Using chemical tracers to assess ocean models
Chemical tracers can be used to assess the simulated circulation in ocean mode-ls. Tracers that have been used in this context include tritium, chlorofluorocarbons, natural and bomb-produced radiocarbon, and to a lesser extent, oxygen, silicate, phosphate, isotopes of organic and inorganic carbon co...
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ftpubman:oai:pure.mpg.de:item_3173510 2023-08-27T04:04:59+02:00 Using chemical tracers to assess ocean models England, M. Maier-Reimer, E. 2001 application/pdf http://hdl.handle.net/21.11116/0000-0005-0A65-F http://hdl.handle.net/21.11116/0000-0005-0A67-D eng eng info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1029/1998RG000043 http://hdl.handle.net/21.11116/0000-0005-0A65-F http://hdl.handle.net/21.11116/0000-0005-0A67-D info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Reviews of Geophysics info:eu-repo/semantics/article 2001 ftpubman https://doi.org/10.1029/1998RG000043 2023-08-02T00:09:02Z Chemical tracers can be used to assess the simulated circulation in ocean mode-ls. Tracers that have been used in this context include tritium, chlorofluorocarbons, natural and bomb-produced radiocarbon, and to a lesser extent, oxygen, silicate, phosphate, isotopes of organic and inorganic carbon compounds, and certain noble gases (e.g., helium and argon). This paper reviews the use of chemical tracers in assessing the circulation and flow patterns in global and regional ocean models. It will be shown that crucial information can be derived from chemcial tracers that cannot be obtained from temperature-salinity (T-S) alone. In fact, it turns out that a model with a good representation of T-S can have significant errors in simulated circulation, so checking a model's ability to capture chemical tracer patterns is vital. Natural chemical tracers such as isotopes of carbon, argon, and oxygen are useful for examining the model representation of old water masses, such as North Pacific and Circumpolar Deep Water. Anthropogenic or transient tracers, such as tritium, chlorofluorocarbons, and bomb-produced 14C, are best suited for analyzing model circulation over decadal timescales, such as thermocline ventilation, the renewal of Antarctic Intermediate Water, and the ventilation pathways of North Atlantic Deep Water and Antarctic Bottom Water. Tracer model studies have helped to reveal inadequacies in the model representation of certain water mass formation processes, for example, convection, downslope flows, and deep ocean currents. They show how coarse models can chronically exaggerate the spatial scales of open-ocean convection and deep currents while underestimating deep flow rates and diffusing downslope flows with excessive lateral mixing. Higher-resolution models typically only resolve thermocline ventilation because of shorter integration times, and most resort to high-latitude T-S restoring to simulate reasonable interior water mass characteristics. This can be seen to result in spuriously weak chemical tracer ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic North Atlantic Deep Water North Atlantic Max Planck Society: MPG.PuRe Antarctic Pacific Reviews of Geophysics 39 1 29 70 |
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Open Polar |
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Max Planck Society: MPG.PuRe |
op_collection_id |
ftpubman |
language |
English |
description |
Chemical tracers can be used to assess the simulated circulation in ocean mode-ls. Tracers that have been used in this context include tritium, chlorofluorocarbons, natural and bomb-produced radiocarbon, and to a lesser extent, oxygen, silicate, phosphate, isotopes of organic and inorganic carbon compounds, and certain noble gases (e.g., helium and argon). This paper reviews the use of chemical tracers in assessing the circulation and flow patterns in global and regional ocean models. It will be shown that crucial information can be derived from chemcial tracers that cannot be obtained from temperature-salinity (T-S) alone. In fact, it turns out that a model with a good representation of T-S can have significant errors in simulated circulation, so checking a model's ability to capture chemical tracer patterns is vital. Natural chemical tracers such as isotopes of carbon, argon, and oxygen are useful for examining the model representation of old water masses, such as North Pacific and Circumpolar Deep Water. Anthropogenic or transient tracers, such as tritium, chlorofluorocarbons, and bomb-produced 14C, are best suited for analyzing model circulation over decadal timescales, such as thermocline ventilation, the renewal of Antarctic Intermediate Water, and the ventilation pathways of North Atlantic Deep Water and Antarctic Bottom Water. Tracer model studies have helped to reveal inadequacies in the model representation of certain water mass formation processes, for example, convection, downslope flows, and deep ocean currents. They show how coarse models can chronically exaggerate the spatial scales of open-ocean convection and deep currents while underestimating deep flow rates and diffusing downslope flows with excessive lateral mixing. Higher-resolution models typically only resolve thermocline ventilation because of shorter integration times, and most resort to high-latitude T-S restoring to simulate reasonable interior water mass characteristics. This can be seen to result in spuriously weak chemical tracer ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
England, M. Maier-Reimer, E. |
spellingShingle |
England, M. Maier-Reimer, E. Using chemical tracers to assess ocean models |
author_facet |
England, M. Maier-Reimer, E. |
author_sort |
England, M. |
title |
Using chemical tracers to assess ocean models |
title_short |
Using chemical tracers to assess ocean models |
title_full |
Using chemical tracers to assess ocean models |
title_fullStr |
Using chemical tracers to assess ocean models |
title_full_unstemmed |
Using chemical tracers to assess ocean models |
title_sort |
using chemical tracers to assess ocean models |
publishDate |
2001 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/21.11116/0000-0005-0A65-F http://hdl.handle.net/21.11116/0000-0005-0A67-D |
geographic |
Antarctic Pacific |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic Pacific |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic North Atlantic Deep Water North Atlantic |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic North Atlantic Deep Water North Atlantic |
op_source |
Reviews of Geophysics |
op_relation |
info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1029/1998RG000043 http://hdl.handle.net/21.11116/0000-0005-0A65-F http://hdl.handle.net/21.11116/0000-0005-0A67-D |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1029/1998RG000043 |
container_title |
Reviews of Geophysics |
container_volume |
39 |
container_issue |
1 |
container_start_page |
29 |
op_container_end_page |
70 |
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1775355005931356160 |