Abstract
Abstract. Thermohaline staircases are associated with double-diffusive mixing. They are characterized by stepped structures consisting of mixed layers of typically tens of metres thick that are separated by much thinner interfaces. Through these interfaces enhanced diapycnal salt and heat transport take place. In this study, we present a global dataset of thermohaline staircases derived from observations of Argo profiling floats and Ice-Tethered Profilers using a novel detection algorithm. To establish the presence of thermohaline staircases, the algorithm detects subsurface mixed layers and analyses the interfaces in between. Of each detected staircase, the conservative temperature, absolute salinity, depth, and height, as well as some other properties of the mixed layers and interfaces, are computed. The algorithm is applied to 487 493 quality-controlled temperature and salinity profiles to obtain a global dataset. The performance of the algorithm is verified through an analysis of independent regional observations. The algorithm and global dataset are available at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4286170.
Highlights
Thermohaline staircases consist of subsurface mixed layers that are separated by thin interfaces
To be able to study this with observations, we present a global dataset of the occurrence of thermohaline staircases and their properties
We presented an algorithm to automatically detect thermohaline staircases from Argo float profiles and IceTethered Profiles
Summary
Thermohaline staircases consist of subsurface mixed layers that are separated by thin interfaces They are associated with double-diffusive processes, which in turn result from a difference of 2 orders of magnitude between the molecular diffusivity of heat and that of salt (Stern, 1960). The double-diffusive diapycnal fluxes in the Mediterranean Sea dominate the transport between the deep water masses (Zodiatis and Gasparini, 1996; Bryden et al, 2014; Schroeder et al, 2016), and in the Arctic Ocean and Southern Ocean, an upward heat flux has been observed through staircase interfaces (Timmermans et al, 2008; Shibley et al, 2017; Polyakov et al, 2012; Bebieva and Speer, 2019).
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