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1.
The water mass structure and circulation of the continental shelf waters west of the Antarctic Peninsula are described from hydrographic observations made in March–May 1993. The observations cover an area that extends 900 km alongshore and 200 km offshore and represent the most extensive hydrographic data set currently available for this region. Waters above 100–150 m are composed of Antarctic Surface Water and its end member Winter Water. Below the permanent pycnocline is a modified version of Circumpolar Deep Water, which is a cooled and freshened version of Upper Circumpolar Deep Water. The distinctive signature of cold and salty water from the Bransfield Strait is found at some inshore locations, but there is little indication of significant exchange between Bransfield Strait and the west Antarctic Peninsula shelf. Dynamic topography at 200 m relative to 400 m indicates that the baroclinic circulation on the shelf is composed of a large, weak, cyclonic gyre, with sub-gyres at the northeastern and southwestern ends of the shelf. The total transport of the shelf gyre is 0.15 Sv, with geostrophic currents of order 0.01 m s-1. A simple model that balances across-shelf diffusion of heat and salt from offshore Upper Circumpolar Deep Water with vertical diffusion of heat and salt across the permanent pycnocline into Winter Water is used to explain the formation of the modified Circumpolar Deep Water that is found on the shelf. Model results show that the observed thermohaline distributions across the shelf can be maintained with a coefficient of vertical diffusion of 10-4 m2 s-1 and horizontal diffusion coefficients for heat and salt of 200 and 1200 m2 s-1, respectively. When the effects of double diffusion are included in the model, the required horizontal diffusion coefficients for heat and salt are 200 and 400 m2 s-1, respectively.  相似文献   

2.
Deep slope currents and particulate matter concentrations were studied on the Barcelona continental margin in and around the Foix submarine canyon from May 1993 to April 1994. This year-long moored experiment revealed that near-bottom slope currents are strongly influenced by the bottom topography, being oriented along isobaths and along the canyon axis. The deep slope current fluctuations are controlled by the local inertial motion (18.3 h) and also by low-frequency oscillations at periods of 6–10 days, related to the passage of atmospheric pressure cells. Particulate matter concentrations recorded during the experiment do not show a clear seasonal variability, except outside the canyon, where significant peaks of particulate matter concentrations were recorded only during the winter-fall deployment. In addition, the temporal evolution of suspended particulate matter concentration is not linked to changes in the cross-slope or along-slope current components and did not show a clear relationship with river avenues or wave storm events. This suggests that suspended particulate matter exported from the shelf is dispersed on the slope by advective processes, which attenuate the signal of the shelf-slope sediment transfer. Mean particulate matter concentrations differed among sampling sites, but the magnitude of the mean horizontal suspended particle flux reflects a quite similar value in the whole study area, ranging from 2.53 to 4.05 mg m−2 s−1. These horizontal suspended particle fluxes are 27 (canyon head) to 360 (open slope) times higher than the settling particle fluxes measured at the same sampling sites, indicating that the suspended particulate transport on the Barcelona continental slope dominates over the settling particle fluxes, even inside the Foix submarine canyon.  相似文献   

3.
This study examines the evolution of the Kuroshio Tropical Water (KTW) from the Luzon Strait to the I-Lan Ridge northeast of Taiwan. Historical conductivity temperature depth (CTD) profiles are analyzed using a method based on the calculation of the root mean square (rms) difference of the salinity along isopycnals. In combination with analysis of the distribution of the salinity maximum, this method enables water masses in the Kuroshio and the vicinity, to be tracked and distinguished as well as the detection of the areas where water masses are modified. Vertical and horizontal eddy diffusivities are then calculated from hydrographic and current velocity data to elucidate the dynamics underlying the KTW interactions with the surrounding water masses. Changes in KTW properties mainly occur in the southern half of the Luzon Strait, while moderate variations are observed east of Taiwan on the right flank of the Kuroshio. In spite of a front dividing the KTW from the South China Sea Tropical Water (SCSTW) on Kuroshio׳s western side, mixing between these two water masses seemingly occurs in the Luzon Strait. These water masses׳ interaction is not evident east of Taiwan. The estimation of eddy diffusivities yields high horizontal diffusivities (Kh~102 m2 s−1) all along the Kuroshio path, due to the high current shear along the Kuroshio׳s flanks. The vertical diffusivity approaches 10−3 m2 s−1, with the highest values in the southern Luzon Strait. Instabilities generated when the Kuroshio encounters the rough topography of this region may enhance both vertical and horizontal diffusivities there.  相似文献   

