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1.
《Deep Sea Research Part I: Oceanographic Research Papers》2007,54(11):2005-2021
The prevailing view regarding the oceanic meridional overturning cell (MOC) in the Atlantic is that, for a given North Atlantic freshwater flux, it has at least two stable states, one with a large surface (northward) mass flux and the other with a small flux. It has been argued that some abrupt paleoclimatic changes which occurred in the North Atlantic and the regions surrounding it might be related to a shift between these two distinctly different states. Here, we argue that, although the Atlantic MOC can indeed collapse due to a large freshwater flux, the actual ocean does not have multiple states for the same freshwater flux.The two state scenarios has its origin in the analytical box model of Stommel [1961. Thermohaline convection with two stable regimes of flow. Tellus 2, 244–230] and in a series of numerical models starting with that of Bryan [1986. High latitude salinity effects and interhemispheric thermohaline circulations. Nature 303, 301–304]. Using hybrid global analytical models involving both wind and density variations we demonstrate here that the application of Stommel's model to the North Atlantic yields multiple solutions because it considers the origin of the MOC upper limb to be a box whose export of water depends on its temperature and salinity which are not known in advance. When this origination box is replaced by a (observationally supported) Southern Ocean box whose surface water export depends solely on the wind, and when, together with this choice, the diapycnal diffusivities and eddy viscosities are taken to be as small as the usually observed values, the multi-solution scenario disappears and one gets only a single solution.Using the Uvic climate model, we re-confirm earlier results and argue that numerical models have multiple stable states and a resulting hysteresis because of the spuriously high eddy diffusivity that is typically used explicitly or implicitly. This is so because the diffusivity artificially introduces dense-to-light water conversion analogous to Stommel's origination box. Since we used a level model rather than a layered or isopynic model, the small vertical diffusivity limit still retains significant cross-isopycnal mixing due to the horizontal diffusivity, which is not supported by observations. Consequently, while our runs shows a tendency to no-hysteresis in the limit of small cross-isopycnal flow, we cannot actually reach that limit. 相似文献
2.
P. Bourgain J.C. Gascard 《Deep Sea Research Part I: Oceanographic Research Papers》2011,58(7):745-756
As a key structure to understand the role of the ocean on the sea ice mass balance, the Arctic Ocean halocline and its spatiotemporal variability require serious attention. In this paper, we are proposing a new definition of the halocline, which is based on the salinity gradient structure, taking into account both the salinity amplitude and the thickness of the halocline. The Brunt Vaisala frequency is used as the halocline stratification index. CTD data collected from 1997 to 2008 and coming from various sources (icebreaker cruises, drifting buoys, etc.) are used to determine the halocline, and its time and space variability during three time periods, with a special focus on three main regions of the Arctic Ocean: the Canada basin, the Makarov basin and the Amundsen basin. Observations reveal that the halocline in the Amundsen basin was always present and rather stable over the three time periods. In contrast, the Canada and Makarov basins' halocline became more stratified during the IPY than before, mainly because of surface water freshening. In addition, observations also confirmed the importance of the halocline thickness for controlling the stratification variability. Observations suggest that both large scale and small scale processes affect the halocline. Changes in surface salinity observed in the Makarov basin are more likely due to atmospheric variability (AO, Dipole Anomaly), as previously observed. More locally, some observations point out that salt/heat diffusion from the Atlantic water underneath and brine rejection during sea ice formation from above could be responsible for salt content variability within the halocline and, as a consequence, being influential for the variability of the halocline. In spite of the existence of interannual variability, the Arctic Ocean main stratification, characterized by a stable and robust halocline until now, suggested that the deep ocean had a limited impact on the mixed layer and on sea ice in actual conditions. The drastic changes observed in Arctic sea ice during this period (1997-2008) cannot be attributed to a weakening of the halocline that could trigger an enhanced vertical heat flux from the deep ocean. 相似文献
3.
We study the reaction of a global ocean–sea ice model to an increase of fresh water input into the northern North Atlantic under different surface boundary conditions, ranging from simple restoring of surface salinity to the use of an energy balance model (EBM) for the atmosphere. The anomalous fresh water flux is distributed around Greenland, reflecting increased melting of the Greenland ice sheet and increasing fresh water export from the Arctic Ocean. Depending on the type of surface boundary condition, the large circulation reacts with a slow-down of overturning and gyre circulations. Restoring of the total or mean surface salinity prevents a large scale redistribution of the salinity field that is apparent under mixed boundary conditions and with the EBM. The control run under mixed boundary conditions exhibits large and unrealistic oscillations of the meridional overturning. Although the reaction to the fresh water flux anomaly is similar to the response with the EBM, mixed boundary conditions must thus be considered unreliable. With the EBM, the waters in the deep western boundary current initially become saltier and a new fresh water mass forms in the north-eastern North Atlantic in response to the fresh water flux anomaly around Greenland. After an accumulation period of several decades duration, this new North East Atlantic Intermediate Water spreads towards the western boundary and opens a new southward pathway at intermediate depths along the western boundary for the fresh waters of high northern latitudes. 相似文献
4.
