scholarly journals Surface Mixed Layer Profile of Physical and Biogeochemical Variables in the Subpolar North-West and -East Atlantic Ocean: A Data-Model Comparison Study

2015 ◽  
Vol 05 (01) ◽  
pp. 33-44
Author(s):  
Nsikak U. Benson ◽  
Francis E. Asuquo ◽  
Oladele O. Osibanjo ◽  
Usoro M. Etesin ◽  
Adebusayo E. Adedapo
Keyword(s):  
Atlantic Ocean ◽  
Mixed Layer ◽  
Data Model ◽  
Model Comparison ◽  
Surface Mixed Layer ◽  
Comparison Study ◽  
East Atlantic ◽  
North West

scholarly journals Challenges associated with modeling low-oxygen waters in Chesapeake Bay: a multiple model comparison

2016 ◽  
Vol 13 (7) ◽  
pp. 2011-2028 ◽  
Author(s):  
Isaac D. Irby ◽  
Marjorie A. M. Friedrichs ◽  
Carl T. Friedrichs ◽  
Aaron J. Bever ◽  
Raleigh R. Hood ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Dissolved Oxygen ◽  
Chesapeake Bay ◽  
Mixed Layer ◽  
Model Comparison ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Surface Mixed Layer ◽  
Multiple Model ◽  
Low Oxygen ◽  
Mixing Depth ◽  
Biogeochemical Models

Abstract. As three-dimensional (3-D) aquatic ecosystem models are used more frequently for operational water quality forecasts and ecological management decisions, it is important to understand the relative strengths and limitations of existing 3-D models of varying spatial resolution and biogeochemical complexity. To this end, 2-year simulations of the Chesapeake Bay from eight hydrodynamic-oxygen models have been statistically compared to each other and to historical monitoring data. Results show that although models have difficulty resolving the variables typically thought to be the main drivers of dissolved oxygen variability (stratification, nutrients, and chlorophyll), all eight models have significant skill in reproducing the mean and seasonal variability of dissolved oxygen. In addition, models with constant net respiration rates independent of nutrient supply and temperature reproduced observed dissolved oxygen concentrations about as well as much more complex, nutrient-dependent biogeochemical models. This finding has significant ramifications for short-term hypoxia forecasts in the Chesapeake Bay, which may be possible with very simple oxygen parameterizations, in contrast to the more complex full biogeochemical models required for scenario-based forecasting. However, models have difficulty simulating correct density and oxygen mixed layer depths, which are important ecologically in terms of habitat compression. Observations indicate a much stronger correlation between the depths of the top of the pycnocline and oxycline than between their maximum vertical gradients, highlighting the importance of the mixing depth in defining the region of aerobic habitat in the Chesapeake Bay when low-oxygen bottom waters are present. Improvement in hypoxia simulations will thus depend more on the ability of models to reproduce the correct mean and variability of the depth of the physically driven surface mixed layer than the precise magnitude of the vertical density gradient.

scholarly journals Modelling the vertical distribution of bromoform in the upper water column of the tropical Atlantic Ocean

2009 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 535-544 ◽  
Author(s):  
I. Hense ◽  
B. Quack
Keyword(s):  
Atlantic Ocean ◽  
Water Column ◽  
Mixed Layer ◽  
Surface Mixed Layer ◽  
Tropical Atlantic ◽  
Tropical Atlantic Ocean ◽  
Subsurface Maximum ◽  
The Vertical Distribution ◽  
Production Layer ◽  
Inverse Proportionality

Abstract. The relative importance of potential source and sink terms for bromoform (CHBr3) in the tropical Atlantic Ocean is investigated with a coupled physical-biogeochemical water column model. Bromoform production is either assumed to be linked to primary production or to phytoplankton losses; bromoform decay is treated as light dependent (photolysis), and in addition either vertically uniform, proportional to remineralisation or to nitrification. All experiments lead to the observed subsurface maximum of bromoform, corresponding to the subsurface phytoplankton biomass maximum. In the surface mixed layer, the concentration is set by entrainment from below, photolysis in the upper few meters and the outgassing to the atmosphere. The assumed bromoform production mechanism has only minor effects on the solution, but the various loss terms lead to significantly different bromoform concentrations below 200 m depth. The best agreement with observations is obtained when the bromoform decay is coupled to nitrification (parameterised by an inverse proportionality to the light field). Our model results reveal a pronounced seasonal cycle of bromoform outgassing, with a minimum in summer and a maximum in early winter, when the deepening surface mixed layer reaches down into the bromoform production layer.

scholarly journals Challenges associated with modeling low-oxygen waters in Chesapeake Bay: a multiple model comparison

2015 ◽  
Vol 12 (24) ◽  
pp. 20361-20409 ◽  
Author(s):  
I. D. Irby ◽  
M. A. M. Friedrichs ◽  
C. T. Friedrichs ◽  
A. J. Bever ◽  
R. R. Hood ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Dissolved Oxygen ◽  
Chesapeake Bay ◽  
Mixed Layer ◽  
Model Comparison ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Surface Mixed Layer ◽  
Multiple Model ◽  
Low Oxygen ◽  
Mixing Depth ◽  
Biogeochemical Models

