Improving the thermocline calculation over the global ocean

According to the typical thermal structure of the ocean, the water column can be divided into three layers: the mixed layer, the thermocline and the deep layer. In this study, we provide a new methodology, based on a function adjustment to the temperature profile, to locate the minimum and maximum d...

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Published in:Ocean Science
Main Authors: Romero, Emmanuel, Tenorio-Fernandez, Leonardo, Portela, Esther, Montes-Aréchiga, Jorge, Sánchez-Velasco, Laura
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Copernicus Publications 2023
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.5194/os-19-887-2023
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spelling ftnonlinearchiv:oai:noa.gwlb.de:cop_mods_00067236 2023-07-16T03:59:52+02:00 Improving the thermocline calculation over the global ocean Romero, Emmanuel Tenorio-Fernandez, Leonardo Portela, Esther Montes-Aréchiga, Jorge Sánchez-Velasco, Laura 2023-06 electronic https://doi.org/10.5194/os-19-887-2023 https://noa.gwlb.de/receive/cop_mods_00067236 https://noa.gwlb.de/servlets/MCRFileNodeServlet/cop_derivate_00065700/os-19-887-2023.pdf https://os.copernicus.org/articles/19/887/2023/os-19-887-2023.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-19-887-2023 https://noa.gwlb.de/receive/cop_mods_00067236 https://noa.gwlb.de/servlets/MCRFileNodeServlet/cop_derivate_00065700/os-19-887-2023.pdf https://os.copernicus.org/articles/19/887/2023/os-19-887-2023.pdf https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ uneingeschränkt info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess article Verlagsveröffentlichung article Text doc-type:article 2023 ftnonlinearchiv https://doi.org/10.5194/os-19-887-2023 2023-06-25T23:18:50Z According to the typical thermal structure of the ocean, the water column can be divided into three layers: the mixed layer, the thermocline and the deep layer. In this study, we provide a new methodology, based on a function adjustment to the temperature profile, to locate the minimum and maximum depths of the strongest thermocline. We first validated our methodology by comparing the mixed layer depth obtained with the method proposed here with three other methods from previous studies. Since we found a very good agreement between the four methods we used the function adjustment to compute the monthly climatologies of the maximum thermocline depth and the thermocline thickness and strength in the global ocean. We also provide an assessment of the regions of the ocean where our adjustment is valid, i.e., where the thermal structure of the ocean follows the three-layer structure. However, there are ocean regions where the water column cannot be separated into three layers due to the dynamic processes that alter it. This assessment highlights the limitations of the existing methods to accurately determine the mixed layer depth and the thermocline depth in oceanic regions that are particularly turbulent such as the Southern Ocean and the northern North Atlantic, among others. The method proposed here has shown to be robust and easy to apply. Article in Journal/Newspaper North Atlantic Southern Ocean Niedersächsisches Online-Archiv NOA Southern Ocean Ocean Science 19 3 887 901
institution Open Polar
collection Niedersächsisches Online-Archiv NOA
op_collection_id ftnonlinearchiv
language English
topic article
Verlagsveröffentlichung
spellingShingle article
Verlagsveröffentlichung
Romero, Emmanuel
Tenorio-Fernandez, Leonardo
Portela, Esther
Montes-Aréchiga, Jorge
Sánchez-Velasco, Laura
Improving the thermocline calculation over the global ocean
topic_facet article
Verlagsveröffentlichung
description According to the typical thermal structure of the ocean, the water column can be divided into three layers: the mixed layer, the thermocline and the deep layer. In this study, we provide a new methodology, based on a function adjustment to the temperature profile, to locate the minimum and maximum depths of the strongest thermocline. We first validated our methodology by comparing the mixed layer depth obtained with the method proposed here with three other methods from previous studies. Since we found a very good agreement between the four methods we used the function adjustment to compute the monthly climatologies of the maximum thermocline depth and the thermocline thickness and strength in the global ocean. We also provide an assessment of the regions of the ocean where our adjustment is valid, i.e., where the thermal structure of the ocean follows the three-layer structure. However, there are ocean regions where the water column cannot be separated into three layers due to the dynamic processes that alter it. This assessment highlights the limitations of the existing methods to accurately determine the mixed layer depth and the thermocline depth in oceanic regions that are particularly turbulent such as the Southern Ocean and the northern North Atlantic, among others. The method proposed here has shown to be robust and easy to apply.
format Article in Journal/Newspaper
author Romero, Emmanuel
Tenorio-Fernandez, Leonardo
Portela, Esther
Montes-Aréchiga, Jorge
Sánchez-Velasco, Laura
author_facet Romero, Emmanuel
Tenorio-Fernandez, Leonardo
Portela, Esther
Montes-Aréchiga, Jorge
Sánchez-Velasco, Laura
author_sort Romero, Emmanuel
title Improving the thermocline calculation over the global ocean
title_short Improving the thermocline calculation over the global ocean
title_full Improving the thermocline calculation over the global ocean
title_fullStr Improving the thermocline calculation over the global ocean
title_full_unstemmed Improving the thermocline calculation over the global ocean
title_sort improving the thermocline calculation over the global ocean
publisher Copernicus Publications
publishDate 2023
url https://doi.org/10.5194/os-19-887-2023
https://noa.gwlb.de/receive/cop_mods_00067236
https://noa.gwlb.de/servlets/MCRFileNodeServlet/cop_derivate_00065700/os-19-887-2023.pdf
https://os.copernicus.org/articles/19/887/2023/os-19-887-2023.pdf
geographic Southern Ocean
geographic_facet Southern Ocean
genre North Atlantic
Southern Ocean
genre_facet North Atlantic
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-19-887-2023
https://noa.gwlb.de/receive/cop_mods_00067236
https://noa.gwlb.de/servlets/MCRFileNodeServlet/cop_derivate_00065700/os-19-887-2023.pdf
https://os.copernicus.org/articles/19/887/2023/os-19-887-2023.pdf
op_rights https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
uneingeschränkt
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
op_doi https://doi.org/10.5194/os-19-887-2023
container_title Ocean Science
container_volume 19
container_issue 3
container_start_page 887
op_container_end_page 901
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