Excess 222Rn and the benthic boundary layer in the western and southern Indian Ocean

Details Excess 222Rn and the benthic boundary layer in the western and southern Indian Ocean Excess 222Rn and the benthic boundary layer in the western and southern Indian Ocean

Sep 1980

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1980e%26psl..49..351c&link_type=abstract

Earth and Planetary Science Letters, Volume 49, Issue 2, p. 351-359.

Computer Science

1

Scientific paper

We present 9 bottom 222Rn profiles measured from the western and southern Indian Ocean during the 1977-1978 GEOSECS expedition. These profiles can be grouped into three cypes: one-layer, two-layer, and irregular types. The one-layer profiles with quasi-exponential distributions allow one to estimate the apparent vertical eddy diffusivity, Kv, with a simple model. The two-layer profiles show that there is a benthic boundary layer of the order of 50-100 m in which the excess 222Rn distribution shows a vertical gradient much smaller than that of the layer immediately above. Within the boundary layer, the STD potential temperature (θ) and density (σ4) profiles are practically constant, and the Kv values are of the order of 1000 cm2/s. The STD profiles for the water column above the boundary layer show gradients of increasing stability, and the Kv values are of the order of 100 cm2/s. Modeling of the Rn data in the water column above the boundary layer indicates that there is a transition layer which effectively reduces the penetration of excess Rn from the benthic boundary layer into the upper layer.
Sarmiento et al. [10] have shown that the buoyancy gradient or stability is inversely correlated with the apparent vertical eddy diffusivity, and the resulting buoyancy flux is fairly uniform, ranging from 1 to 14 × 10-6 cm2/s3 in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. However, Sarmiento et al. [11] show that a much higher buoyancy flux is associated with an intensified flow of the bottom water through a passage. In the Indian Ocean basins, we have found that the buoyancy flux has a comparable range (3-14 × 10-6 cm2/s3), except for a couple of stations where both stability and apparent vertical diffusivity are higher, resulting in a much higher buoyancy flux, probably indicative of rapid bottom water flow.

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