The sensitivity of the North Atlantic gyre circulation to high latitude buoyancy forcing is explored in a global, non-eddy resolving ocean general circulation model. Increased buoyancy forcing strengthens the deep western boundary current, the northern recirculation gyre, and the North Atlantic Current, which leads to a more realistic Gulf Stream path. High latitude density fluxes and surface water mass transformation are strongly dependent on the choice of sea ice and salinity restoring boundary conditions. Coupling the ocean model to a prognostic sea ice model results in much greater buoyancy loss in the Labrador Sea compared to simulations in which the ocean is forced by prescribed sea ice boundary conditions. A comparison of bulk flux forced hindcast simulations which differ only in their sea ice and salinity restoring forcings reveals the effects of a mixed thermohaline boundary condition transport feedback whereby small, positive temperature and salinity anomalies in subpolar regions are amplified when the gyre spins up as a result of increased buoyancy loss and convection. The primary buoyancy flux effects of the sea ice which cause the simulations to diverge are ice melt, which is less physical in the diagnostic sea ice model, and insulation of the ocean, which is less physical with the prognostic sea ice model. Increased salinity restoring ensures a more realistic net winter buoyancy loss in the Labrador Sea, but it is found that improvements in the Gulf Stream simulation can only be achieved with the excessive buoyancy loss associated with weak salinity restoring. 相似文献
5.
A zonal-average model of the upper branch of the meridional overturning circulation of the southern ocean is constructed and used to discuss the processes – wind, buoyancy, eddy forcing and boundary conditions – that control its strength and sense of circulation. The geometry of the thermocline ‘wedge’, set by the mapping between the vertical spacing of buoyancy surfaces (the stratification) on the equatorial flank of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current and their outcrop at the sea surface, is seen to play a central role by setting the interior large-scale potential vorticity distribution. It is shown that the action of eddies mixing this potential vorticity field induces a residual flow in the meridional plane much as is observed, with upwelling of fluid around Antarctica, northward surface flow and subduction to form intermediate water. Along with this overturning circulation there is a concomitant air-sea buoyancy flux directed in to the ocean. 相似文献
6.
7.
Regions of the formation of the thermal front in the Baltic Sea (a direct manifestation of the lacustrine thermal bar), and its specific features, were analyzed on the basis of subsurface temperature and salinity. Data were obtained from 25 horizontal tows along sections in the southern and central parts of the Baltic Sea during spring 2010 and autumn/winter 2010/2011. The width of the front was approximately 5?C30 km, and the front lifetime was 1.5 months. Horizontal temperature ranged from 0.7 to 2.5°C; thus, the temperature gradient was one- to twofold larger than the long-term monthly mean equivalent. Analysis of hourly temperature and salinity data from the Arkona basin and at the Darss Sill, obtained at 2 m depth, indicated that the surface temperature increased during the transition through temperatures of maximum density at a rate of approximately 0.01?C0.02°C/h between 3?C5 days; which is 1.4- to 5-fold higher than values before and after this period. The thermal front simultaneously propagated along the main sea axis (due to the significant salinity and buoyancy flux variations from south to north), and from the shallow parts towards the deep parts of the Baltic Sea. Therefore, the horizontal advection of the cold/warm waters clearly contributes to the speed increase of the thermal front at the end of the respective season. The speed of the thermal front propagation from south to north was approximately 28 km/day at the end of the spring period of 2010 (based on field data). This was considerably higher in comparison with the typical values of the lacustrine thermal bar speeds; however, it accords with estimates for a basin with depth/salinity horizontal variation. 相似文献
8.