4.
Recently obtained World Ocean Circulation Experiment (WOCE) sections combined with a specially prepared pre-WOCE South Atlantic data set are used to study the dianeutral (across neutral surface) mixing and transport achieving Antarctic Intermediate Water (AAIW) being transformed to be part of the North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW) return cell. Five neutral surfaces are mapped, encompassing the AAIW from 700 to 1100 db at the subtropical latitudes.Coherent and significant dianeutral upwelling is found in the western boundary near the Brazil coast north of the separation point (about 25°S) between the anticyclonic subtropical and cyclonic south equatorial gyres. The magnitude of dianeutral upwelling transport is 10-3 Sv (1 Sv=106 m3 s-1) for 1°×1° square area. It is found that the AAIW sources from the southwestern South Atlantic and southwestern Indian Ocean do not rise significantly into the Benguela Current. Instead, they contribute to the NADW return formation by dianeutral upwelling into the South Equatorial Current. In other words, the AAIW sources cannot obtain enough heat/buoyancy to rise until they return to the western boundary region but north of the separation point. The basin-wide integration of dianeutral transport shows net upward transports, ranging from 0.25 to 0.6 Sv, across the lower and upper boundary of AAIW north of 40°S. This suggests that the equatorward AAIW is a slow rising water on a basin average. Given one order of uncertainty in evaluating the along-neutral-surface and dianeutral diffusivities from the assumed values, K=103 m2 s-1 and D=10-5 m2 s-1, the integrated dianeutral transport has an error band of about 10–20%. The relatively weak integrated dianeutral upwelling transport compared with AAIW in other oceans implies much stronger lateral advection of AAIW in the South Atlantic.Mapped Turner Angle in diagnosing the double-diffusion processes shows that the salty Central Water can flux salt down to the upper half of AAIW layer through salt-fingering. Therefore, the northward transition of AAIW can gain salt either through along-neutral-surface advection and diffusion or through salt fingering from the Central Water and heat through either along-neutral-surface advection and diffusion or dianeutral upwelling. Cabbeling and thermobaricity are found significant in the Antarctic frontal zone and contribute to dianeutral downwelling with velocity as high as −1.5×10-7 m s-1. A schematic AAIW circulation in the South Atlantic suggests that dianeutral mixing plays an essential role in transforming AAIW into NADW return formation.  相似文献   

5.
The mesoscale dynamics of the Scottish side of the Faroe–Shetland Channel have been investigated using synoptic in situ and remote sensing observations. A cold core cyclonic eddy, identified from an AVHRR image, had a diameter of about 50 km and surface current speeds of up to 50 cm s-1; it appeared to be attached to the 800 m isobath as it moved north-eastward along the edge of the channel at about 8 cm s-1. Speeds in the slope current were about 50 cm s-1 but increased to 70 cm s-1 where the current was compressed by the eddy. Offshore, over the 1000 m isobath in the cooler water, speeds in the current were slower (ca. 20 cm s-1). North-west of the Shetlands the offshore edge of the slope current was deflected across the channel for a distance of about 70 km from the shelf edge. The speed of drifters in the slope current increased to over 60 cm s-1 as they moved anti-cyclonically around this deflection. CTD profiles suggest that the movement of the surface waters was mirrored in the deep water of the channel. The deflection carried a very large quantity of North Atlantic Water into the central part of the channel; its cause and ultimate fate are not known, although it is likely to have had a significant impact on the dynamics of the channel.  相似文献   

6.
A novel autonomous free-fall lander vehicle, with a capability down to 6000 m, was deployed off Cape Verde for studies on bioluminescence in the deep sea. The system was equipped with a high-sensitivity Intensified Silicon Intensified Target (ISIT) video camera, a programmable control-recording unit and an acoustic current meter with depth and temperature sensors. The ISIT lander was used in three modes: (1) free falling at 34 m min−1, with the camera looking downwards at a mesh screen, recording impacts of luminescent organisms to obtain a vertical profile down to the abyssal sea floor, sampling at >100 l s−1; (2) rotating, with the lander on the sea floor and the camera orienting to the bottom current using a servo-controlled turntable, impacts of luminescent organisms carried by the bottom current onto a mesh screen mounted 0.5 m in front of the camera were recorded to estimate abundance in the benthic boundary layer; (3) baited, with the camera focused on a bait placed on the sea floor.Profiles recorded abundance of luminescent organisms as 26.7 m−3 at 500–999 m depth, decreasing to 1.6 m−3 at 2000–2499 m and 0.5 m−3 between 2500 m and the sea floor at 4046 m, with no further detectable significant change with depth. Rotator measurements at a 0.5 m height above the sea floor gave a mean abundance of 0.47 m−3 in the benthic boundary layer at 4046 m and of 2.04 m−3 at 3200 m. Thirty five minutes after the bait was placed on the sea floor at 3200 m, bioluminescent fauna apparently arrived at the bait and produced luminescent displays at a rate of 2 min−1. Moving, flashing light sources were observed and luminescent material was released into the bottom current.  相似文献   

