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    Can paleoceanographic tracers constrain meridional circulation rates?

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    jpo3018%2E1.pdf (1.218Mb)
    Date
    2007-02
    Author
    Huybers, Peter  Concept link
    Gebbie, Geoffrey A.  Concept link
    Marchal, Olivier  Concept link
    Metadata
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    Citable URI
    https://hdl.handle.net/1912/4142
    As published
    https://doi.org/10.1175/jpo3018.1
    DOI
    10.1175/jpo3018.1
    Keyword
     Tracers; Transport; Paleoclimatology; Ocean models 
    Abstract
    The ability of paleoceanographic tracers to constrain rates of transport is examined using an inverse method to combine idealized observations with a geostrophic model. Considered are the spatial distribution, accuracy, and types of tracers required to constrain changes in meridional transport within an idealized single-hemisphere basin. Measurements of density and radioactive tracers each act to constrain rates of transport. Conservative tracers, while not of themselves able to inform regarding rates of transport, improve constraints when coupled with density or radioactive observations. It is found that the tracer data would require an accuracy one order of magnitude better than is presently available for paleo-observations to conclusively rule out factor-of-2 changes in meridional transport, even when assumed available over the entire model domain. When data are available only at the margins and bottom of the model, radiocarbon is unable to constrain transport while density remains effective only when a reference velocity level is assumed. The difficulty in constraining the circulation in this idealized model indicates that placing firm bounds on past meridional transport rates will prove challenging.
    Description
    Author Posting. © American Meteorological Society, 2007. 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 37 (2007): 394-407, doi:10.1175/jpo3018.1.
    Collections
    • Geology and Geophysics (G&G)
    Suggested Citation
    Journal of Physical Oceanography 37 (2007): 394-407
     

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