Permanent Pycnocline Research Articles

Seaglider Surveys at Ocean Station Papa: Oxygen Kinematics and Upper‐Ocean Metabolism

AbstractUnderstanding variability in annual net community production (NCP) and factors affecting its estimation are important priorities for the study of ocean biogeochemistry. The time evolution of dissolved oxygen is useful proxy for NCP if the physical tendency can be isolated and removed; a key challenge is the resolution of the terms contributing to this tendency. Here oxygen balances are examined in the upper 200 m at Ocean Station Papa (50°N, 145°W) using data from Seaglider surveys June 2008 to January 2010. Sampling of horizontal gradients of oxygen, temperature, and salinity during these surveys allows the inference of monthly three‐dimensional advection and turbulent diffusion of oxygen. The resulting monthly oxygen balances show strong variability with depth, with similarities to the temperature balances shallower than 100 m and salinity balances deeper. The estimated annual NCP of 2.2 ± 1.2 mol C·m−2·year−1 in the top 120 m is in agreement with contemporary studies in the subarctic North Pacific Ocean. Horizontal advection in the surface layer is found to be small as previously assumed but important at greater depths: Assuming zero horizontal advection in the top 120 m would have resulted in an overestimate of annual NCP by 50%. Horizontal and vertical advection together dominated the oxygen balance in the permanent pycnocline. Results emphasize the three‐dimensional nature of the oxygen balance, even in this relatively quiescent location, and further demonstrate the viability of autonomous spatial surveys for resolving physical oxygen transport terms.

Structure and Formation of Anticyclonic Eddies in the Iceland Basin

AbstractThe Iceland Basin has the most energetic eddy activities in the subpolar North Atlantic. This study documents the structure for an anticyclonic eddy in the Iceland Basin using high‐resolution hydrographic and velocity observations. The eddy core waters have lens‐like structure with warm and salty features in the upper 1,000 m. The eddy distorts the density surface by doming the upper isopycnals and deepening the ones near the permanent pycnocline. The eddy has a diameter of about 120 km with substantial barotropic component in the velocity profiles. One branch of the North Atlantic Current in the central Iceland Basin is superimposed onto the eddy, leading to asymmetric velocity structure. Satellite maps show that eddy first shows up over the western slope of the Hatton Bank and moves westward to the central Iceland Basin. The waters enclosed in the eddy core share the same properties with Subpolar Mode Waters. Similar anticyclonic eddies are also found in high‐resolution numerical model simulations, which is used to explore eddy formation. The model results reveal that the potential vorticity gradient prior to the eddy event change signs in both horizontal and vertical directions. This potential vorticity gradient structure meets the necessary condition for the barotropic and baroclinic instabilities. Further calculation of the energy conversions suggests that eddies extract mean potential energy from the large‐scale isopycnal slope and gain the mean kinetic energy in the upper ocean. Therefore, both barotropic and baroclinic instabilities are involved to support the eddy growth.

Rare Earth Element Distribution in the NE Atlantic: Evidence for Benthic Sources, Longevity of the Seawater Signal, and Biogeochemical Cycling