7.
Direct velocity measurements undertaken using a nine-system mooring array (M1–M9) from 2004 to 2005 and two additional moorings (M7p and M8p) from 2003 to 2004 reveal the spatial and temporal properties of the deep-circulation currents southwest of the Shatsky Rise in the western North Pacific. The western branch of the deep-circulation current flowing northwestward (270–10° T) is detected almost exclusively at M2 (26°15′N), northeast of the Ogasawara Plateau. It has a width less than the 190 km distance between M1 (25°42′N) and M3 (26°48′N). The mean current speed near the bottom at M2 is 3.6±1.3 cm s?1. The eastern branch of the deep-circulation current is located at the southwestern slope of the Shatsky Rise, flowing northwestward mainly at M8 (30°48′N) on the lower part of the slope of the Shatsky Rise with a mean near-bottom speed of 5.3±1.4 cm s?1. The eastern branch often expands to M7 (30°19′N) at the foot of the rise with a mean near-bottom speed of 2.8±0.7 cm s?1 and to M9 (31°13′N) on the middle of the slope of the rise with a speed of 2.5±0.7 cm s?1 (nearly 4000 m depth); it infrequently expands furthermore to M6 (29°33′N). The width of the eastern branch is 201±70 km on average, exceeding that of the western branch. Temporal variations of the volume transports of the western and eastern branches consist of dominant variations with periods of 3 months and 1 month, varying between almost zero and significant amount; the 3-month-period variations are significantly coherent to each other with a phase lag of about 1 month for the western branch. The almost zero volume transport occurs at intervals of 2–4 months. In the eastern branch, volume transport increases with not only cross-sectional average current velocity but also current width. Because the current meters were too widely spaced to enable accurate estimates of volume transport, mean volume transport is overestimated by a factor of nearly two, yielding values of 4.1±1.2 and 9.8±1.8 Sv (1 Sv=106 m3 s?1) for the western and eastern branches, respectively. In addition, a northwestward current near the bottom at M4 (27°55′N) shows a marked variation in speed between 0 and 20 cm s?1 with a period of 45 days. This current may be part of a clockwise eddy around a seamount located immediately east of M4.  相似文献   

8.
A transect of CTD profiles crossing the North Atlantic Current (NAC) along WOCE line ACM6 near 42.5°N during August 1–7, 1993, provides geostrophic shear velocity profiles, which were absolutely referenced using simultaneous POGO transport float measurements and velocity measurements from a ship-mounted acoustic doppler current profiler (ADCP). The NAC absolute transport was 112±23×106 m3 s−1, which includes a portion of the transport of the Mann Eddy, a large permanent anticyclonic eddy commonly adjacent to the NAC. The NAC transport estimated relative to a level of no motion at the bottom would have underestimated the true total absolute transport by 20%. A surprisingly large 58×106 m3 s−1 flowed southward just inshore of the NAC. This flow, centered near 1500 dbars about 200 km offshore of the shelf-break, was fairly barotropic with a peak velocity of greater than 20 cm s−1, and the water mass characteristics were of Labrador Sea Water. These absolute transport observations suggest southward recirculation inshore of the NAC at 42.5°N and a stronger NAC than has previously been observed.  相似文献   

9.
The mixing and spreading of the Storfjorden overflow were investigated with density and horizontal velocity profiles collected at closely spaced stations. The dense bottom water generated by strong winter cooling, enhanced ice formation and the consequent brine rejection drains into and fills the depression of the fjord and upon reaching a 120-m deep sill, descends like a gravity current following the bathymetry towards the shelf edge. The observations covered an approximate 37-km path of the plume starting from about 68 km downstream of the sill. The plume is identified as two layers: a dense layer 1 with relatively uniform vertical structure underlying a thicker layer 2 with larger vertical density gradients. Layer 1, probably remnants from earlier overflows, almost maintains its temperature–salinity characteristics and spreads to a width of about 6 km over its path, comparable to spread resulting from Ekman veering. Layer 2, on the other hand, is a mixing layer and widens to about 16 km. The overflow, in its core, is observed to have salinities greater than 34.9, temperatures close to the freezing point, and light transmissivity typically 5% less than that of the ambient waters. The overall properties of the observed part of the plume suggest dynamical stability with weak entrainment. However local mixing is observed through profiles of the gradient Richardson number, the non-dimensional ratio of density gradient over velocity gradient, which show portions with supercritical values in the vicinity of the plume–ambient water interface. The net volume transport associated with the overflow is estimated to be 0.06 Sv (Sv≡106 m3 s−1) out of a section closest to the sill and almost double that as it leaves the section furthest downstream. The weak entrainment is estimated to account for the doubling of the volume transport between the two sections. A simple model proposed by Killworth (J. Geophys. Res. 106 (2001) 22267), giving the path of the overflow from a constant rate of vertical descent along the slope, compares well with our observations.  相似文献   

