://doi.org/10.1002/grl.50260> Publication - Article PeerReviewed 2013 ftnerc https://doi.org/10.1002/grl.50260 2023-02-04T19:36:46Z The lower limb of the Atlantic overturning circulation is renewed by dense waters from the Southern Ocean, a substantial portion of which flow through the Scotia Sea. We report dense bottom layers here, with gradients in temperature and salinity comparable to those seen near the surface of the Southern Ocean. These are overlain by layers with much weaker stratification, and are caused by episodic overflows of dense waters across the South Scotia Ridge, and topographic trapping within deep trenches. One such layer was found to be at least 3–4 years older than the water immediately above. The estimated vertical diffusivity to which this layer was subject is substantially less than the strong basin-average deep mixing reported previously. We conjecture that (a) vertical mixing in the Scotia Sea is strongly spatially inhomogeneous, and (b) the flushing of these layers, like their formation, is related to overflow events, and hence also strongly episodic. Article in Journal/Newspaper Scotia Sea Southern Ocean Natural Environment Research Council: NERC Open Research Archive Southern Ocean Scotia Sea South Scotia Ridge ENVELOPE(-46.500,-46.500,-60.000,-60.000) Geophysical Research Letters 40 5 933 936 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Natural Environment Research Council: NERC Open Research Archive |
op_collection_id |
ftnerc |
language |
English |
description |
The lower limb of the Atlantic overturning circulation is renewed by dense waters from the Southern Ocean, a substantial portion of which flow through the Scotia Sea. We report dense bottom layers here, with gradients in temperature and salinity comparable to those seen near the surface of the Southern Ocean. These are overlain by layers with much weaker stratification, and are caused by episodic overflows of dense waters across the South Scotia Ridge, and topographic trapping within deep trenches. One such layer was found to be at least 3–4 years older than the water immediately above. The estimated vertical diffusivity to which this layer was subject is substantially less than the strong basin-average deep mixing reported previously. We conjecture that (a) vertical mixing in the Scotia Sea is strongly spatially inhomogeneous, and (b) the flushing of these layers, like their formation, is related to overflow events, and hence also strongly episodic. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Meredith, Michael P. Brown, Peter J. Naveira Garabato, Alberto C. Jullion, Loïc Venables, Hugh J. Messias, Marie-José |
spellingShingle |
Meredith, Michael P. Brown, Peter J. Naveira Garabato, Alberto C. Jullion, Loïc Venables, Hugh J. Messias, Marie-José Dense bottom layers in the Scotia Sea, Southern Ocean: Creation, lifespan, and destruction |
author_facet |
Meredith, Michael P. Brown, Peter J. Naveira Garabato, Alberto C. Jullion, Loïc Venables, Hugh J. Messias, Marie-José |
author_sort |
Meredith, Michael P. |
title |
Dense bottom layers in the Scotia Sea, Southern Ocean: Creation, lifespan, and destruction |
title_short |
Dense bottom layers in the Scotia Sea, Southern Ocean: Creation, lifespan, and destruction |
title_full |
Dense bottom layers in the Scotia Sea, Southern Ocean: Creation, lifespan, and destruction |
title_fullStr |
Dense bottom layers in the Scotia Sea, Southern Ocean: Creation, lifespan, and destruction |
title_full_unstemmed |
Dense bottom layers in the Scotia Sea, Southern Ocean: Creation, lifespan, and destruction |
title_sort |
dense bottom layers in the scotia sea, southern ocean: creation, lifespan, and destruction |
publisher |
Wiley |
publishDate |
2013 |
url |
http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/501484/ https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/501484/1/grl50260.pdf https://doi.org/10.1002/grl.50260 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-46.500,-46.500,-60.000,-60.000) |
geographic |
Southern Ocean Scotia Sea South Scotia Ridge |
geographic_facet |
Southern Ocean Scotia Sea South Scotia Ridge |
genre |
Scotia Sea Southern Ocean |
genre_facet |
Scotia Sea Southern Ocean |
op_relation |
https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/501484/1/grl50260.pdf Meredith, Michael P. orcid:0000-0002-7342-7756 Brown, Peter J.; Naveira Garabato, Alberto C.; Jullion, Loïc; Venables, Hugh J.; Messias, Marie-José. 2013 Dense bottom layers in the Scotia Sea, Southern Ocean: Creation, lifespan, and destruction. Geophysical Research Letters, 40 (5). 933-936. https://doi.org/10.1002/grl.50260 <https://doi.org/10.1002/grl.50260> |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1002/grl.50260 |
container_title |
Geophysical Research Letters |
container_volume |
40 |
container_issue |
5 |
container_start_page |
933 |
op_container_end_page |
936 |
_version_ |
1766189280045039616 |