Boundary Currents and the Thermohaline Circulation

新近通气的高纬度水团通过狭窄的边界流从其形成盆地输出是全球热盐环流的一个中心方面，但尚未得到很好的理解。所提出的工作的主要目标是：1)比较和对比横向交换与内部和直接大气强迫作为使最近形成的水团进入快速边界流的机制；2)确定这些过程如何与温盐环流的下坡分支相关。通过利用高分辨率数值模型和简单的理论，这种面向过程的方法旨在阐明这种近边界状态下的动力平衡。最后，我们将在这个动态框架的基础上分析来自拉布拉多海的真实数据。通过比较和对比模型结果和数据，我们将试图在数据中确定导致该地区边界流致密化的过程，并估计拉布拉多海水的出口率。建议的研究将对研究和教育活动产生更广泛的影响。通过这一过程研究获得的见解将为在气候模式中实现这一重要的、目前尚未解决的热盐环流组成部分的参数化提供基础。

ABSTRACTPI/Institution: Spall / WHOI Proposal No: OCE-0240978The export of recently ventilated high latitude water masses from their formation basins via narrow boundary currents is a central, and not well understood, aspect of the global thermohaline circulation. The primary objectives of the proposed work are: 1) to compare and contrast lateral exchange with the interior and direct atmospheric forcing as mechanisms to get recently formed water masses into rapid boundary currents and 2) to determine how these processes are related to the downwelling limb of the thermohaline circulation. By making use of both high resolution numerical models and simple theories, this process-oriented approach is designed to illuminate the dynamical balances in this near boundary regime. Finally, we will build on this dynamical framework to analyze real data from the Labrador Sea. By comparing and contrasting model results and data, we will attempt to identify, in the data, the processes that lead to a densification of the boundary current in the region and to estimate the rate of export of Labrador Sea water. The proposed study will have broader impacts spanning both research and educational activities. The insight gained by this process study will provide the foundation for parameterizations of this important and presently unresolved component of the thermohaline circulation for implementation in climate models.