Seawater rare earth element (REE) concentrations are increasingly applied to reconstruct water mass histories by exploiting relative changes in the distinctive normalised patterns. However, the mechanisms by which water masses gain their patterns are yet to be fully explained. To examine this, we collected water samples along the Extended Ellett Line (EEL), an oceanographic transect between Iceland and Scotland, and measured dissolved REE by offline automated chromatography (SeaFAST) and ICP-MS. The proximity to two continental boundaries, the incipient spring bloom coincident with the timing of the cruise, and the importance of deep water circulation in this climatically sensitive gateway region make it an ideal location to investigate sources of REE to seawater and the effects of vertical cycling and lateral advection on their distribution. The deep waters have REE concentrations closest to typical North Atlantic seawater and are dominated by lateral advection. Comparison to published seawater REE concentrations of the same water masses in other locations provides a first measure of the temporal and spatial stability of the seawater REE signal. We demonstrate the REE pattern is replicated for Iceland-Scotland Overflow Water (ISOW) in the Iceland Basin from adjacent stations sampled 16 years previously. A recently published Labrador Sea Water (LSW) dissolved REE signal is reproduced in the Rockall Trough but shows greater light and mid REE alteration in the Iceland Basin, possibly due to the dominant effect of ISOW and/or continental inputs. An obvious concentration gradient from seafloor sediments to the overlying water column in the Rockall Trough, but not the Iceland Basin, highlights release of light and mid REE from resuspended sediments and pore waters, possibly a seasonal effect associated with the timing of the spring bloom in each basin. The EEL dissolved oxygen minimum at the permanent pycnocline corresponds to positive heavy REE enrichment, indicating maximum rates of organic matter remineralisation and associated REE release. We tentatively suggest a bacterial role to account for the observed heavy REE deviations. This study highlights the need for fully constrained REE sources and sinks, including the temporary nature of some sources, to achieve a balanced budget of seawater REE.

Properties, formation, and dissipation of the North Pacific Eastern Subtropical Mode Water and its impact on interannual spiciness anomalies

The properties, formation, and dissipation of the North Pacific Eastern Subtropical Mode Water (ESTMW), their interannual variability, and impact on spiciness anomalies in the upper permanent pycnocline were investigated using Argo profiling float data in 2005–2015. The core temperature and salinity of ESTMWs were horizontally compensated to a constant density, and core potential density concentrates in a range of 24.5–25.2 kg m−3 with two distinct peaks. ESTMWs showed different spatial distribution and persistence for its core potential density. Denser ESTMWs with a potential density of 24.9–25.2 kg m−3 were formed in winter mixed layer depth maximum centered at 30°N, 140°W and lighter ESTMWs of 24.5–24.9 kg m−3 were formed south and east of it. After formation through shoaling of the winter mixed layer, the former persisted until the following autumn and a small part of it subducted in winter, while the latter dissipated in summer. The formation region of ESTMW corresponded to the summer sea surface density maximum resulting from its poleward sea surface salinity front. Sea surface density maximum maintains weak stratification during summer, preconditioning the deepening of the winter mixed layer and hence the formation of ESTMWs. A relationship between the ESTMW formation region and the summer sea surface density maximum was also found in the North Atlantic and the South Pacific, implying the importance of sea surface salinity fronts and the associated summer sea surface density maximum to ESTMW formation. Interannual variations of ESTMW reflected that of the winter mixed layer in its formation region, and the thickness of ESTMW was related to the Pacific decadal oscillation. ESTMW contributed to the occurrence of spice injection and affected spiciness anomalies in the upper permanent pycnocline through its formation and dissipation.

Seasonal variations of hydrographic parameters off the Sudanese coast of the Red Sea, 2009–2015

The variations of temperature and salinity in the Sudanese coastal zone of the Red Sea are studied for the first time using measurements acquired from survey cruises during 2009–2013 and from a mooring during 2014–2015. The measurements show that temperature and salinity variability above the permanent pycnocline is dominated by seasonal signals, similar in character to seasonal temperature and salinity oscillations observed further north on the eastern side of the Red Sea. Using estimates of heat flux, circulation and horizontal temperature/salinity gradients derived from a number of sources, we determined that the observed seasonal signals of temperature and salinity are not the product of local heat and mass flux alone, but are also due to alongshore advection of waters with spatially varying temperature and salinity. As the temperature and salinity gradients, characterized by warmer and less saline water to the south, exhibit little seasonal variation, the seasonal salinity and temperature variations are closely linked to an observed seasonal oscillation in the along-shore flow, which also has a mean northward component. We find that the inclusion of the advection terms in the heat and mass balance has two principal effects on the computed temperature and salinity series. One is that the steady influx of warmer and less saline water from the south counteracts the long-term trend of declining temperatures and rising salinities computed with only the local surface flux terms, and produces a long-term steady state in temperature and salinity. The second effect is produced by the seasonal alongshore velocity oscillation and most profoundly affects the computed salinity, which shows no seasonal signal without the inclusion of the advective term. In both the observations and computed results, the seasonal salinity signal lags that of temperature by roughly 3 months.

