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Abyssal connections of Antarctic Bottom Water in a Southern Ocean State Estimate
Author(s) -
Sebille Erik,
Spence Paul,
Mazloff Matthew R.,
England Matthew H.,
Rintoul Stephen R.,
Saenko Oleg A.
Publication year - 2013
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/grl.50483
Subject(s) - antarctic bottom water , abyssal zone , circumpolar deep water , geology , oceanography , subtropics , abyssal plain , circumpolar star , antarctic intermediate water , bottom water , oceanic basin , temperature salinity diagrams , salinity , climatology , structural basin , north atlantic deep water , thermohaline circulation , paleontology , fishery , biology
Antarctic Bottom Water (AABW) is formed in a few locations around the Antarctic continent, each source with distinct temperature and salinity. After formation, the different AABW varieties cross the Southern Ocean and flow into the subtropical abyssal basins. It is shown here, using the analysis of Lagrangian trajectories within the Southern Ocean State Estimate (SOSE) model, that the pathways of the different sources of AABW have to a large extent amalgamated into one pathway by the time it reaches 31°S in the deep subtropical basins. The Antarctic Circumpolar Current appears to play an important role in the amalgamation, as 70% of the AABW completes at least one circumpolar loop before reaching the subtropical basins. This amalgamation of AABW pathways suggests that on decadal to centennial time scales, changes to properties and formation rates in any of the AABW source regions will be conveyed to all three subtropical abyssal basins.