Characteristics of interleaving in the western equatorial Pacific
Characteristics of interleaving in the western equatorial Pacific
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DOI：
10.1029/2001jc000971
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发表时间：
2002-12
影响因子：
--
通讯作者：
K. Richards;H. Banks
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
K. Richards;H. Banks
[1]研究了赤道西太平洋温跃层在两种不同气候状态下的侵入温盐特征。这些地物的垂直和经向结构是由总共12个高分辨率子午线断面确定的。尽管流动和温度/盐度场的更广泛的结构有相当大的变异性，但交错的空间尺度在所有部分都被发现是持久的。Turner角和SPICE异常和密度异常之间的相关性表明，双扩散过程可能在性质的垂直通量中起重要作用。将交错特性与双扩散交错和惯性不稳定性理论的结果进行了比较。结果发现，两者的观测结果都是一致的。在解释这些层的存在时，很难区分这两种理论。事实上，这两种机制可能都在发挥作用。由于这些特征，估计了跨越赤道的热通量和盐通量的大小，并表明与由于其他过程所作的估计相当。这种交错很有可能影响到赤道太平洋的大尺度动态。
[1] The characteristics of intrusive thermohaline features in the thermocline of the western equatorial Pacific are examined during two different climatic states. The vertical and meridional structure of the features is determined from a total of 12 high-resolution meridional sections. Although there is considerable variability of the broader structure of the flow and temperature/salinity fields, the spatial scale of the interleaving is found to be persistent over all sections. The Turner angle and correlations between the spice anomaly and density anomaly suggest that double-diffusive processes may be important in the vertical flux of properties. The characteristics of the interleaving are compared with the results from the theories of double-diffusive interleaving and inertial instability. It is found that the observations are consistent with both. It is difficult to differentiate between the two theories in explaining the presence of the layers. Indeed, both mechanisms may be playing a role. The magnitude of the cross-equatorial fluxes of heat and salt due to the features is estimated and shown to be comparable with estimates due to other processes. There is a strong potential for the interleaving to impinge on the large-scale dynamics of the equatorial Pacific Ocean.