Interannual variability of Indian Ocean subtropical mode water subduction rate

The interannual variation of Indian Ocean subtropical mode water (IOSTMW) subduction rate in the Southwest Indian Ocean from 1980 to 2007 is investigated in this paper based on Simple Ocean Data Assimilation (SODA) outputs. Climatology of subduction rate exceeds 75 m/year in the IOSTMW formation area. The renewal time of permanent pycnocline water mass based on the subduction rate is calculated for each density class: 3–6 years for IOSTMW (25.8 < σ θ < 26.2 kg m−3). Subduction rate in the Southwest Indian Ocean subtropical gyre exhibits a great year-to-year variability. This interannual variations of the IOSTMW subduction rate is primarily dominated by the lateral induction term, associated with the interannual variations of strong meridional gradient of winter mixed layer depth (MLD). The slope of the mixed layer depth in the mode water is closely linked to the large variations of deep late winter MLD in the mid-latitudes and negligible variations of shallow winter MLD in lower latitudes. It is further identified that the interannual variation of late winter MLD in this area is largely controlled by the latent and sensible heat flux components. The water volume of the permanent pycnocline in the IOSTMW distribution area is also found to show a significant interannual variability, and it is well correlated with the interannual variation of subduction rate.

Intense ventilation of the Black Sea pycnocline due to vertical turbulent exchange in the Rim Current area

This paper presents new observational data, which indicate that deep ventilation events in the aerobic zone extending across the upper part of the permanent pycnocline may occur sporadically in the Rim Current area, even during relatively warm seasons, when the seasonal thermocline is still notable. The strongest observed event of this type occurred on November 2014 off the continental shelf break near Gelendzhik Bay. Vertical profiles of dissolved oxygen were accurately measured using an SBE 52-MP Conductivity, Temperature, Depth (CTD) probe equipped with a fast-response SBE 43F oxygen sensor mounted on a moored Aqualog automatic mobile profiler. The analysis of the profiling data from October 6 through December 16, 2014, from depths between 35m and 215m revealed an anomaly on November 6–7. The dissolved oxygen exceeded the background levels by more than 0.2ml/l (8.9μM) at the 14.9–15.7kg/m3 isopycnals in the pycnocline and reached approximately 1ml/l (44.66μM) for short periods. The peak absolute value of the dissolved oxygen reached an exceptionally high value of approximately 0.3ml/l (13.4μM) at the 15.9kg/m3 isopycnal. The ventilation event increased the temperature by ~0.2°C at depths of 120–160m. The simultaneous observations of both the thermohaline stratification and the ocean currents suggest that the ventilation event was associated with the sinking of pycnocline waters in the near-bottom Ekman layer along the continental slope and intense vertical turbulent exchange in the Rim Current area near the continental slope. The ventilation of the pycnocline when the overlaying upper ocean is stably stratified sharply differs from the convection reaching the Cold Intermediate Layer during extensive cooling of the sea surface. Indications of such ventilation events were also found in the Aqualog mooring data archive from 2012.

