Effects of mixing on the subduction of South Pacific waters identified by a simulated passive tracer and its adjoint |
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| Authors: | Shan Gao Tangdong Qu Ichiro Fukumori |
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| Institution: | 1. State Key Laboratory of Marine Environmental Science, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, China;2. Center for Remote Sensing, College of Earth, Ocean and Environment, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19716, USA;;3. University of Delaware/Xiamen University Joint Institute for Coastal Research and Management (Joint-CRM), USA/China;1. Dept. of Mathematics and Geosciences, University of Trieste, Italy;2. Dept. of Geosciences, University of Padova, Italy;1. Chinese Academy of Sciences, Yantai Institute of Coastal Zone Research, Yantai 264003, China;2. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China;3. State Oceanic Administration, The First Institute of Oceanography, Qingdao 266061, China;4. Laboratory for Marine Geology, Qingdao National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology, Qingdao 266061, China |
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| Abstract: | Effects of mixing on water mass subduction are analyzed in the South Pacific Ocean. Model simulations using a passive tracer and its adjoint are employed in conjunction with a particle tracking method to distinguish effects of mixing from those of advection. The results show that mixing processes can contribute to as much as 20% of the overall subduction rate in the South Pacific. Of this mixing contribution, about 30% can be attributed to meso-scale eddies, including their associated bolus transport, while the major part (70%) is due to other diabatic processes. The impact of mixing reaches its maximum near the Sub-Antarctic Front, accounting for nearly 30% of the total subduction rate. Consequently, estimates based on tracing particles or on advection alone may significantly underestimate the subduction rate in the South Pacific Ocean. |
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