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The nonlinear equation of state of sea water and the global water mass distribution
Author(s) -
Nycander Jonas,
Hieronymus Magnus,
Roquet Fabien
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1002/2015gl065525
Subject(s) - water mass , nonlinear system , seawater , layering , distribution (mathematics) , oceanography , environmental science , antarctic bottom water , deep water , geology , mass distribution , physics , mathematics , mathematical analysis , botany , galaxy , biology , quantum mechanics
The role of nonlinearities of the equation of state (EOS) of seawater for the distribution of water masses in the global ocean is examined through simulations with an ocean general circulation model with various manipulated versions of the EOS. A simulation with a strongly simplified EOS, which contains only two nonlinear terms, still produces a realistic water mass distribution, demonstrating that these two nonlinearities are indeed the essential ones. Further simulations show that each of these two nonlinear terms affects a specific aspect of the water mass distribution: the cabbeling term is crucial for the formation of Antarctic Intermediate Water and the thermobaric term for the layering of North Atlantic Deep Water and Antarctic Bottom Water.