Mean Structure of the North Atlantic Subtropical Permanent Pycnocline from In Situ Observations

AbstractA new objective algorithm for the characterization of the permanent pycnocline (OAC-P) in subtropical gyres is proposed. OAC-P is based on a pragmatic analysis of vertical density gradient features to identify the permanent pycnocline: OAC-P identifies the permanent pycnocline as the stratified layer found below surface mode waters. OAC-P provides the permanent pycnocline depth, unequivocally associated with a local maximum in the stratification, and top and bottom thicknesses, associated with upward and downward decreases in stratification, respectively. OAC-P uses half Gaussian curves as asymmetric nonlinear analytical models of the stratification peak. It is the first time that an algorithm is proposed to characterize objectively the permanent pycnocline for a region where handling the stronger stratification peak of the seasonal pycnocline is complex. A guideline for how to implement the OAC-P is given, with application to the North Atlantic Ocean Argo data as an example. OAC-P provides a detailed description of the mean structure of the North Atlantic subtropical permanent pycnocline. OAC-P detects a permanent pycnocline throughout the subtropical gyre north of the North Equatorial Current. The large-scale description of the permanent pycnocline depth structure as a classic bowl shape is captured however with much more detail. New regional information is provided. In particular, (i) there is only one region—the southern recirculation gyre of the Gulf Stream extension—where the permanent pycnocline is along an isopycnal surface and (ii) vertical asymmetries clearly discriminate one region from another.

An oceanic heat transport pathway to the Amundsen Sea Embayment

AbstractThe Amundsen Sea Embayment (ASE) on the West Antarctic coastline has been identified as a region of accelerated glacial melting. A Southern Ocean State Estimate (SOSE) is analyzed over the 2005–2010 time period in the Amundsen Sea region. The SOSE oceanic heat budget reveals that the contribution of parameterized small‐scale mixing to the heat content of the ASE waters is small compared to advection and local air‐sea heat flux, both of which contribute significantly to the heat content of the ASE waters. Above the permanent pycnocline, the local air‐sea flux dominates the heat budget and is controlled by seasonal changes in sea ice coverage. Overall, between 2005 and 2010, the model shows a net heating in the surface above the pycnocline within the ASE. Sea water below the permanent pycnocline is isolated from the influence of air‐sea heat fluxes, and thus, the divergence of heat advection is the major contributor to increased oceanic heat content of these waters. Oceanic transport of mass and heat into the ASE is dominated by the cross‐shelf input and is primarily geostrophic below the permanent pycnocline. Diagnosis of the time‐mean SOSE vorticity budget along the continental shelf slope indicates that the cross‐shelf transport is sustained by vorticity input from the localized wind‐stress curl over the shelf break.

A new look at ocean carbon remineralization for estimating deepwater sequestration

AbstractThe “biological carbon pump” causes carbon sequestration in deep waters by downward transfer of organic matter, mostly as particles. This mechanism depends to a great extent on the uptake of CO2 by marine plankton in surface waters and subsequent sinking of particulate organic carbon (POC) through the water column. Most of the sinking POC is remineralized during its downward transit, and modest changes in remineralization have substantial feedback on atmospheric CO2 concentrations, but little is known about global variability in remineralization. Here we assess this variability based on modern underwater particle imaging combined with field POC flux data and discuss the potential sources of variations. We show a significant relationship between remineralization and the size structure of the phytoplankton assemblage. We obtain the first regionalized estimates of remineralization in biogeochemical provinces, where these estimates range between −50 and +100% of the commonly used globally uniform remineralization value. We apply the regionalized values to satellite‐derived estimates of upper ocean POC export to calculate regionalized and ocean‐wide deep carbon fluxes and sequestration. The resulting value of global organic carbon sequestration at 2000 m is 0.33 Pg C yr−1, and 0.72 Pg C yr−1 at the depth of the top of the permanent pycnocline, which is up to 3 times higher than the value resulting from the commonly used approach based on uniform remineralization and constant sequestration depth. These results stress that variable remineralization and sequestration depth should be used to model ocean carbon sequestration and feedback on the atmosphere.