The development and evolution of the persistent counterclockwise circulation in Suo-Nada have been studied in detail using
a three-dimensional numerical model. The realistic circulation has been reproduced from the monthly climatological fields
of salinity, temperature along the open boundary, wind, heat flux and buoyancy input from twenty-two major rivers surrounding
the basin. The seasonal variation of fresh-water discharge from the rivers proved to be the most important forcing mechanism
driving the circulation. The expansion and contraction of coastal low salinity water well corresponded with the development
of counterclockwise circulation from spring to summer and dissipation from autumn to winter. The circulation was found to
be vertically homogenous and quasi-barotropic. However, confined along the coastal zone is an estuarine flow (i.e., oppositely
directed currents in the upper and lower layers) whose horizontal dimension conforms to the period of maximum buoyancy flux
from the rivers. This indicates that the flow pattern in Suo-Nada can be separated into two distinct regions where the relative
dominance of estuarine circulation plays a significant role. Furthermore, the monthly water exchange capacity for autonomous
purification of the basin has been evaluated from the average residence time of conservative material based on the calculated
current field. It is demonstrated that the kinetic energy of the basin is directly responsible in promoting water exchange
in Suo-Nada.
This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date. 相似文献
9.
Robert Dickson Bert Rudels Stephen Dye Michael Karcher Jens Meincke Igor Yashayaev 《Progress in Oceanography》2007,73(3-4):210
As the world warms, the expectation is that the freshwater outflows from the Arctic Ocean to the North Atlantic will strengthen and may act to suppress the rate of the climatically-important Atlantic meridional overturning circulation. Hitherto, however, we have lacked the system of measurements required to estimate the totality of the freshwater flux through subarctic seas. Though observations remain patchy and rudimentary in places, we piece-together the results from recent large-scale observational programmes together with associated modelling, to establish preliminary maps of the rates and pathways of freshwater flux through subarctic seas. These fluxes are calculated according to two reference salinities, S = 34.8 to conform with the majority of estimates reported in the literature, and S = 35.2, the salinity of the inflowing Atlantic water, to calculate the freshwater balance of the ‘Arctic Mediterranean’. We find that 148 mSv of freshwater enters the Nordic Seas across its northern boundary. There it is supplemented by around 54 mSv of freshwater from Baltic runoff, Norwegian runoff, P − E and Greenland ice melt, so that the total freshwater contribution to the Nordic Seas from all sources is 202 mSv. Of this, around 51 mSv of freshwater is estimated to pass south to the deep Atlantic in the dense water overflows leaving an assumed balance of 151 mSv to leave the Nordic Seas in the upper water export through Denmark Strait. The corresponding estimate for the freshwater outflow west of Greenland is 103 mSv relative to 35.2 so that the total freshwater flux reaching the North Atlantic through subarctic seas is around 300 mSv. 相似文献
10.
北极河流径流是北冰洋淡水的最大来源，其变化会对北冰洋中的诸多过程有重要影响。本文基于全球高分辨率海洋?海冰耦合模式的模拟结果，研究北冰洋温盐、海冰以及环流对北极河流径流的敏感性。通过对比有气候态北极河流径流输入的控制实验结果和径流完全关闭的敏感性实验结果，研究发现北极径流对北冰洋温度、盐度、海冰以及海洋环流等有显著的影响。关闭北极河流径流后，在河口附近的陆架上温度降低、盐度升高，且导致500 m深度处温度下降以及盐度升高；河口附近的陆架处，海冰密集度与海冰厚度增加。关闭北极河流径流也对北冰洋内的环流有影响:由于缺少来自欧亚大陆的北极径流的输入，穿极漂流与东格陵兰流流速减小且盐度增加；关闭北极径流导致近岸海表面高度降低，沿欧亚陆架的北冰洋边界流减弱，白令海入流增强。通过对比关闭北极径流实验与控制实验的温度和盐度剖面，发现关闭北极径流后大西洋层温度降低，各陆架海盐跃层的梯度减小，盐跃层厚度减小。 相似文献
11.
观测显示过去几十年间北极入海径流呈现增加趋势,CMIP5耦合模式预测表明21世纪北极入海径流仍会增加,在RCP8.5路径下,21世纪末北极入海径流量将会是1950年的1.4倍。本文利用冰-海耦合数值模式研究了北极径流增加对大西洋经向翻转环流的影响。基于两个数值实验的结果表明,如果北极入海径流按每年0.22%的速度（与RCP8.5路径下的速度相当）增加,大西洋经向翻转环流的强度在100、150和200年后将会分别减弱0.6（3%）、1.2（7%）和1.8（11%） Sv。北极入海径流增加导致大西洋经向翻转环流减弱的主要原因是,北极入海径流增加的淡水被输运到北大西洋后,会抑制北大西洋深层水的生成,这也会导致北大西洋深层水海水年龄的增加。 相似文献
12.
