Timescales and dynamics of the formation of a thermocline |
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| Authors: | Giulio Boccaletti |
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| Institution: | Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences Program, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA |
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| Abstract: | In a state of equilibrium, the constraint of a balanced heat budget for the ocean strongly influences the depth of the tropical thermocline because that depth controls the rate at which the ocean absorbs heat from the atmosphere. Thus, an increase in the oceanic heat loss in high latitudes results in a shoaling of the equatorial thermocline so that the heat gain also increases. How does the ocean adjust to such a new equilibrium state after an abrupt change in the heat flux in high latitudes? The adjustment of the wind-driven circulation of the upper ocean is shown to involve two timescales. The first is the familiar adiabatic wave-adjustment time associated with the horizontal redistribution of warm water above the thermocline in shallow water models. (This is essentially the time it takes Rossby and Kelvin waves to propagate from the disturbed extra-equatorial region to the equator.) The second adjustment-time is associated with the diabatic processes that come into play once the waves from higher latitudes modify the thermal structure in low latitudes and hence the flux of heat into the ocean; it is the timescale on which the ocean recovers a balanced heat budget. The identification of this timescale is the main result of this paper.Through a series of simulations of an idealized ocean basin, we identify the diabatic timescale and argue that it is determined by the strength of the upwelling and the intensity of the air–sea heatfluxes. By simulating the formation of a thermocline from isothermal conditions, we are able to relate this timescale to other relevant timescales such as that associated with diffusive processes and the adiabatic timescale invoked by Gu and Philander Gu, D., Philander, S.G.H., 1997. Interdecadal climate fluctuations that depend on exchanges between the tropics and extra-topics. Science 275, 805–807]. |
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| Keywords: | Thermocline Ocean circulation Ocean waves Thermohaline circulation |
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