10.
Five moorings ML1–ML5 were deployed on the slope of the Solomon Rise in the Melanesian Basin in the western North Pacific, northeastward at increasing water depths. We measured the velocities of the western branch current of the deep western boundary current (DWBC) and the upper deep current carrying the Lower and Upper Circumpolar Waters (LCPW, UCPW), respectively. The daily mean velocity data from 1–3 February 1999 to 24–26 February 2000 were analyzed, and variability of the DWBCs was clarified. Although the current meters did not entirely cover the western branch current of the DWBC composed of two or three streams, a stream of the western branch current was observed at a depth of 4700 m at ML4 or 4260 m at ML5 for more than half of the observation period. The stream had a mean velocity of 3.7 cm s−1 and alternated between ML4 and ML5 at 20- to 40-day intervals without occupying both of ML4 and ML5 simultaneously. This shows that the width of the stream is less than 120 km (distance between ML4 and ML5), and the position changes in a similar range. In contrast to the velocity of the eastern branch current of the DWBC, that of the western branch current did not decrease with decreasing depths to 4000 m. This reflects the vertical division into the branch currents by the bifurcation of the DWBC. The western branch current of the DWBC is located at the deep side of the countercurrent which was almost always observed at depths of 3880 and 4080 m at ML3. The countercurrent was thought to be the return flow of the western branch current that is partly reversed in the East Mariana Basin. The previous estimate of geostrophic transport of LCPW at the time of the mooring deployment was corrected to 1.4 Sv (106 m3 s−1) in the western branch current, 1.7 Sv in the countercurrent, and 1.1 Sv in the inflow to the East Caroline Basin. The upper deep current was located over the slope of the Solomon Rise with water depth less than 4500 m including ML1–ML3. It flowed at depths of approximately 2000–3500 m with the highest velocity in the middle of this layer and seldom reached the near-bottom where eddy-like disturbances existed. Its volume transport at the mooring deployment was 10.4 Sv. The upper deep current during the first half of the observation period had double cores divided by the countercurrent at ML1, whereas that during the second half had a single core, as the countercurrent at ML1 disappeared in early September 1999. The vector mean velocities of the upper deep current were 5.0 (2650 m, ML2) and 3.6 cm s−1 (1880 m, ML3) during the first half of the observation period and 7.0 cm s−1 (2670 m, ML1) during the second half; they ranged from 3 to 7 cm s−1. Similarly, those of the countercurrent at ML1 during the first half were 6.4, 3.8, 4.6 cm s−1 (2170, 2670, 3570 m).  相似文献   

11.
Biochemical and productivity measurements and nutrient enrichment experiments were conducted on three cruises in summer and two cruises in winter on the shelf and the basin of the northern South China Sea (SCS) between 2001 and 2004. Phytoplankton production, in terms of depth-integrated new production (INP) or depth-integrated primary production (IPP), was higher in winter than in summer and on the shelf than in the basin. In winter, with deepening of the mixed layer, nitrate from the shallow nitracline that characterized the SCS waters was made available in the surface and supported the highest production of the year. Averaged INP measured in winter (0.25 g C m−2 d−1) was about twice the summer average (0.12 g C m−2 d−1) and was 0.19 g C m−2 d−1 on the shelf compared with 0.15 g C m−2 d−1 in the basin. In winter, average INP on the shelf was higher than the basin (0.34 versus 0.21 g C m−2 d−1); whereas in summer, averaged INP on the shelf (0.13 g C m−2 d−1) and the basin (0.11 g C m−2 d−1) were similar. While averaged IPP measured in the basin was higher in winter than in summer (0.53 versus 0.35 g C m−2 d−1), IPP on the shelf showed little temporal variation (0.82 in winter versus 0.84 g C m−2 d−1 in summer). Considerable spatial and inter-annual variation in production was measured in the shelf waters during summer, which could be linked to discharge volume and plume flow direction of the Zhujiang River. While the shelf waters in summer were mostly nitrogen starved or nitrogen and phosphorus co-limited, excessive river runoff may cause the nutritive state to shift to phosphorus deficiency. Waters with low surface salinities and high fluorescence from riverine mixing could be found extending from the Zhujiang mouth to as far as offshore southern Taiwan after a typhoon passed the northern SCS and brought heavy rainfall. Overall, both nutrient advection in winter and river discharge from the China coast in summer made new nitrogen available and shaped the dynamics of phytoplankton production in these oligotrophic waters.  相似文献   

