Tracking the spread of a passive tracer through Southern Ocean water masses
International audience 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...
Published in: | Ocean Science |
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Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
Other Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
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HAL CCSD
2020
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Online Access: | https://hal.sorbonne-universite.fr/hal-02552178 https://hal.sorbonne-universite.fr/hal-02552178/document https://hal.sorbonne-universite.fr/hal-02552178/file/os-16-323-2020.pdf https://doi.org/10.5194/os-16-323-2020 |
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Université de Paris: Portail HAL |
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ftunivparis |
language |
English |
topic |
[SDU.STU.OC]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/Oceanography |
spellingShingle |
[SDU.STU.OC]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/Oceanography Zika, Jan D. Sallée, Jean-Baptiste Meijers, Andrew Naveira Garabato, Alberto C. Watson, Andrew J. Messias, Marie-José King, Brian A. Tracking the spread of a passive tracer through Southern Ocean water masses |
topic_facet |
[SDU.STU.OC]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/Oceanography |
description |
International audience 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 m 2 s −1 . |
author2 |
University of New South Wales Sydney (UNSW) Processus et interactions de fine échelle océanique (PROTEO) Laboratoire d'Océanographie et du Climat : Expérimentations et Approches Numériques (LOCEAN) Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (MNHN)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut Pierre-Simon-Laplace (IPSL (FR_636)) École normale supérieure - Paris (ENS-PSL) Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-École polytechnique (X)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Paris Cité (UPCité)-École normale supérieure - Paris (ENS-PSL) Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-École polytechnique (X)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Paris Cité (UPCité)-Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (MNHN)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut Pierre-Simon-Laplace (IPSL (FR_636)) Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-École polytechnique (X)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Paris Cité (UPCité) British Antarctic Survey (BAS) Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) University of Southampton - Ship Dynamics (UoS) University of Southampton University of Exeter National Oceanography Centre Southampton (NOC) |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Zika, Jan D. Sallée, Jean-Baptiste Meijers, Andrew Naveira Garabato, Alberto C. Watson, Andrew J. Messias, Marie-José King, Brian A. |
author_facet |
Zika, Jan D. Sallée, Jean-Baptiste Meijers, Andrew Naveira Garabato, Alberto C. Watson, Andrew J. Messias, Marie-José 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 |
HAL CCSD |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
https://hal.sorbonne-universite.fr/hal-02552178 https://hal.sorbonne-universite.fr/hal-02552178/document https://hal.sorbonne-universite.fr/hal-02552178/file/os-16-323-2020.pdf https://doi.org/10.5194/os-16-323-2020 |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Drake Passage Scotia Sea Southern Ocean |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Drake Passage Scotia Sea Southern Ocean |
op_source |
ISSN: 1812-0784 EISSN: 1812-0792 Ocean Science https://hal.sorbonne-universite.fr/hal-02552178 Ocean Science, 2020, 16 (2), pp.323 - 336. ⟨10.5194/os-16-323-2020⟩ |
op_relation |
info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.5194/os-16-323-2020 hal-02552178 https://hal.sorbonne-universite.fr/hal-02552178 https://hal.sorbonne-universite.fr/hal-02552178/document https://hal.sorbonne-universite.fr/hal-02552178/file/os-16-323-2020.pdf doi:10.5194/os-16-323-2020 WOS: 000519933100001 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/OpenAccess |
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 |
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1799469054814060544 |
spelling |
ftunivparis:oai:HAL:hal-02552178v1 2024-05-19T07:31:12+00:00 Tracking the spread of a passive tracer through Southern Ocean water masses Zika, Jan D. Sallée, Jean-Baptiste Meijers, Andrew Naveira Garabato, Alberto C. Watson, Andrew J. Messias, Marie-José King, Brian A. University of New South Wales Sydney (UNSW) Processus et interactions de fine échelle océanique (PROTEO) Laboratoire d'Océanographie et du Climat : Expérimentations et Approches Numériques (LOCEAN) Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (MNHN)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut Pierre-Simon-Laplace (IPSL (FR_636)) École normale supérieure - Paris (ENS-PSL) Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-École polytechnique (X)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Paris Cité (UPCité)-École normale supérieure - Paris (ENS-PSL) Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-École polytechnique (X)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Paris Cité (UPCité)-Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (MNHN)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut Pierre-Simon-Laplace (IPSL (FR_636)) Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-École polytechnique (X)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Paris Cité (UPCité) British Antarctic Survey (BAS) Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) University of Southampton - Ship Dynamics (UoS) University of Southampton University of Exeter National Oceanography Centre Southampton (NOC) 2020 https://hal.sorbonne-universite.fr/hal-02552178 https://hal.sorbonne-universite.fr/hal-02552178/document https://hal.sorbonne-universite.fr/hal-02552178/file/os-16-323-2020.pdf https://doi.org/10.5194/os-16-323-2020 en eng HAL CCSD European Geosciences Union info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.5194/os-16-323-2020 hal-02552178 https://hal.sorbonne-universite.fr/hal-02552178 https://hal.sorbonne-universite.fr/hal-02552178/document https://hal.sorbonne-universite.fr/hal-02552178/file/os-16-323-2020.pdf doi:10.5194/os-16-323-2020 WOS: 000519933100001 info:eu-repo/semantics/OpenAccess ISSN: 1812-0784 EISSN: 1812-0792 Ocean Science https://hal.sorbonne-universite.fr/hal-02552178 Ocean Science, 2020, 16 (2), pp.323 - 336. ⟨10.5194/os-16-323-2020⟩ [SDU.STU.OC]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/Oceanography info:eu-repo/semantics/article Journal articles 2020 ftunivparis https://doi.org/10.5194/os-16-323-2020 2024-04-23T03:43:54Z International audience 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 m 2 s −1 . Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Drake Passage Scotia Sea Southern Ocean Université de Paris: Portail HAL Ocean Science 16 2 323 336 |