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Restriction of convective depth in the Weddell Sea
Author(s) -
Akitomo K.
Publication year - 2007
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 - 10.1029/2007gl029295
Subject(s) - geology , convection , entrainment (biomusicology) , water mass , hydrography , plume , oceanography , front (military) , climatology , potential temperature , atmospheric sciences , meteorology , philosophy , physics , rhythm , aesthetics
The depth open‐ocean convection can reach around Maud Rise in the Weddell Sea is estimated based on the entrainment assumption using hydrographic data obtained in winter 1986 during which no distinct polynya was observed. While the water column is stable at all CTD stations when observed, additional cooling makes the mixed layer water heavier than the underlying water at any depth in an adiabatic sense. However, convective plume cannot reach the ocean bottom since it loses positive density anomaly due to thermobaricity by entraining the Warm Deep Water (WDW) on its downward way. The deeper convection is located over Maud Rise where the maximum temperature of the WDW, θ max , is about 0.5°C while the shallower one in the warm water cell region where θ max is more than 1.0°C. The mean convective depth is much shallower than the ocean depth and the ventilated depth during the Weddell Polynya years (3∼4 km).