SIO 210: Fall 2003
Thermohaline Circulation II: Observations of Deep Water Formation
Readings
- Evolution of Physical Oceanography, Chapter 1: Deep Circulation of the World Ocean, by Bruce Warren.
Study Questions
- What are the major sites of deep water formation in the world's ocean?
- What are the formation rates of the major principal deep water masses?
- Why is the Mediterranean Sea important in the thermohaline circulation even though the net exchange of water with the
N. Atlantic is quite small?
- How is deep water formation in the southern hemisphere different from that in the northern?
Problems
- The formation rate of North Atlantic Deep Water is
approximately 13 Sv (1 SV = 106 m3/s) and the
mean potential temperature of the water mass is 2.5 oC.
Suppose the source water which feeds the formation process enters the
North Atlantic basin by crossing the equator with a mean temperature
of 16 oC. What is the magnitude of the heat loss (over the
combined North Atlantic and Greenland/Norwegian Seas) associated with
the formation of NADW? (in Watts)
- The surface inflow to the Mediterranean Sea through the Straits
of Gibralter is 1 Sv with a mean salinity of 36.1 psu. The mean
salinity of the lower, outflowing layer is observed to be 38.4 psu.
Assuming that salt is conserved in the Mediterranean basin, what is
the size of the transport of the outflowing layer? What is the sum of
Evaporation-minus-Precipitation for the basin (in kg/s)? The area of
the basin is about 2.5 x 106 km2. What is the
average (E-P) in cm/yr? (Neglect river runoff in you calculations.)
[answers]
Figures from class
Many of these courtesy of Regional Oceanography: An Introduction. by Matthias Tomczak and Stuart Godfery
Related Web Site
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Last modified: Mon Nov 17 16:33:16 2003
