Tracking the spread of a passive tracer through Southern Ocean water masses
A dynamically passive inert tracer was released in the interior South Pacific Ocean at latitudes of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current. Observational cross sections of the tracer were taken over 4 consecutive years as it drifted through Drake Passage and into the Atlantic Ocean. The tracer was releas...
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Copernicus Publications
2020
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ftnonlinearchiv:oai:noa.gwlb.de:cop_mods_00050912 2023-05-15T13:54:46+02:00 Tracking the spread of a passive tracer through Southern Ocean water masses Zika, Jan D. Sallée, Jean-Baptiste Meijers, Andrew J. S. Naveira-Garabato, Alberto C. Watson, Andrew J. Messias, Marie-Jose King, Brian A. 2020-03 electronic https://doi.org/10.5194/os-16-323-2020 https://noa.gwlb.de/receive/cop_mods_00050912 https://noa.gwlb.de/servlets/MCRFileNodeServlet/cop_derivate_00050569/os-16-323-2020.pdf https://os.copernicus.org/articles/16/323/2020/os-16-323-2020.pdf eng eng Copernicus Publications Ocean Science -- http://www.bibliothek.uni-regensburg.de/ezeit/?2183769 -- http://www.copernicus.org/EGU/os/os.html -- 1812-0792 https://doi.org/10.5194/os-16-323-2020 https://noa.gwlb.de/receive/cop_mods_00050912 https://noa.gwlb.de/servlets/MCRFileNodeServlet/cop_derivate_00050569/os-16-323-2020.pdf https://os.copernicus.org/articles/16/323/2020/os-16-323-2020.pdf https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ uneingeschränkt info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess CC-BY article Verlagsveröffentlichung article Text doc-type:article 2020 ftnonlinearchiv https://doi.org/10.5194/os-16-323-2020 2022-02-08T22:36:40Z A dynamically passive inert tracer was released in the interior South Pacific Ocean at latitudes of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current. Observational cross sections of the tracer were taken over 4 consecutive years as it drifted through Drake Passage and into the Atlantic Ocean. The tracer was released within a region of high salinity relative to surrounding waters at the same density. In the absence of irreversible mixing a tracer remains at constant salinity and temperature on an isopycnal surface. To investigate the process of irreversible mixing we analysed the tracer in potential density-versus-salinity-anomaly coordinates. Observations of high tracer concentration tended to be collocated with isopycnal salinity anomalies. With time, an initially narrow peak in tracer concentration as a function of salinity at constant density broadened with the tracer being found at ever fresher salinities, consistent with diffusion-like behaviour in that coordinate system. The second moment of the tracer as a function of salinity suggested an initial period of slow spreading for approximately 2 years in the Pacific, followed by more rapid spreading as the tracer entered Drake Passage and the Scotia Sea. Analysis of isopycnal salinity gradients based on the Argo programme suggests that part of this apparent change can be explained by changes in background salinity gradients while part may be explained by the evolution of the tracer patch from a slowly growing phase where the tracer forms filaments to a more rapid phase where the tracer mixes at 240–550 m2 s−1. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Drake Passage Scotia Sea Southern Ocean Niedersächsisches Online-Archiv NOA Antarctic Southern Ocean The Antarctic Drake Passage Scotia Sea Pacific Ocean Science 16 2 323 336 |
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Open Polar |
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Niedersächsisches Online-Archiv NOA |
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ftnonlinearchiv |
language |
English |
topic |
article Verlagsveröffentlichung |
spellingShingle |
article Verlagsveröffentlichung Zika, Jan D. Sallée, Jean-Baptiste Meijers, Andrew J. S. Naveira-Garabato, Alberto C. Watson, Andrew J. Messias, Marie-Jose King, Brian A. Tracking the spread of a passive tracer through Southern Ocean water masses |
topic_facet |
article Verlagsveröffentlichung |
description |
A dynamically passive inert tracer was released in the interior South Pacific Ocean at latitudes of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current. Observational cross sections of the tracer were taken over 4 consecutive years as it drifted through Drake Passage and into the Atlantic Ocean. The tracer was released within a region of high salinity relative to surrounding waters at the same density. In the absence of irreversible mixing a tracer remains at constant salinity and temperature on an isopycnal surface. To investigate the process of irreversible mixing we analysed the tracer in potential density-versus-salinity-anomaly coordinates. Observations of high tracer concentration tended to be collocated with isopycnal salinity anomalies. With time, an initially narrow peak in tracer concentration as a function of salinity at constant density broadened with the tracer being found at ever fresher salinities, consistent with diffusion-like behaviour in that coordinate system. The second moment of the tracer as a function of salinity suggested an initial period of slow spreading for approximately 2 years in the Pacific, followed by more rapid spreading as the tracer entered Drake Passage and the Scotia Sea. Analysis of isopycnal salinity gradients based on the Argo programme suggests that part of this apparent change can be explained by changes in background salinity gradients while part may be explained by the evolution of the tracer patch from a slowly growing phase where the tracer forms filaments to a more rapid phase where the tracer mixes at 240–550 m2 s−1. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Zika, Jan D. Sallée, Jean-Baptiste Meijers, Andrew J. S. Naveira-Garabato, Alberto C. Watson, Andrew J. Messias, Marie-Jose King, Brian A. |
author_facet |
Zika, Jan D. Sallée, Jean-Baptiste Meijers, Andrew J. S. Naveira-Garabato, Alberto C. Watson, Andrew J. Messias, Marie-Jose King, Brian A. |
author_sort |
Zika, Jan D. |
title |
Tracking the spread of a passive tracer through Southern Ocean water masses |
title_short |
Tracking the spread of a passive tracer through Southern Ocean water masses |
title_full |
Tracking the spread of a passive tracer through Southern Ocean water masses |
title_fullStr |
Tracking the spread of a passive tracer through Southern Ocean water masses |
title_full_unstemmed |
Tracking the spread of a passive tracer through Southern Ocean water masses |
title_sort |
tracking the spread of a passive tracer through southern ocean water masses |
publisher |
Copernicus Publications |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/os-16-323-2020 https://noa.gwlb.de/receive/cop_mods_00050912 https://noa.gwlb.de/servlets/MCRFileNodeServlet/cop_derivate_00050569/os-16-323-2020.pdf https://os.copernicus.org/articles/16/323/2020/os-16-323-2020.pdf |
geographic |
Antarctic Southern Ocean The Antarctic Drake Passage Scotia Sea Pacific |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic Southern Ocean The Antarctic Drake Passage Scotia Sea Pacific |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Drake Passage Scotia Sea Southern Ocean |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Drake Passage Scotia Sea Southern Ocean |
op_relation |
Ocean Science -- http://www.bibliothek.uni-regensburg.de/ezeit/?2183769 -- http://www.copernicus.org/EGU/os/os.html -- 1812-0792 https://doi.org/10.5194/os-16-323-2020 https://noa.gwlb.de/receive/cop_mods_00050912 https://noa.gwlb.de/servlets/MCRFileNodeServlet/cop_derivate_00050569/os-16-323-2020.pdf https://os.copernicus.org/articles/16/323/2020/os-16-323-2020.pdf |
op_rights |
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ uneingeschränkt info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/os-16-323-2020 |
container_title |
Ocean Science |
container_volume |
16 |
container_issue |
2 |
container_start_page |
323 |
op_container_end_page |
336 |
_version_ |
1766260884916666368 |