12.
We analyzed the taxonomic structure and spatial variability of phytoplankton abundance and biomass in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas during spring and summer seasons of the SBI program. Phytoplankton samples were collected during two surveys from May 10 to June 13 and from July 19 to August 21 of 2002. In May and June, ice cover exceeded 80% over most of the study area and there was no vertical stratification, indicating that the successional state of the phytoplankton corresponded to the end of the winter biological season. The phytoplankton abundance ranged from a few tens to a few thousands of cells per liter, while biomass varied from 0.1 to 3.0 mg C m−3. Small areas of high phytoplankton abundance (0.13–1.3×106 cells L−1) and biomass (22–536 mg C m−3), dominated by early spring diatoms Pauliella taeniata and Fragilariopsis oceanica in the surface waters, which indicated the beginning of the spring bloom, were observed only in the southeastern part of the Chukchi shelf and off Point Barrow. In July and August summer period, more than a half of the study area had <50% ice cover and the water column was stratified by temperature and salinity. Over the Chukchi shelf and continental slope of the Beaufort Sea, the phytoplankton abundance and biomass were an order of magnitude higher in July–August than in May–June. The taxonomic diversity of algae also increased due to the appearance of late-spring and summer diatoms, dinoflagellates, and coccolithophorids (Emiliania huxleyi). Interestingly, the seasonal differences between phytoplankton abundance and taxonomic composition in the spring and summer periods varied the least over the Chukchi Sea slope and in the deep-water area of the Arctic Ocean. High algae concentrations in summer were located in the lower layers of the euphotic zone, suggesting that the spring bloom on both the Chukchi shelf and in the western part of the Beaufort Sea occurred in late June/early July. In the spring and summer, the microalgal community was characterized by a high abundance of 4–10 μm flagellates, which exceeded the abundance of all other taxonomic groups. In both seasons studied, phytoplankton reached its maximum abundance within restricted areas in the southern part of the Chukchi Sea southwest of Point Hope, in the northern part of the Chukchi shelf between the 50- and 100-m isobaths, on the shelf northwest of Point Barrow, and over the continental slope in the Beaufort Sea. The pronounced spatial difference in the seasonal state was a characteristic feature of the phytoplankton community in the western Arctic.  相似文献   

13.
Organic carbon fluxes through the sediment/water interface in the high-latitude North Atlantic were calculated from oxygen microprofiles. A wire-operated in situ oxygen bottom profiler was deployed, and oxygen profiles were also measured onboard (ex situ). Diffusive oxygen fluxes, obtained by fitting exponential functions to the oxygen profiles, were translated into organic carbon fluxes and organic carbon degradation rates. The mean Corg input to the abyssal plain sediments of the Norwegian and Greenland Seas was found to be 1.9 mg C m−2 d−1. Typical values at the seasonally ice-covered East Greenland continental margin are between 1.3 and 10.9 mg C m−2 d−1 (mean 3.7 mg C m−2 d−1), whereas fluxes on the East Greenland shelf are considerably higher, 9.1–22.5 mg C m−2 d−1. On the Norwegian continental slope Corg fluxes of 3.3–13.9 mg C m−2 d−1 (mean 6.5 mg C m−2 d−1) were found. Fluxes are considerably higher here compared to stations on the East Greenland slope at similar water depths. By repeated occupation of three sites off southern Norway in 1997 the temporal variability of diffusive O2 fluxes was found to be quite low. The seasonal signal of primary and export production from the upper water column appears to be strongly damped at the seafloor. Degradation rates of 0.004–1.1 mg C cm−3 a−1 at the sediment surface were calculated from the oxygen profiles. First-order degradation constants, obtained from Corg degradation rates and sediment organic carbon content, are in the range 0.03–0.6 a−1. Thus, the corresponding mean lifetime of organic carbon lies between 1.7 and 33.2 years, which also suggests that seasonal variations in Corg flux are small. The data presented here characterize the Norwegian and Greenland Seas as oligotrophic and relatively low organic carbon deep-sea environments.  相似文献   