The WOCE-era 3-D Pacific Ocean circulation and heat budget 总被引：2，自引：0，他引：2
A.M. Macdonald S. Mecking P.E. Robbins J.M. Toole G.C. Johnson L. Talley M. Cook S.E. Wijffels 《Progress in Oceanography》2009,(4):281-325
To address questions concerning the intensity and spatial structure of the three-dimensional circulation within the Pacific Ocean and the associated advective and diffusive property flux divergences, data from approximately 3000 high-quality hydrographic stations collected on 40 zonal and meridional cruises have been merged into a physically consistent model. The majority of the stations were occupied as part of the World Ocean Circulation Experiment (WOCE), which took place in the 1990s. These data are supplemented by a few pre-WOCE surveys of similar quality, and time-averaged direct-velocity and historical hydrographic measurements about the equator.An inverse box model formalism is employed to estimate the absolute along-isopycnal velocity field, the magnitude and spatial distribution of the associated diapycnal flow and the corresponding diapycnal advective and diffusive property flux divergences. The resulting large-scale WOCE Pacific circulation can be described as two shallow overturning cells at mid- to low latitudes, one in each hemisphere, and a single deep cell which brings abyssal waters from the Southern Ocean into the Pacific where they upwell across isopycnals and are returned south as deep waters. Upwelling is seen to occur throughout most of the basin with generally larger dianeutral transport and greater mixing occurring at depth. The derived pattern of ocean heat transport divergence is compared to published results based on air–sea flux estimates. The synthesis suggests a strongly east/west oriented pattern of air–sea heat flux with heat loss to the atmosphere throughout most of the western basins, and a gain of heat throughout the tropics extending poleward through the eastern basins. The calculated meridional heat transport agrees well with previous hydrographic estimates. Consistent with many of the climatologies at a variety of latitudes as well, our meridional heat transport estimates tend toward lower values in both hemispheres. 相似文献
13.
North Pacific Intermediate Water: Progress in SAGE (SubArctic Gyre Experiment) and Related Projects 总被引：2，自引：1，他引：2
Ichiro Yasuda 《Journal of Oceanography》2004,60(2):385-395
We survey the recent progress in studies of North Pacific Intermediate Water (NPIW) in SAGE (SubArctic Gyre Experiment), including
important results obtained from related projects. Intensive observations have provided the transport distributions relating
to NPIW and revealed the existence of the cross-wind-driven gyre Oyashio water transport that flows directly from the subarctic
to subtropical gyres through the western boundary current as well as the diffusive contribution across the subarctic front.
The anthropogenic CO2 transport into NPIW has been estimated. The northern part of NPIW in the Transition Domain east of Japan is transported to
the Gulf of Alaska, feeding the mesothermal (intermediate temperature maximum) structure in the North Pacific subarctic region
where deep convection is restricted by the strong halocline maintained by the warm and salty water transport originating from
NPIW. This heat and salt transport is mostly balanced by the cooling and freshening in the formation of dense shelf water
accompanied by sea-ice formation and convection in the Okhotsk Sea. Intensive observational and modeling studies have substantially
altered our view of the intermediate-depth circulation in the North Pacific. NPIW circulations are related to diapycnal-meridional
overturning, generated around the Okhotsk Sea due to tide-induced diapycnal mixing and dense shelf water formation accompanied
by sea-ice formation in the Okhotsk Sea. This overturning circulation may possibly explain the direct cross-gyre transport
through the Oyashio along the western boundary from the subarctic to subtropical gyres.
This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date. 相似文献
14.
A coupled air–sea general circulation model is used to simulate the global circulation. Different parameterizations of lateral mixing in the ocean by eddies, horizontal, isopycnal, and isopycnal plus eddy advective flux, are compared from the perspective of water mass transformation in the Southern Ocean. The different mixing physics imply different buoyancy equilibria in the surface mixed layer, different transformations, and therefore a variety of meridional overturning streamfunctions. The coupled‐model approach avoids strong artificial water mass transformation associated with relaxation to prescribed mixed layer conditions. Instead, transformation results from the more physical non‐local, nonlinear interdependence of sea‐surface temperature, air–sea fluxes, and circulation in the model's atmosphere and ocean. The development of a stronger mid‐depth circulation cell and associated upwelling when eddy fluxes are present, is examined. The strength of overturning is diagnosed in density coordinates using the transformation framework. 相似文献
15.