Mixing anomaly in deoxygenated Baltic Sea deeps indicates benthic flux and microbial transformation of chromophoric and fluorescent dissolved organic matter

Optical measurements have indicated an anomalous distribution of Colored Dissolved Organic Matter absorption coefficient – aCDOM(λ), and dissolved organic matter fluorescence – FDOM intensity, in the salinity gradient in deep Baltic Sea waters below the permanent pycnocline. The two steps mixing model of the aCDOM(λ) with salinity have been derived based on 3521 CDOM absorption observations done in Baltic Sea, from 1993 until April 2014 and 1011 CDOM absorption observation done in the Danish Straits from August 2006 until February 2008. Disproportionate decrease and even increase of CDOM absorption coefficient at 350 nm, aCDOM(350), with increased salinity was observed in deep waters. There was a significant increase of the aCDOM(350) mixing model residual values in deep water compared to overlaying waters. The aCDOM(350) mixing model residual values tended to increase significantly with increasing salinity in deep waters. The CDOM and FDOM composition has been assessed by spectral slope coefficient, S300–600, the Humification Index (HIX), calculated from measured DOM fluorescence Excitation–Emission Matrix spectra and from ratio of the humic-like and protein-like DOM fluorescence measured in situ. The S300–600 values decreased significantly in deep waters compared with overlaying waters. There was a strong (R2 = 0.705) inverse linear relationship between S300–600 and aCDOM(350) mixing model residuals. The HIX, and the values of the ratio of the humic-like to protein-like DOM fluorescence increased significantly in the deep waters, what indicated increase of humic-like and decrease of protein-like DOM fraction in the deep waters samples compared to control surface waters samples. An exponential relationship between the humic-like to protein-like FDOM intensity ratio and the apparent oxygen utilization – AOU was observed in the Gulf of Gdansk. Presented results suggested that possible DOM emission from sediments into the adjacent near bottom water in anoxic conditions, could explain the aCDOM(λ) mixing anomaly. Microbial DOM reprocessing in anoxic condition, documented by direct in situ measurements, significantly changed the CDOM and FDOM composition.

Interannual Variability of the Mixed Layer Winter Convection and Spice Injection in the Eastern Subtropical North Atlantic

AbstractThe Argo dataset is used to study the winter upper-ocean conditions in the northeastern subtropical (NEA) Atlantic during 2006–12. During late winter 2010, the mixed layer depth is abnormally shallow and a negative anomaly of density-compensated salinity, the so-called spiciness, is generated in the permanent pycnocline. This is primarily explained by unusual weak air–sea buoyancy flux during the late winter 2010, in contrast with the five other studied winters. Particularly deep mixed layers and strong spiciness anomalies are observed during late winter 2012. The 2010 winter conditions appear to be related to historically low North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) and high tropical North Atlantic index (TNA). Interannual variability of the eastern subtropical mixed layer is further investigated using a simple 1D bulk model of mean temperature and salinity linear profiles, based on turbulent kinetic energy conservation in the upper-ocean layer, and forced only with seasonal air–sea buoyancy forcing corresponding to fall–winter 2006–12. It suggests that year-to-year variability of the winter convective mixing driven by atmospheric buoyancy flux is able to generate interannual variability of both late winter mixed layer depth and spiciness in a strongly compensated layer at the base of the mixed layer and in the permanent pycnocline.

Synoptic observation of Central Mode Water in its formation region in spring 2003

Hydrographic data east of Japan from five research cruises and Argo profiling floats in spring 2003 have been analyzed to examine the relationship of the formation of Central Mode Water (CMW) and Transition Region Mode Water (TRMW) in late winter 2003 to thermohaline fronts and mesoscale eddies. TRMW and the denser variety of CMW (D-CMW) were formed continuously just south of the subarctic frontal zone between 155°E and 165°W with little relation to eddies, suggesting that the absence of the permanent thermocline and halocline in this area is essential for the formation. The lighter variety of CMW (L-CMW) was formed south of the Kuroshio bifurcation front and east of 165°E, partly in an anticyclonic eddy associated with the Kuroshio Extension. Some portion of D-CMW and L-CMW likely had been subducted to the permanent pycnocline by crossing southward the Kuroshio bifurcation front and the Kuroshio Extension front, respectively. In contrast, the formation of these waters in the western regions was inactive and was significantly different from that described previously using multiyear Argo float data. West of 155°E, TRMW and D-CMW were formed only in two anticyclonic eddies that had been detached from the Kuroshio Extension 1–2 years ago. L-CMW was hardly formed west of 165°E, which might be related to the upstream Kuroshio Extension being in its stable state characterized by low regional eddy activity.

