Mass, heat and nutrient fluxes in the Atlantic Ocean determined by inverse methods
Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution March 1988 Inverse methods are applied to historical hydrographic data to address two aspects of the general circulati...
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Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
1988
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ftwhoas:oai:darchive.mblwhoilibrary.org:1912/4759 2023-05-15T13:53:14+02:00 Mass, heat and nutrient fluxes in the Atlantic Ocean determined by inverse methods Rintoul, Stephen R. Atlantic Ocean 1988-03 application/pdf https://hdl.handle.net/1912/4759 en_US eng Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution WHOI Theses https://hdl.handle.net/1912/4759 doi:10.1575/1912/4759 doi:10.1575/1912/4759 Ocean circulation Ocean temperature Conrad (Ship) Cruise Atlantis II (Ship : 1963-) Cruise AII109 Thesis 1988 ftwhoas https://doi.org/10.1575/1912/4759 2022-05-28T22:58:27Z Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution March 1988 Inverse methods are applied to historical hydrographic data to address two aspects of the general circulation of the Atlantic Ocean. The method allows conservation statements for mass and other properties, along with a variety of other constraints, to be combined in a dynamically consistent way to estimate the absolute velocity field and associated property transports. The method is first used to examine the exchange of mass and heat between the South Atlantic and the neighboring ocean basins. The Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) carries a surplus of intermediate water into the South Atlantic through Drake Passage which is compensated by a surplus of deep and bottom water leaving the basin south of Africa. As a result, the ACC loses .25±.18x1015 W of heat in crossing the Atlantic. At 32°S the meridional flux of heat is .25±.19x1015 W equatorward, consistent in sign but smaller in magnitude than other recent estimates. This heat flux is carried primarily by a meridional overturning cell in which the export of 17 Sv of North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW) is balanced by an equatorward return flow equally split between the surface layers, and the intermediate and bottom water. No "leak" of warm Indian Ocean thermocline water is necessary to account for the equatorward heat flux across 32°S; in fact, a large transfer of warm water from the Indian Ocean to the Atlantic is found to be inconsistent with the present data set. Together these results demonstrate that the Atlantic as a whole acts to convert intermediate water to deep and bottom water, and thus that the global thermohaline cell associated with the formation and export of NADW is closed primarily by a "cold water path," in which deep water leaving the Atlantic ultimately returns as intermediate water entering the basin through Drake Passage. The second problem ... Thesis Antarc* Antarctic Drake Passage NADW North Atlantic Deep Water North Atlantic Woods Hole Scientific Community: WHOAS (Woods Hole Open Access Server) Antarctic Drake Passage Indian The Antarctic Woods Hole, MA |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Woods Hole Scientific Community: WHOAS (Woods Hole Open Access Server) |
op_collection_id |
ftwhoas |
language |
English |
topic |
Ocean circulation Ocean temperature Conrad (Ship) Cruise Atlantis II (Ship : 1963-) Cruise AII109 |
spellingShingle |
Ocean circulation Ocean temperature Conrad (Ship) Cruise Atlantis II (Ship : 1963-) Cruise AII109 Rintoul, Stephen R. Mass, heat and nutrient fluxes in the Atlantic Ocean determined by inverse methods |
topic_facet |
Ocean circulation Ocean temperature Conrad (Ship) Cruise Atlantis II (Ship : 1963-) Cruise AII109 |
description |
Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution March 1988 Inverse methods are applied to historical hydrographic data to address two aspects of the general circulation of the Atlantic Ocean. The method allows conservation statements for mass and other properties, along with a variety of other constraints, to be combined in a dynamically consistent way to estimate the absolute velocity field and associated property transports. The method is first used to examine the exchange of mass and heat between the South Atlantic and the neighboring ocean basins. The Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) carries a surplus of intermediate water into the South Atlantic through Drake Passage which is compensated by a surplus of deep and bottom water leaving the basin south of Africa. As a result, the ACC loses .25±.18x1015 W of heat in crossing the Atlantic. At 32°S the meridional flux of heat is .25±.19x1015 W equatorward, consistent in sign but smaller in magnitude than other recent estimates. This heat flux is carried primarily by a meridional overturning cell in which the export of 17 Sv of North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW) is balanced by an equatorward return flow equally split between the surface layers, and the intermediate and bottom water. No "leak" of warm Indian Ocean thermocline water is necessary to account for the equatorward heat flux across 32°S; in fact, a large transfer of warm water from the Indian Ocean to the Atlantic is found to be inconsistent with the present data set. Together these results demonstrate that the Atlantic as a whole acts to convert intermediate water to deep and bottom water, and thus that the global thermohaline cell associated with the formation and export of NADW is closed primarily by a "cold water path," in which deep water leaving the Atlantic ultimately returns as intermediate water entering the basin through Drake Passage. The second problem ... |
format |
Thesis |
author |
Rintoul, Stephen R. |
author_facet |
Rintoul, Stephen R. |
author_sort |
Rintoul, Stephen R. |
title |
Mass, heat and nutrient fluxes in the Atlantic Ocean determined by inverse methods |
title_short |
Mass, heat and nutrient fluxes in the Atlantic Ocean determined by inverse methods |
title_full |
Mass, heat and nutrient fluxes in the Atlantic Ocean determined by inverse methods |
title_fullStr |
Mass, heat and nutrient fluxes in the Atlantic Ocean determined by inverse methods |
title_full_unstemmed |
Mass, heat and nutrient fluxes in the Atlantic Ocean determined by inverse methods |
title_sort |
mass, heat and nutrient fluxes in the atlantic ocean determined by inverse methods |
publisher |
Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution |
publishDate |
1988 |
url |
https://hdl.handle.net/1912/4759 |
op_coverage |
Atlantic Ocean |
geographic |
Antarctic Drake Passage Indian The Antarctic |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic Drake Passage Indian The Antarctic |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Drake Passage NADW North Atlantic Deep Water North Atlantic |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Drake Passage NADW North Atlantic Deep Water North Atlantic |
op_source |
doi:10.1575/1912/4759 |
op_relation |
WHOI Theses https://hdl.handle.net/1912/4759 doi:10.1575/1912/4759 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1575/1912/4759 |
op_publisher_place |
Woods Hole, MA |
_version_ |
1766258234917650432 |