A note on interior pathways in the meridional overturning circulation
Citable URI
https://hdl.handle.net/1912/10367As published
https://doi.org/10.1175/JPO-D-17-0240.1DOI
10.1175/JPO-D-17-0240.1Keyword
Abyssal circulation; Bottom currents; Nonlinear dynamics; Ocean circulation; Ocean dynamics; Potential vorticityAbstract
A simple oceanic model is presented for source–sink flow on the β plane to discuss the pathways from source to sink when transport boundary layers have large enough Reynolds numbers to be inertial in their dynamics. A representation of the flow as a Fofonoff gyre, suggested by prior work on inertial boundary layers and eddy-driven circulations in two-dimensional turbulent flows, indicates that even when the source and sink are aligned along the same western boundary the flow must intrude deep into the interior before exiting at the sink. The existence of interior pathways for the flow is thus an intrinsic property of an inertial circulation and is not dependent on particular geographical basin geometry.
Description
Author Posting. © American Meteorological Society, 2018. This article is posted here by permission of American Meteorological Society for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Physical Oceanography 48 (2018): 643-646, doi:10.1175/JPO-D-17-0240.1.
Collections
Suggested Citation
Journal of Physical Oceanography 48 (2018): 643-646Related items
Showing items related by title, author, creator and subject.
-
The dynamic role of ridges in a β-plane channel : towards understanding the dynamics of large scale circulation in the Southern Ocean
(Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 1993-07)In this thesis, the dynamic role of bottom topography in a β-plane channel is systematically studied in both linear homogeneous and stratified layer models in the presence of either wind stress (Chapters 2, 3, 4, and 6) ... -
Ocean circulation and dynamics on the west Antarctic Peninsula continental shelf
(Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 2007-09)Observations of current velocity, temperature, salinity and pressure from a 2-year moored array deployment and four hydrographic cruises conducted by the United States Southern Ocean GLOBEC program on the western Antarctic ... -
On the dynamics and water mass transformation of a boundary current connecting alpha and beta oceans
(American Meteorological Society, 2018-10-19)A subpolar marginal sea, like the Nordic seas, is a transition zone between the temperature-stratified subtropics (the alpha ocean) and the salinity-stratified polar regions (the beta ocean). An inflow of Atlantic Water ...
