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Using Excess 3 He to Estimate Southern Ocean Upwelling Time Scales
Author(s) -
Jenkins William J.
Publication year - 2020
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 - 10.1029/2020gl087266
Subject(s) - upwelling , oceanography , geology , hydrothermal circulation , flux (metallurgy) , residence time (fluid dynamics) , water mass , range (aeronautics) , helium , environmental science , climatology , physics , chemistry , paleontology , materials science , geotechnical engineering , organic chemistry , composite material , atomic physics
Using a recently compiled global marine data set of dissolved helium isotopes and helium and neon concentrations, we make an estimate of the inventory of hydrothermal 3 He in the Southern Ocean to be 4.9 ± 0.6 × 10 4 moles. Under the assumption that the bulk of the hydrothermally sourced 3 He is upwelled there, we use recent estimates of the global hydrothermal 3 He flux to determine an e ‐folding residence time of 99 ± 18 years, depending on assumptions of water mass and upwelling boundaries. Our estimate is within the broad range of values obtained from recent Southern Ocean circulation models.