Dissolved and particulate samples were collected to study the distribution of thorium isotopes (234Th, 232Th and 230Th) in the water column of the Indian sector of the Southern Ocean (from 42°S to 47°S and from 60°E to 66°E, north of the Polar Front) during Austral summer 1999. Vertical profiles of excess 230Th (230Thxs) increases linearly with depth in surface water (0–100 m) and a model was applied to estimate a residence time relative to the thorium scavenging (τscav). Low τscav in the Polar Front Zone (PFZ) are found, compared to those estimated in the Subtropical Front Zone (STZ). Changes in particle composition between the PFZ and STZ could influence the 230Thxs scavenging efficiency and explain this difference. An innovative coupling between 234Th and 230Thxs was then used to simultaneously constrain the settling velocities of small (0.6–60 μm) and large (above 60 μm) particles. Although the different hydrological and biogeochemical regimes visited during the ANTARES IV cruise did not explain the spatial variation of sinking velocity estimates, our results indicate that less particles may reach the seafloor north (60 ± 2 m d− 1, station 8) than south of the Agulhas Return Current (119 ± 23 and 130 ± 5 m d− 1 at stations 3 and 7, respectively). This information is essential for understanding particle transport and by extension, carbon export. In the deep water column, the 230Thxs concentrations did not increase linearly with depth, probably due to lateral transport of North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW) from the Atlantic to the Indian sector, which renews the deep waters and decreases the 230Thxs concentrations. A specific 230Thxs transport model is applied in the deep water column and allows us to assess a “travel time” of NADW ranging from 2 to 15 years. 相似文献
Magnetic data suggest that the distribution of the oceanic crust in the northern South China Sea (SCS) may extend to about 21 °N and 118.5 °E. To examine the crustal features of the corresponding continent–ocean transition zone, we have studied the crustal structures of the northern continental margin of the SCS. We have also performed gravity modeling by using a simple four-layer crustal model to understand the geometry of the Moho surface and the crustal thicknesses beneath this transition zone. In general, we can distinguish the crustal structures of the study area into the continental crust, the thinned continental crust, and the oceanic crust. However, some volcanic intrusions or extrusions exist. Our results indicate the existence of oceanic crust in the northernmost SCS as observed by magnetic data. Accordingly, we have moved the continent–ocean boundary (COB) in the northeastern SCS from about 19 °N and 119.5 °E to 21 °N and 118.5 °E. Morphologically, the new COB is located along the base of the continental slope. The southeastward thinning of the continental crust in the study area is prominent. The average value of crustal thinning factor of the thinned continental crust zone is about 1.3–1.5. In the study region, the Moho depths generally vary from ca. 28 km to ca. 12 km and the crustal thicknesses vary from ca. 24 km to ca. 6 km; a regional maximum exists around the Dongsha Island. Our gravity modeling has shown that the oceanic crust in the northern SCS is slightly thicker than normal oceanic crust. This situation could be ascribed to the post-spreading volcanism or underplating in this region. 相似文献
Most marginal seas in the North Pacific are fed by nutrients supported mainly by upwelling and many are undersaturated with
respect to atmospheric CO2 in the surface water mainly as a result of the biological pump and winter cooling. These seas absorb CO2 at an average rate of 1.1 ± 0.3 mol C m−2yr−1 but release N2/N2O at an average rate of 0.07 ± 0.03 mol N m−2yr−1. Most of primary production, however, is regenerated on the shelves, and only less than 15% is transported to the open oceans
as dissolved and particulate organic carbon (POC) with a small amount of POC deposited in the sediments. It is estimated that
seawater in the marginal seas in the North Pacific alone may have taken up 1.6 ± 0.3 Gt (1015 g) of excess carbon, including 0.21 ± 0.05 Gt for the Bering Sea, 0.18 ± 0.08 Gt for the Okhotsk Sea; 0.31 ± 0.05 Gt for
the Japan/East Sea; 0.07 ± 0.02 Gt for the East China and Yellow Seas; 0.80 ± 0.15 Gt for the South China Sea; and 0.015 ±
0.005 Gt for the Gulf of California. More importantly, high latitude marginal seas such as the Bering and Okhotsk Seas may
act as conveyer belts in exporting 0.1 ± 0.08 Gt C anthropogenic, excess CO2 into the North Pacific Intermediate Water per year. The upward migration of calcite and aragonite saturation horizons due
to the penetration of excess CO2 may also make the shelf deposits on the Bering and Okhotsk Seas more susceptible to dissolution, which would then neutralize
excess CO2 in the near future. Further, because most nutrients come from upwelling, increased water consumption on land and damming
of major rivers may reduce freshwater output and the buoyancy effect on the shelves. As a result, upwelling, nutrient input
and biological productivity may all be reduced in the future. As a final note, the Japan/East Sea has started to show responses
to global warming. Warmer surface layer has reduced upwelling of nutrient-rich subsurface water, resulting in a decline of
spring phytoplankton biomass. Less bottom water formation because of less winter cooling may lead to the disappearance of
the bottom water as early as 2040. Or else, an anoxic condition may form as early as 2200 AD.