14.
A ship-mounted 153 kHz narrow-band ADCP and 1 m2 MOCNESS were deployed between 16 and 24 Sept. 1997 in the Ligurian central zone (∼43°20′N 7°48′E). Results from both instruments showed that the zooplankton community performed vertical migrations that conformed to the classical pattern of ascent at dusk (∼18:30 h) and descent at dawn (∼06:30 h). Depth-discrete net samples between 0 and 500 m showed that the community was dominated by two species, the euphausiid Meganyctiphanes norvegica (Northern krill) and the pteropod Cavolinia inflexa, which migrated in separate discrete bands that were detectable by the ADCP. Information from the ADCP was used to estimate vertical migration speed in two ways: (i) from the trajectory of the back-scattering bands over time and (ii) from the Doppler-shift vertical velocity measured within depth zones at the corresponding time and depth of these bands. Estimates of the migration speed of C. inflexa were between 2 and 7 cm s−1 upwards and between 4 and 7 cm s−1 downwards. M. norvegica was estimated to migrate at speeds between 7 and 8 cm s−1 upwards and over 11 cm s−1 downwards. The consistently lower migration speeds estimated from Doppler measurements as compared with estimates obtained from measuring trajectories of back-scattering bands over time was believed to result from a methodological artefact. The Doppler measurements were nevertheless useful in a relative sense in revealing the relative speed of individuals within swarms. It was shown that individuals at the front of the upwardly migrating band of M. norvegica moved more slowly than those at the rear. These results illustrate the extra biological information that can be obtained by ADCPs compared with conventional echo-sounders.  相似文献   

15.
We use hydrographic and buoy data to compare the initial temperature fields and Lagrangian evolution of water parcels in two vortices generated by the southward flowing Canary Current passing around the island of Gran Canaria Island. One vortex is anticyclonic, shed in June 1998 as the result of an incident current of about 0.05 m s−1, and the second one is cyclonic, shed in June 2005 with the impinging current estimated as 0.03 m s−1. The two vortices exhibit contrasting characteristics yet display some important similarities. The isopycnals are depressed in the core of the anticyclonic vortex, at least down to a depth of 700 m, whilst they dome up in the core of the cyclonic vortex but only down to 450 m. In the top 300 m the depression/doming of the isotherms is similar for both vortices, with a maximum vertical displacement of the isotherm of about 80 m, which correspond to temperature anomalies of some 2.5 °C at a given depth. A simple method is developed to obtain the initial orbital velocity field from the temperature data, from which we estimate peak values of 0.7 and 0.5 m s−1 for the anticyclonic and cyclonic vortices, respectively. The buoys, three for the anticyclonic vortex and two for the cyclonic one, were drougued at 100 m depth, below the surface mixed layer, and their initial velocities are consistent with the above values. In both vortices, the buoys revolve either within a central core, where the rotation rate remains stable and large for several weeks, or in an outer ring, where the rotation rate is significantly smaller and displays large radial fluctuations. Within the inner core the anticyclonic vortex has significant inward radial velocity, while the cyclonic vortex has near-zero radial mean motions. The cyclonic vortex rotates more slowly than the anticyclonic, their initial periods being 4.5 and 2.5 days, respectively. A simple axisymmetric model with radial diffusion (coefficient Kh≅25 m2 s−1) and advection reproduces the observations reasonably well, the diffusive effect being more important than that resulting from the observed radial advection. The model also supports the hypothesis that the rotation rate of cyclonic vortices is less than that of anticyclonic vortices, as otherwise they would become inertially unstable. Both the buoys data and sea surface temperature images confirm that the vortices evolve from youth to maturity, as the cores shrink and the outer rings expands, and then to a decay stage, as the core rotation rates decrease, though frequent interactions with other mesoscale structures result in more accelerated aging. Despite these interaction they last many months as coherent structures south of the Canary Islands.  相似文献   

16.
The results from a～1 km resolution HYbrid Coordinate Ocean Model (HYCOM), forced by 1/2° Navy Operational Global Atmospheric Prediction System (NOGAPS) atmospheric data, were used in order to study the dynamic response of the Persian Gulf to wintertime shamal forcing. Shamal winds are strong northwesterly winds that occur in the Persian Gulf area behind southeast moving cold fronts. The period from 20 November to 5 December 2004 included a well defined shamal event that lasted 4–5 days. In addition to strong winds (16 m s?1) the winter shamal also brought cold dry air (Ta=20 °C, qa=10 g kg?1) which led to a net heat loss in excess of 1000 W m?2 by increasing the latent heat flux. This resulted in SST cooling of up to 10 °C most notably in the northern and shallower shelf regions. A sensitivity experiment with a constant specific humidity of qa=15 g kg?1 confirmed that about 38% of net heat loss was due to the air–sea humidity differences. The time integral of SST cooling closely followed the air–sea heat loss, indicating an approximate one-dimensional vertical heat balance. It was found that the shamal induced convective vertical mixing provided a direct mechanism for the erosion of stratification and deepening of the mixed layer by 30 m. The strong wind not only strengthened the circulation in the entire Persian Gulf but also established a northwestward flowing Iranian Coastal Current (ICC, 25–30 cm s?1) from the Strait of Hormuz to about 52°E, where it veered offshore. The strongest negative sea level of 25–40 cm was generated in the northernmost portion of the Gulf while the wind setup against the coast of the United Arab Emirates established a positive sea level of 15–30 cm. The transport through the Strait of Hormuz at 56.2°E indicated an enhanced outflow of 0.25 Sv (Sv≡106 m3 s?1) during 24 November followed by an equivalent inflow on the next day.  相似文献   

