Three-dimensional Structure of Subduction/Obduction in the North Pacific Ocean
Three-dimensional Structure of Subduction/Obduction in the North Pacific Ocean
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DOI：
10.1175/jpo-d-22-0050.1
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发表时间：
2023
期刊：
影响因子：
--
通讯作者：
Wang Fan
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Ling Ling Liu;Huang Rui Xin;Wang Fan
Abstract.A new three-dimensional method is proposed for calculating the annual mean subduction and obduction rate in the ocean and applied to the North Pacific Ocean. Due to the beta spiral, the subducted/obducted water at a given station can spread over/come from a wide range with different density in the subsurface ocean. This new method can provide the three-dimensional feature of subduction/obduction and more accurate distribution of the annual subduction/obduction rate in density space. The spatial patterns of annual subduction/obduction rate obtained from both the classical and new methods are similar, although at individual stations the rate can be different; however, the new 3D method can greatly improve the density structure of subducted/obducted water mass. In spite of the assumption of idealized fluid in most previous studies, our analysis showed that subducted water masses can change their density due to diapycnal mixing, especially for water masses subducted at relatively shallow depths. In the North Pacific, the subduction process mainly takes place for about 1-2 months in most of the subtropical basin, while the time window for obduction is ~ 100 days in the major obduction regions. Based on the SODA monthly mean climatology, the subducted/obducted water in the North Pacific primarily distribute in the depths 80-120 m.
