Estimating the Isoneutral Slope and Tracer Diffusion from Argo Observations

Tracer diffusion is an important issue in ocean modeling, and isoneutral slope is key to parameterization of tracer diffusion in the ocean interior when using the isoneutral/dianeutral scheme. In this study, multiyear mean temperature, salinity, and pressure-gridded products that cover the upper 2000 m of the global ocean are created by employing all the Argo float observations up to date. Comparison with WOA09 data indicates that Argo temperature and salinity depict the reality well. Based on the reliable Argo gridded products, the in situ density fields are calculated. Then isoneutral slope in the ocean interior deep to 2000 m was determined by using the Argo-derived density. Taking advantage of isoneutral slope, therefore, diffusion tensor as well as isoneutral tracer diffusion flux can be obtained in combination of the tracer diffusion coefficient. The aim of this work is to propose a procedure to estimate the isoneutral slope using Argo observations and to offer new isoneutral slope-gridded products in the hope of further facilitating the parameterization of isoneutral tracer diffusion in geopotential (Z-coordinate) ocean models.