17.
Six research cruises were conducted off the west coast of Vancouver Island between April and October of 1997 and 1998 as part of the Canadian GLOBEC project to compare nutrient and phytoplankton dynamics between ENSO (1997) and non-ENSO (1998) years. Limited sampling also was conducted during three cruises in 1999. During the 1997 ENSO period, there was a shallow thermocline (∼10 m) that resulted in a shallower mixed layer, lower salinity and density, and stronger summer stratification. In general on the shelf, the 1997 growing season was characterized by higher nitrate (7.5 μM) and silicic acid (17 μM) concentrations, lower total chlorophyll (∼76 mg m−2), lower phytoplankton carbon biomass (0.2 mg C L−1), and lower diatom abundance and biomass than in 1998. Phytoplankton assemblages were dominated by nanoplankton in 1997 and by diatoms in 1998. These results suggest that the 1997 ENSO was responsible for a reduction in the growth and biomass of larger phytoplankton cells. In mid-1998, the hydrographic characteristics off the west coast of Vancouver Island changed suddenly. The 1997 poleward transport of warm water reversed to an equatorward transport of coastal water in July 1998, which was accompanied by normal summer upwelling. During 1998, a large diatom bloom (mainly dominated by Chaetoceros debilis, Leptocylindrus danicus and to a lesser extent by Skeletomema and Pseudo-nitzschia sp.) was observed in July over the continental shelf. This large bloom resulted in chlorophyll concentrations of up to 400 mg m−2, primary productivity of up to 11 g C m−2 d−1, and near undetectable dissolved nitrogen concentrations at some of the shelf stations in 1998. In contrast, during 1997, the sub-tropical waters that were advected over the slope, resulted in low chlorophyll a and primary productivity (generally <1 g C m−2 d−1). Therefore, there was a sharp contrast between the very high primary productivity on the shelf in July 1998, due to normal nutrient replenishment from summer upwelling and outflow from the Strait of Juan de Fuca, and the lower primary productivity during the 1997 ENSO year. During 1998, non-ENSO conditions resulted in phytoplankton biomass that was twice as high on the shelf as that measured in regions beyond the continental shelf of the west coast of Vancouver Island.  相似文献   

18.
Below the sill depth (at about 2400 m) of the Alpha-Mendeleyev ridge complex, the waters of the Canada Basin (CB) of the Arctic Ocean are isolated, with a 14C isolation age of about 500 yr. The potential temperature θ decreases with depth to a minimum θm≈−0.524°C near 2400 m, increases with depth through an approximately 300 m thick transition layer to θh≈−0.514°C, and then remains uniform from about 2700 m to the bottom at 3200–4000 m. The salinity increases monotonically with depth through the deep θm and transition layer from about 34.952 to about 34.956 and then remains uniform in the bottom layer. A striking staircase structure, suggestive of double-diffusive convection, is observed within the transition layer. The staircase structure is observed for about 1000 km across the basin and has been persistent for more than a decade. It is characterized by 2–3 mixed layers (10–60 m thick) separated by 2–16 m thick interfaces. Standard formulae, based on temperature and salinity jumps, suggest a double-diffusive heat flux through the staircase of about 40 mW m−2, consistent with the measured geothermal heat flux of 40–60 mW m−2. This is to be expected for a scenario with no deep-water renewal at present as we also show that changes in the bottom layer are too small to account for more than a small fraction of the geothermal heat flux. On the other hand, the observed interfaces between mixed layers in the staircase are too thick to support the required double-diffusive heat flux, either by molecular conduction or by turbulent mixing, as there is no evidence of sufficiently vigorous overturns within the interfaces. It therefore seems, that while the staircase structure may be maintained by a very weak heat flux, most of the geothermal heat flux is escaping through regions of the basin near lateral boundaries, where the staircase structure is not observed. The vertical eddy diffusivity required in these near-boundary regions is O(10−3) m2 s−1. This implies Thorpe scales of order 10 m. We observe what may be Thorpe scales of this magnitude in boundary-region potential temperature profiles, but cannot tell if they are compensated by salinity. The weak stratification of the transition layer means that the large vertical mixing rate implies a local dissipation rate of only O(10−10) W kg−1, which is not ruled out by plausible energy budgets. In addition, we discuss an alternative scenario of slow, continuous renewal of the CB deep water. In this scenario, we find that some of the geothermal heat flux is required to heat the new water and vertical fluxes through the transition layer are reduced.  相似文献   