This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date. 相似文献
Several large deployments of neutrally buoyant floats took place within the Antarctic Intermediate (AAIW), North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW), and the Antarctic Bottom Water (AABW) of the South Atlantic in the 1990s and a number of hydrographic sections were occupied as well. Here we use the spatially and temporally averaged velocities measured by these floats, combined with the hydrographic section data and various estimates of regional current transports from moored current meter arrays, to determine the circulation of the three major subthermocline water masses in a zonal strip across the South Atlantic between the latitudes of 19°S and 30°S. We concentrate on this region because the historical literature suggests that it is where the Deep Western Boundary Current containing NADW bifurcates. In support of this notion, we find that a net of about 5 Sv. of the 15–20 Sv that crosses 19°S does continue zonally eastward at least as far as the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Once across the ridge it takes a circuit to the north along the ridge flanks before returning to the south in the eastern half of the Angola Basin. The data suggest that the NADW then continues on into the Indian Ocean. This scheme is discussed in the context of distributions of dissolved oxygen, silicate and salinity. In spite of the many float-years of data that were collected in the region a surprising result is that their impact on the computed solutions is quite modest. Although the focus is on the NADW we also discuss the circulation for the AAIW and AABW layers. 相似文献
Identification of the distinctive circulation patterns of storminess on the Atlantic margin of Europe forms the main objective of this study; dealing with storm frequency, intensity and tracking. The climatology of the extratropical cyclones that affect this region has been examined for the period 1940–1998. Coastal meteorological data from Ireland to Spain have been linked to the cyclone history for the North Atlantic in the analysis of storm records for European coasts. The study examines the evolution in the occurrence of storms since the 1940s and also their relationship with the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO). Results indicate a seasonal shift in the wind climate, with regionally more severe winters and calmer summers established. This pattern appears to be linked to a northward displacement in the main North Atlantic cyclone track.
An experiment with the ECHAM4 A-GCM at high resolution (T106) has also been used to model the effect of a greenhouse gases induced warming climate on the climatology of coastal storms in the region. The experiment consists of (1), a 30-year control time-slice representing present-day equivalent CO2 concentrations and (2), a 30-year perturbed period corresponding to a time when the radiative forcing has doubled in terms of equivalent CO2 concentrations. The boundary conditions have been obtained from an atmosphere-ocean coupled OA-GCM simulation at low horizontal resolution. An algorithm was developed to allow the identification of individual cyclone movements in selected coastal zones. For most of the northern part of the study region, covering Ireland and Scotland, results describe the establishment by ca. 2060 of a tendency for fewer but more intense storms.
The impacts of these changes in storminess for the vulnerability of European Atlantic coasts are considered. For low-lying, exposed and ‘soft’ sedimentary coasts, as in Ireland, these changes in storminess are likely to result in significant localised increases in coastal erosion. 相似文献