A particular feature of “Meddies” is that the water within them has stable gradients of salinity and temperature. In this paper a model for a dense turbulent plume falling in a stationary, linearly-stratified environment is described. The density of the plume is assumed to be a linear function of two components, while the ambient density gradient is due to a gradient in only one of these components (labelled component one). The ratio of the contributions to the source buoyancy flux of the two components within the plume is identified as the important parameter for this type of flow. After deriving the steady equations for the plume, a simplified model for the filling process which creates the Meddy is described, which shows how a layer of fluid may be formed with stable gradients in both components in the lower part of the intrusion. The intrusion is shown to be less stratified than the surrounding fluid, with relatively weak gradients in component one (identified with temperature in the Meddy) that vary from unstable at the top to stable at the bottom of the intrusion and a fairly constant (stable) gradient in the second component (salinity for a Meddy). If the stable gradients in a Meddy are due solely to the filling process then, during formation, the top of the Meddy must become cooler than the surrounding water at the same level. The observed stable temperature gradient in Meddies is likely to be due to mixing processes after their formation, whereas the stable salanity gradient is mainly due to the filling process during formation. 相似文献
16.
Observations of the velocity and salinity structure of the Tees estuary were made at eight stations along the estuary axis between Victoria Bridge and the sea during the summer of 1975. The measurements were made on ten separate tidal periods covering neap and spring tides.The data were collected over a period of relatively low freshwater flows and the residual current was found to have a strong dependence on the Stokes drift. At the upstream stations, the residuals were more than an order of magnitude greater than the currents anticipated from the freshwater discharge. Although the mean stratification decreased as the tidal range increased, the vertical circulation was stronger on spring tides than on neaps. Vertical variations in the amplitude and phase of the tidal current results in a current which strengthens the vertical circulation. However, this effect only made a relatively small contribution to the observed vertical circulation.The relative contribution of the individual salt flux terms to the net upstream transport of salt varies along the estuary. As the estuary narrows, the contribution by the oscillatory terms dominates that from the shear in the steady state flow. Of these oscillatory terms, the correlation of velocity and salinity fluctuations plays a key rôle in the salt transport. The depth mean values make a greater contribution than deviations from the depth mean and the flux due to phase variations over depth is smaller than either of these. Since the Stokes drift is compensated by a down-stream steady state flow, it does not contribute to the tidal mean transport of salt.At the seaward end of the estuary, the salt fluxes due to the steady state vertical shear and the convariance of the tidal fluctuations act in a complementary way to counter the seaward transport of salt by the freshwater flow. With the possible exceptions of the wide or narrow reaches of the Tees, the longitudinal fluxes of salt due to transverse variations in velocity, salinity and depth and turbulent fluctuations are of secondary importance as contributors to the estuary salt budget.On both neap and spring tides, the computed total salt transports at the Newport and Victoria bridges did not match the values required for a salt balance with the corresponding freshwater flows. These fluxes were probably the cause of the observed downstream displacement of the tidal mean salinity distribution between neap and spring tides. 相似文献
17.
Elaine L. McDonagh Harry L. Bryden Brian A. King Richard J. Sanders 《Progress in Oceanography》2008,79(1):20-36
Using inverse methods a circulation for a new section along 32°S in the Indian Ocean is derived with a maximum in the overturning stream function (or deep overturning) of 10.3 Sv at 3310 m. Shipboard and Lowered Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP) data are used to inform the choice of reference level velocity for the initial geostrophic field. Our preferred solution includes a silicate constraint (−312 ± 380 kmol s−1) consistent with an Indonesian throughflow of 12 Sv. The overturning changes from 12.3 Sv at 3270 m when the silicate constraint is omitted to 10.3 Sv when it is included. The deep overturning varies by only ±0.7 Sv as the silicate constraint varies from +68 to −692 kmol s−1, and by ±0.3 Sv as the net flux across the section, driven by the Indonesian throughflow, varies from −7 to −17 Sv with an appropriately scaled silicate flux constraint. Thus, the overturning is insensitive to the size of the Indonesian throughflow and silicate constraint within their apriori uncertainties. We find that the use of the ADCP data adds significant detail to the horizontal circulation. These resolved circulations include the Agulhas Undercurrent, deep cyclonic gyres and deep fronts, features evidenced by long term integrators of the flow such as current meter and float measurements as well as water properties. 相似文献
18.