19.
Hydrographic, geochemical, and direct velocity measurements along two zonal (7.5°N and 4.5°S) and two meridional (35°W and 4°W) lines occupied in January–March, 1993 in the Atlantic are combined in an inverse model to estimate the circulation. At 4.5°S, the Warm Water (potential temperature θ>4.5°C) originating from the South Atlantic enters the equatorial Atlantic, principally at the western boundary, in the thermocline-intensified North Brazil Undercurrent (33±2.7×106 m3 s−1 northward) and in the surface-intensified South Equatorial Current (8×106 m3 s−1 northward) located to the east of the North Brazil Undercurrent. The Ekman transport at 4.5°S is southward (10.7±1.5×106 m3 s−1). At 7.5°N, the Western Boundary Current (WBC) (17.9±2×106 m3 s−1) is weaker than at 4.5°S, and the northward flow of Warm Water in the WBC is complemented by the basin-wide Ekman flow (12.3±1.0×106 m3 s−1), the net contribution of the geostrophic interior flow of Warm Water being southward. The equatorial Ekman divergence drives a conversion of Thermocline Water (24.58⩽σ0<26.75) into Surface Water (σ0<24.58) of 7.5±0.5×106 m3 s−1, mostly occurring west of 35°W. The Deep Water of northern origin flows southward at 7.5°N in an energetic (48±3×106 m3 s−1) Deep Western Boundary Current (DWBC), whose transport is in part compensated by a northward recirculation (21±4.5×106 m3 s−1) in the Guiana Basin. At 4.5°S, the DWBC is much less energetic (27±7×106 m3 s−1 southward) than at 7.5°N. It is in part balanced by a deep northward recirculation east of which alternate circulation patterns suggest the existence of an anticyclonic gyre in the central Brazil Basin and a cyclonic gyre further east. The deep equatorial Atlantic is characterized by a convergence of Lower Deep Water (45.90⩽σ4<45.83), which creates an upward diapycnal transport of 11.0×106 m3 s−1 across σ4=45.83. The amplitude of this diapycnal transport is quite sensitive to the a priori hypotheses made in the inverse model. The amplitude of the meridional overturning cell is estimated to be 22×106 m3 s−1 at 7.5°N and 24×106 m3 s−1 at 4.5°S. Northward heat transports are in the range 1.26–1.50 PW at 7.5°N and 0.97–1.29 PW at 4.5°S with best estimates of 1.35 and 1.09 PW.  相似文献   

20.
Sulfate reduction rate measurements by the 35SO42− core injection method were carried out in situ with a benthic lander, LUISE, and in parallel by shipboard incubations in sediments of the Black Sea. Eight stations were studied along a transect from the Romanian shelf to the deep western anoxic basin. The highest rates measured on an areal basis for the upper 0–15 cm were 1.97 mmol m−2 d−1 on the shelf and 1.54 mmol m−2 d−1 at 181 m water depth just below the chemocline. At all stations sulfate reduction rates decreased to values <3 nmol cm−3 d−1 below 15 cm depth in the sediment. The importance of sulfate reduction relative to the total mineralization of organic matter was very low, 6%, on the inner shelf, which was paved with mussels, and increased to 47% on the outer shelf at 100 m depth. Where the oxic–anoxic interface of the water column impinged on the sea floor at around 150 m depth, the contribution of sulfate reduction increased from >50% just above the chemocline to 100% just below. In the deep sea, mean sulfate reduction rates were 0.6 mmol m−2 d−1 corresponding to an organic carbon oxidation of 1.3 mmol m−2 d−1. This is close to the mean sedimentation rate of organic carbon over the year in the western basin. A comparison with published data on sulfate reduction in Black Sea sediments showed that the present results tend to be higher in shelf sediments and lower in the deep-sea than most other data. Based on the present water column H2S inventory and the H2S flux out of the sediment, the calculated turnover time of H2S below the chemocline is 2100 years.  相似文献   

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