SGER: Exploration of a Tracer Patch in the Tropical Atlantic and Caribbean Sea

SGER：热带大西洋和加勒比海示踪斑块的探索

• 批准号: 0244256
• 负责人: James Ledwell
• 金额: $ 9.9万
• 依托单位: Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2002
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2002-11-01 至 2003-10-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0244256&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: SGER; Exploration; Tracer; Patch; Tropical

Exploration of a Tracer Patch in the Tropical Atlantic and Caribbean SeaJ. LedwellWHOISampling of a tracer patch released in 2001 in the tropical Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea is proposed. The main goals of the sampling are to quantify the surprisingly large zonal dispersion of the tracer in the tropical Atlantic, and to measure the diapycnal diffusivity of the tracer in the pycnocline of the Caribbean, where susceptibility to salt fingering is nearly as great as east of Barbados, but where thermohaline staircases are rare. Other important goals are to determine the nature of the apparent sinking of the tracer distribution in the staircase region east of Barbados, to obtain a 2-year measurement of the diapycnal diffusivity there, and to determine the westward extent of the tracer patch at 2 years. Exploration of zonal dispersion in both the Atlantic and Caribbean will provide unique data with which to compare models of ocean circulation, and may help to improve knowledge of shear across the subtropical front. Measurement of diapycnal diffusivity in the Caribbean will improve parameterizations of mixing as a function of density ratio, i.e., as a function of temperature and salinity gradients, in salt-finger favorable regions with high shear. The nature of the survey is exploratory in all of its goals, and furthermore, the request for support is temporally urgent because of the speed with which the tracer patch will spread and be swept through the region of the study. Sampling should be done in 2003.

热带大西洋和加勒比海示踪斑块的探索J。 LedwellWHOIS 建议对 2001 年在热带大西洋和加勒比海发布的示踪剂补丁进行采样。采样的主要目标是量化热带大西洋中示踪剂惊人的大带状扩散，并测量加勒比地区密斜层中示踪剂的二密扩散率，那里对盐指的敏感度几乎与巴巴多斯东部一样大，但温盐阶梯很少见。其他重要目标是确定巴巴多斯以东阶梯区域示踪剂分布明显下沉的性质，获得那里的二密扩散率的两年测量值，并确定两年后示踪剂斑块向西的范围。对大西洋和加勒比海地带扩散的探索将提供独特的数据来比较海洋环流模型，并可能有助于提高对副热带锋面切变的了解。加勒比地区的二重扩散率测量将改善在高剪切盐指有利区域中作为密度比函数的混合参数化，即作为温度和盐度梯度的函数。该调查的性质在其所有目标上都是探索性的，此外，由于示踪剂补丁在研究区域中传播和席卷的速度，支持请求暂时紧迫。抽样应于 2003 年进行。