为研究中国唯一已知、全球最深海洋蓝洞的形成、发育和演化机制，应用LISST-100X现场激光粒度仪、CTD温盐仪等搭载工作级水下机器人，于2017年5月在三沙永乐龙洞进行了悬浮体、温盐剖面测量，获得了全洞深的悬浮体体积浓度、温盐和溶解氧等数据，并进行了悬浮体垂向分布特征研究。研究结果表明，洞内90 m以下水体为无氧环境，悬浮体浓度呈现5个变化旋回，温度、盐度均存在3个跃层，并且它们之间有着较好的对应关系。龙洞内水体表层悬浮体总浓度约为20 μL/L，悬浮体平均浓度值为5.93 μL/L。悬浮体旋回层Ⅰ位于5 m以浅水层；旋回层Ⅱ位于10～43 m之间，与第一个温盐跃层(深度10～20 m)部分对应；旋回层Ⅲ位于70～110 m之间，与第二个温盐跃层(深度70～110 m)完全对应；旋回层Ⅳ位于130～150 m之间，与第三个温盐跃层(深度130～150 m)完全对应；旋回层Ⅴ位于260 m以深至洞底300 m。龙洞表层悬浮体浓度较高，主要是受到洞外周边珊瑚礁松散沉积物输入的影响。洞内悬浮体垂直分布特征主要受到水动力、洞体形态、温盐跃层、溶解氧含量以及浮游生物等的控制和影响。 相似文献
19.
In order to investigate the mechanism of eutrophication in Atsumi Bay which is a shallow and partially mixed estuary, distributions of temperature, salinity and concentrations of nitrogen and phosphorus in all their chemical forms were observed once a month throughout a year. Supplies of freshwater and nutrients are estimated and balances of salt and nutrients are examined using a modified box model. The deduced estuarine hydrography and calculated values of photosynthesis, decomposition, deposition and sedimentation are compared with those obtained byin situ observations and laboratory experiments. It is found that the factors responsible for the appearance of heavy eutrophication include not only the general increase of nutrient supply from land but also nutrient accumulation in the rainy season just before summer, the N/P ratio of the supply from land being favourable for uptake by phytoplankton, formation of semi-closed circulations of the nutrients associated with stratification and vertical circulation of estuarine water, and possibly the inorganic turnover of phosphorus (PO4-P) under aerobic and anaerobic conditions. The usefulness of the modified box model for obtaining a synoptic understanding of the estuarine system is also demonstrated. 相似文献
20.
Abyssal recipes II: energetics of tidal and wind mixing 总被引：11，自引：0，他引：11
Walter Munk Carl Wunsch 《Deep Sea Research Part I: Oceanographic Research Papers》1998,45(12):1977-2010
Without deep mixing, the ocean would turn, within a few thousand years, into a stagnant pool of cold salty water with equilibrium maintained locally by near-surface mixing and with very weak convectively driven surface-intensified circulation. (This result follows from Sandström’s theorem for a fluid heated and cooled at the surface.) In this context we revisit the 1966 “Abyssal Recipes”, which called for a diapycnal diffusivity of 10-4m2/s (1 cgs) to maintain the abyssal stratification against global upwelling associated with 25 Sverdrups of deep water formation. Subsequent microstructure measurements gave a pelagic diffusivity (away from topography) of 10-5 m2/s — a low value confirmed by dye release experiments.A new solution (without restriction to constant coefficients) leads to approximately the same values of global upwelling and diffusivity, but we reinterpret the computed diffusivity as a surrogate for a small number of concentrated sources of buoyancy flux (regions of intense mixing) from which the water masses (but not the turbulence) are exported into the ocean interior. Using the Levitus climatology we find that 2.1 TW (terawatts) are required to maintain the global abyssal density distribution against 30 Sverdrups of deep water formation.The winds and tides are the only possible source of mechanical energy to drive the interior mixing. Tidal dissipation is known from astronomy to equal 3.7 TW (2.50±0.05 TW from M2 alone), but nearly all of this has traditionally been allocated to dissipation in the turbulent bottom boundary layers of marginal seas. However, two recent TOPEX/POSEIDON altimetric estimates combined with dynamical models suggest that 0.6–0.9 TW may be available for abyssal mixing. A recent estimate of wind-driving suggests 1 TW of additional mixing power. All values are very uncertain.A surprising conclusion is that the equator-to-pole heat flux of 2000 TW associated with the meridional overturning circulation would not exist without the comparatively minute mechanical mixing sources. Coupled with the findings that mixing occurs at a few dominant sites, there is a host of questions concerning the maintenance of the present climate state, but also that of paleoclimates and their relation to detailed continental configurations, the history of the Earth–Moon system, and a possible great sensitivity to details of the wind system. 相似文献