Entrainment induced by near-inertial drift of sea ice and its impact on under-ice biogeochemical processes in marginal ice zones

Mooring observation of hydrography, hydrodynamics and suspended particles distribution under a drifting sea ice revealed the mixing and entrainment pattern in the upper mixed layer (ML) of the marginal ice zone. The ice floe where the mooring system was installed drifted as near-inertial motion with approximately 12-h cycle. The mixing pattern induced by this near-inertial drift can be divided into two distinct regimes. First, simple entrainment (upward) fluxes from the seasonal pycnocline to sea ice–water boundary are induced by shear across ML and seasonal pycnocline during the period when ice floes drift toward pack ice. The entrainment speed was in the range of 0.25–2mh−1, which matches well with thickening and thinning of the ML during a near-inertial period. Turbulent wakes on the boundary between sea ice and open water occurred behind the advancing edge of ice. In the second regime, when ice floes drift toward open ocean, the turbulent wakes at the advancing edge of ice are combined with the entrainment caused by near-inertial motion, which results in a complex mixing pattern of both upward and downward fluxes in the ML. The echo intensity observed by the acoustic Doppler current profiler and beam attenuation from transmissometer revealed the elevated concentration of suspended particulate materials in the ML, which can be direct evidence visualizing the mixing pattern. Results suggest that the mixing and entrainment found in our study sustain particulate matters in suspension within upper ML for a few months. This may provide a potential mechanism to sustain abundant organic particulates in the ML and upper pycnocline for months after under-ice bloom. Under strong wind events like storms, the entrainment induced by near-inertial motion may also get enhanced, which causes elevated supply of nutrients from the deeper, permanent pycnocline to the ML.

The three-dimensional overturning circulation of the Southern Ocean during the WOCE era

A box inverse model of the Southern Ocean during the World Ocean Circulation Experiment is constructed to investigate the three-dimensional structure of the regional overturning circulation in that era. The model has many features in common with various preceding inverse studies, but also contains several novel elements that make it well suited for addressing many of the significant uncertainties that surround the circulation at present. The net overturning circulation of the Southern Ocean is found to consist of two well-defined cells of similar strength. The upper cell consists of a northward transport of 18.8±5.5Sv of surface, mode and intermediate waters lighter than the 27.5kgm−3 isoneutral, and an equivalent southward flow in the approximate 27.5–27.9kgm−3 neutral density range, encompassing the bulk of the Upper Circumpolar Deep Water. The lower cell involves the northward export of 18.6±0.9Sv of Antarctic Bottom Water and Lower Circumpolar Deep Water denser than 28.08kgm−3, and an opposing transport in the lighter classes of that water mass. Substantial structural differences between the overturning circulations of the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific basins are indicated by the model’s solution. Overall, the diagnosed Southern Ocean circulation shares many qualitative and some quantitative features with previous inverse estimates, particularly as regards the large-scale, depth-integrated lateral circulation and associated energy fluxes in the subtropics and in the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, and the strength of the upper overturning cell. However, it also suggests several significant adjustments to current views of the regional circulation. Most notable amongst these are: the subpolar circulation of the Southern Ocean is more vigorous and zonally interconnected than generally thought; the associated lower overturning cell is more intense than indicated by most preceding estimates; contrary to common perception, sub-surface mixing processes play a role of comparable importance to air–sea–ice exchanges of buoyancy in underpinning the dianeutral closure of the Southern Ocean overturning, even at shallow (mode and intermediate water) levels; and the connection between North Atlantic deep water formation and Southern Ocean upwelling is fundamentally three-dimensional, such that deep waters from the North Atlantic must upwell dianeutrally before being returned to the permanent pycnocline of the northern oceans.

