The distribution of dissolved silica in the deep western North Atlantic Ocean

• Main Author: Needell, Gerald J.
• Format: Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution 1978
• Subjects: Silica; Chemical oceanography; Composition of seawater; Atlantis II (Ship : 1963-) Cruise AII100; Knorr (Ship : 1970-) Cruise KN48; Chain (Ship : 1958-) Cruise CH20; Newfoundland; North Atlantic Deep Water; North Atlantic
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/1912/1719

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution November, 1978 The distribution of dissolved silica in the deep western North Atlantic Ocean is presented. The potential temperature-dissolved silica relationship is compared with the potential temperature salinity relationship in the North Atlantic Deep Water. Geographical variations in the potential temperature- dissolved silica relationship are discussed with particular emphasis on the low silica signal of the Western Boundary Undercurrent (WBUC). The WBUC is shown to have a significant influence on the potential temperature-dissolved silica relationship from the tail of the Grand Banks of Newfoundland to Cape Hatteras. It is suggested that a region of enhanced mixing is present west of 65°W that is responsible for the observed changes in the dissolved silica distribution.