Aken The Oceanic Thermohaline Circulation

An Introduction
1. Auflage 2007
ISBN: 978-0-387-48039-8
Verlag: Springer
Format: PDF
Kopierschutz: 1 - PDF Watermark

E-Book, Englisch, Band 39, 326 Seiten

Reihe: Atmospheric and Oceanographic Sciences Library

This book presents a global hydrographic description of the thermohaline circulation, an introduction to the theoretical aspects of this phenomenon, and observational evidence for the theory. The hydrographic description and the observational evidence are based on data sources available via internet, mainly from the World Oceanographic Experiment (WOCE). The book also offers an introduction to hydrographic analysis and interpretation.

Dr. Hendrik van Aken has been an observational oceanographer for over 25 years. He mainly deals with regional oceanography. He headed the Dutch contribution ot the WOCE Hydrographic Program (WHP), and is presently active in CLIVAR projects. Dr. Van Aken has done extensive research in the fields of climate hydrographic variability and aspects of the global thermohaline  circulation.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Aken, Hendrik M. Van

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1;Preface;7
2;Contents;10
3;List of Abbreviations;13
4;1. Introduction;16
4.1;1.1. Climate and climate variations;16
4.2;1.2. The ocean and climate;18
4.3;1.3. What is the THC?;21
4.4;1.4. Some historical notes;24
4.5;1.5. The following chapters;28
5;2. The ocean basins;30
5.1;2.1. The bottom topography of the oceans;30
5.2;2.2. Basins and ridges;31
6;3. Pressure, temperature, salinity, and some thermohaline dynamics;35
6.1;3.1. Pressure;35
6.2;3.2. Temperature;37
6.3;3.3. Salinity;38
6.4;3.4. Density;40
6.5;3.5. Adiabatic compression, potential temperature, and potential density;43
6.6;3.6. Freezing point and specific heat;45
6.7;3.7. Pressure gradient forces;47
6.8;3.8. Geostrophic and near-geostrophic flow;49
6.9;3.9. Friction and transport;52
6.10;3.10. Vertical motion and mass conservation;54
7;4. Water mass and tracer analysis of the deep flow in the Atlantic Ocean;59
7.1;4.1. Meridional sections of temperature, salinity and density;59
7.2;4.2. Deriving the deep circulation from tracer distributions;63
7.3;4.3. Wüst's core method;65
7.4;4.4. Water mass, water type, and the temperature;68
7.5;4.5. Quantitative water mass analysis;72
7.6;4.6. The use of biogeochemical tracers;75
7.7;4.7. Biogeochemical tracers in the Atlantic Ocean;80
7.8;4.8. A natural radioactive tracer: radiocarbon;83
7.9;4.9. Halocarbons as tracers;86
7.10;4.10. Zonal hydrographic sections in the Atlantic Ocean;89
8;5. The deep flow in the Southern, Indian, and Pacific oceans;93
8.1;5.1. Hydrography of the Southern Ocean;93
8.2;5.2. The deep Indian Ocean;101
8.3;5.3. The hydrography of the deep Pacific Ocean;107
8.4;5.4. Deep upwelling;115
9;6. The upper branch of the THC;117
9.1;6.1. Interocean exchange;117
9.2;6.2. The Bering Strait through-flow;118
9.3;6.3. The Indonesian through-flow;120
9.4;6.4. The cold water route;126
9.5;6.5. Return flow into the Arctic seas;132
10;7. Formation and descent of water masses;135
10.1;7.1. Water mass formation;135
10.2;7.2. The Barents Sea;136
10.3;7.3. A scheme for deep convection;139
10.4;7.4. Deep convection in the Greenland Sea;141
10.5;7.5. Norwegian Sea Deep Water;145
10.6;7.6. Exchange between the Nordic seas and the North Atlantic Ocean;146
10.7;7.7. Convection in the Labrador Sea;152
10.8;7.8. Bottom water formation in the Southern Ocean;156
11;8. Dynamics of the THC;166
11.1;8.1. Meridional overturning circulation;166
11.2;8.2. Upwelling and divergence of the abyssal circulation;174
11.3;8.3. Geostrophic flow in the abyssal ocean;176
11.4;8.4. Deep boundary currents;179
11.5;8.5. Topographic influence on the abyssal circulation;183
11.6;8.6. Observational evidence for the abyssal circulation scheme;185
11.7;8.7. Wind-driven deep upwelling in the Southern Ocean;196
12;9. Deep upwelling and mixing;199
12.1;9.1. Profiles of conservative tracers;199
12.2;9.2. Profiles of a tracer with first-order decay: radiocarbon;203
12.3;9.3. Tracers with zeroth order sources and sinks: oxygen, and nutrients;208
12.4;9.4. Energy requirements for turbulent mixing;210
13;10. Energetics of the THC;216
13.1;10.1. Some thermodynamics;216
13.2;10.2. Heat exchange with the atmosphere and heat fluxes;219
13.3;10.3. The influence of the hydrological cycle;225
13.4;10.4. The density boundary conditions;230
13.5;10.5. The THC engine and Sandström's theorem;232
14;11. Simple models, boundary conditions, and feedbacks;239
14.1;11.1. Models and boundary conditions;239
14.2;11.2. Random boundary conditions;241
14.3;11.3. Boundary conditions for temperature and salinity with feedback;243
14.4;11.4. A consequence of SST-dependent evaporation;247
14.5;11.5. Consequences of restoring boundary conditions;248
14.6;11.6. The single-hemispheric Stommel box model;252
14.7;11.7. The interhemispheric Rooth box model;258
14.8;11.8. The stability of Rooth's model;265
14.9;11.9. Two-dimensional meridional models of the THC;270
14.10;11.10. Three-dimensional ocean general circulation models;275
15;12. The THC and different climates;279
15.1;12.1. Climate variability in numerical simulations;279
15.2;12.2. Paleoclimate changes;285
15.3;12.3. The past THC from oxygen isotopes in marine sediments;289
15.4;12.4. Stable carbon isotopes and the Atlantic paleo-THC;294
15.5;12.5. Cadmium and barium as paleoceanographic tracers of the THC;301
15.6;12.6. Stable carbon isotopes in the Southern Ocean;304
15.7;12.7. Global water mass changes in the deep ocean;306
15.8;12.8. Ocean ventilation age from radiocarbon in sediment cores;307
15.9;12.9. A model interpretation of proxy data;311
16;References;315
17;Index;330