Modeling the carbon fluxes of the northwest European continental shelf: Validation and budgets

Carbon budgets are simulated for the northwest European continental shelf and adjacent regions of the northeast Atlantic. Both physical and biological processes are evaluated, including exchanges between the water column and the atmosphere and sea bed. We use a multi‐year simulation of a coupled 3D hydrodynamics‐ecosystem model (POLCOMS‐ERSEM) driven by realistic atmospheric data, ocean boundary conditions and freshwater inputs for 1989 to 2004. The northeast Atlantic (20°W to 13°E, 40°N to 65°N), including the European shelf, is found to be a net sink for atmospheric CO2. Biological processes exert a stronger control over pCO2than temperature, and hence have a stronger effect on the air‐sea CO2 exchange. For the European shelf, carbon sources of rivers and the uptake of atmospheric CO2 are balanced by horizontal transport off shelf and there is little carbon burial. There is net transport of carbon onto the shelf in the top 180 m of the water column and off the shelf below that depth, with a net carbon loss of ∼6 ± 1 × 1012 mol C yr−1. Up to 50% of the carbon exported from the shelf is transported below the permanent pycnocline and so is isolated from release into the atmosphere on centennial timescales.

The Transition Region Mode Water of the North Pacific and Its Rapid Modification

Abstract Using Argo float data, this study examined the formation region, spatial distribution, and modification of transition region mode water (TRMW), which is a recently identified pycnostad in the subtropical–subarctic transition region of the North Pacific, the basin-scale boundary region between subtropical and subarctic water masses. Analyses of the formation fields of water masses within and around the transition region reveal that TRMW forms in a wide area from the western to central transition region and is separated from the denser variety of central mode water (D-CMW) to the south by a temperature and salinity front. TRMW has temperatures of 4°–9°C and salinities of 33.3–34.0, making it colder and fresher than D-CMW. TRMW has a density range of 26.3–26.6 σθ, and thick TRMW is widely distributed in the transition region. However, the range of the T–S properties at TRMW cores is substantially reduced downstream within 10°–20° longitude from the formation region by gradually losing its fresh and cold side. It is also demonstrated that a major part of TRMW of 26.4–26.6 σθ is entrained into the mixed layer in the following winter. Quasi-Lagrangian observation by an isopycnal-following Argo float demonstrates that the double-diffusive salt-finger convection plausibly causes not only rapid erosion of the TRMW pycnostads but also an increase of salinity and temperature at the TRMW cores, at least to some degree. It is demonstrated that strong salt fingering within TRMW is probably caused by geostrophic currents with vertical shear crossing the density-compensating T–S front that brings warm and saline water to the upper TRMW and creates instability in the salinity stratification. This modification process could explain why water that is subducted from the transition region and constitutes the pycnocline of the subtropical gyre in the North Pacific has different T–S properties from the winter mixed layer of the transition region. This knowledge about the modification process of subducted water in the transition region would help to model the permanent pycnocline structure more realistically and to clarify how large signals of decadal and multidecadal variability of sea surface temperature in this region are propagated into the ocean interior.

Profiling Float Observations of the Upper Ocean under Sea Ice off the Wilkes Land Coast of Antarctica

Abstract Multiyear under-ice temperature and salinity data collected by profiling floats are used to study the upper ocean near the Wilkes Land coast of Antarctica. The study region is in the seasonal sea ice zone near the southern terminus of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current. The profiling floats were equipped with an ice-avoidance algorithm and had a survival rate of 74% after 2.5 yr in the ocean. The data show that, in this part of Antarctica, the rate of sea ice decay exceeds the rate of sea ice growth. During the sea ice growth period, the water column is weakly stratified because of brine rejection and is only marginally stable. The average winter mixed layer temperature is about 0.12°C above the surface freezing point, providing evidence of entrainment of warmer water from the permanent pycnocline. The average mixed layer salinity increases by 0.127 from June to October. A one-dimensional model is used to quantify evolution of the winter mixed layer under a sea ice cover. The local winter entrainment rate is estimated to be 49 ± 11 m over 5 months, supplying a heat flux of 34 ± 8 W m−2 to the base of the mixed layer in winter. Model output gives a thermodynamic sea ice growth of 28 ± 15 cm over the same period. The winter ocean–atmosphere heat loss through leads and sea ice is estimated to be 14–25 W m−2 in this area, which is broadly in line with other winter observations from the East Antarctic region.

“Eddy Resolving” Observation of the North Pacific Subtropical Mode Water

Abstract Hydrographic data obtained by high-resolution shipboard observations and Argo profiling floats have been analyzed to study the mesoscale structure and circulation of the North Pacific Subtropical Mode Water (STMW). The float data show that in the late winter of 2008, STMW having a temperature of approximately 18.8°, 17.7°, and 16.6°C formed west of 140°E, at 140°–150°E, and east of 150°E, respectively, in the recirculation gyre south of the Kuroshio Extension. After spring, the newly formed STMW gradually shift southward, decreasing in thickness. Simultaneously, the STMWs of 16.6° and 17.7°C are gradually stirred and then mixed in terms of properties. In late fall, they seem to be integrated to form a single group of STMWs having a temperature centered at 17.2°C. Such STMW circulation in 2008 is much more turbulent than that in 2006, which was investigated in a previous study. The difference between the two years is attributed to the more variable state of the Kuroshio Extension in 2008, associated with stronger eddy activities in the STMW formation region, which enhance the eddy transport of STMW. High-resolution shipboard observations were carried out southeast of Japan at 141°–147°E in the early fall of 2008. To the south of the Kuroshio Extension, STMW exists as a sequence of patches with a horizontal scale of 100–200 km, whose thick portions correspond well to the mesoscale deepening of the permanent pycnocline. The western (eastern) hydrographic sections are occupied mostly by the 17.7°C (16.6°C) STMW, within which the 16.6°C (17.7°C) STMW exists locally, mostly at locations where both the permanent pycnocline depth and the STMW thickness are maximum. This structure implies that the STMW patches are transported away from their respective formation sites, corresponding to a shift in the mesoscale anticyclonic circulations south of the Kuroshio Extension. Furthermore, 20%–30% of the observed STMW pycnostads have two or three potential vorticity minima, mostly near temperatures of 16.6° and 17.7°C. The authors presume that such a structure formed as a result of the interleaving of the 16.6° and 17.7°C STMWs after they are stirred by mesoscale circulations, following which they are vertically mixed to form the 17.2°C STMW observed in late fall. These results indicate the importance of horizontal processes in destroying the vertically uniform structure of STMW after spring, particularly when the Kuroshio Extension is in a variable state.

A note on long Rossby waves on a quiescent abyss

The framework of the investigation is the propagation of quasi-geostrophic Rossby waves in a two-layer ocean, within the \( \beta\) -plane approximation. The propagation of long Rossby waves in the upper layer is considered, while the lower layer represents a hypothetical resting abyss. It is shown, by means of a systematic scale analysis, that this model implies that the depth of the permanent pycnocline relative to the total ocean depth is of the same order of magnitude as a typical parameter inherent to the \( \beta\) -plane approximation. From the quantitative point of view, there is a full accordance between the depth of the permanent pycnocline so estimated and the real one. The phase velocity of the so-obtained long Rossby waves, which are non-dispersive, results to be closer to observations than the phase velocity of the first baroclinic mode of long Rossby waves in a continuously stratified ocean. We point out also that the same kind of propagation of a standard Rossby wave would require an unrealistically small thickness of the upper layer. Thus, in the latter case, Rossby waves necessarily propagate also in the lower layer.