Abstract. As three-dimensional (3-D) aquatic ecosystem models are becoming used more frequently for operational water quality forecasts and ecological management decisions, it is important to understand the relative strengths and limitations of existing 3-D models of varying spatial resolution and biogeochemical complexity. To this end, two-year simulations of the Chesapeake Bay from eight hydrodynamic-oxygen models have been statistically compared to each other and to historical monitoring data. Results show that although models have difficulty resolving the variables typically thought to be the main drivers of dissolved oxygen variability (stratification, nutrients, and chlorophyll), all eight models have significant skill in reproducing the mean and seasonal variability of dissolved oxygen. In addition, models with constant net respiration rates independent of nutrient supply and temperature reproduced observed dissolved oxygen concentrations about as well as much more complex, nutrient-dependent biogeochemical models. This finding has significant ramifications for short-term hypoxia forecasts in the Chesapeake Bay, which may be possible with very simple oxygen parameterizations, in contrast to the more complex full biogeochemical models required for scenario-based forecasting. However, models have difficulty simulating correct density and oxygen mixed layer depths, which are important ecologically in terms of habitat compression. Observations indicate a much stronger correlation between the depths of the top of the pycnocline and oxycline than between their maximum vertical gradients, highlighting the importance of the mixing depth in defining the region of aerobic habitat in the Chesapeake Bay when low-oxygen bottom waters are present. Improvement in hypoxia simulations will thus depend more on the ability of models to reproduce the correct mean and variability of the depth of the physically driven surface mixed layer than the precise magnitude of the vertical density gradient.

scholarly journals Atmospheric aerosol deposition fluxes over the Atlantic Ocean: A GEOTRACES case study

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan-Lukas Menzel Barraqueta ◽  
Jessica K. Klar ◽  
Martha Gledhill ◽  
Christian Schlosser ◽  
Rachel Shelley ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Atlantic Ocean ◽  
Atmospheric Deposition ◽  
Mixed Layer ◽  
Surface Mixed Layer ◽  
Dust Deposition ◽  
Atmospheric Dust ◽  
Deposition Fluxes ◽  
Deposition Model ◽  
Atmospheric Inputs ◽  
Atmospheric Dust Deposition

Abstract. Atmospheric deposition is an important source of micronutrients to the ocean, but atmospheric deposition fluxes remain poorly constrained in most ocean regions due to the limited number of field observations of wet and dry atmospheric inputs. Here we present the distribution of dissolved aluminium (dAl), as a tracer of atmospheric inputs, in surface waters of the Atlantic Ocean along GEOTRACES sections GA01, GA06, GA08, and GA10. We used the surface mixed layer concentrations of dAl to calculate atmospheric deposition fluxes using a simple steady state model. We have optimized the aerosol Al fractional solubility, dAl residence time within the surface mixed layer and depth of the surface mixed layer for each separate cruise to calculate the atmospheric deposition fluxes. We calculated the lowest deposition fluxes of 0.15 ± 0.1 and 0.27 ± 0.13 g m−2 yr−1 for the South and North Atlantic Ocean (> 40° S and > 40° N), respectively, and highest fluxes of 2.67 ± 1.96 and 3.82 ± 2.72 g m−2 yr−1 for the South East Atlantic and tropical Atlantic Ocean, respectively. Overall, our estimations are comparable to atmospheric dust deposition model estimates and reported field-based atmospheric deposition estimates. We note that our estimates diverge from atmospheric dust deposition model flux estimates in regions influenced by riverine Al inputs and in upwelling regions. As dAl is a key trace element in the GEOTRACES Programme, the approach presented in this study allows calculations of atmospheric deposition fluxes at high spatial resolution for remote ocean regions.

scholarly journals Atmospheric deposition fluxes over the Atlantic Ocean: a GEOTRACES case study

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (7) ◽  
pp. 1525-1542 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan-Lukas Menzel Barraqueta ◽  
Jessica K. Klar ◽  
Martha Gledhill ◽  
Christian Schlosser ◽  
Rachel Shelley ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Atlantic Ocean ◽  
Atmospheric Deposition ◽  
Mixed Layer ◽  
Surface Mixed Layer ◽  
Dust Deposition ◽  
Atmospheric Dust ◽  
Deposition Fluxes ◽  
Deposition Model ◽  
Atmospheric Inputs ◽  
Atmospheric Dust Deposition

Abstract. Atmospheric deposition is an important source of micronutrients to the ocean, but atmospheric deposition fluxes remain poorly constrained in most ocean regions due to the limited number of field observations of wet and dry atmospheric inputs. Here we present the distribution of dissolved aluminium (dAl), as a tracer of atmospheric inputs, in surface waters of the Atlantic Ocean along GEOTRACES sections GA01, GA06, GA08, and GA10. We used the surface mixed-layer concentrations of dAl to calculate atmospheric deposition fluxes using a simple steady state model. We have optimized the Al fractional aerosol solubility, the dAl residence time within the surface mixed layer and the depth of the surface mixed layer for each separate cruise to calculate the atmospheric deposition fluxes. We calculated the lowest deposition fluxes of 0.15±0.1 and 0.27±0.13 g m−2 yr−1 for the South and North Atlantic Ocean (>40∘ S and >40∘ N) respectively, and the highest fluxes of 1.8 and 3.09 g m−2 yr−1 for the south-east Atlantic and tropical Atlantic Ocean, respectively. Overall, our estimations are comparable to atmospheric dust deposition model estimates and reported field-based atmospheric deposition estimates. We note that our estimates diverge from atmospheric dust deposition model flux estimates in regions influenced by riverine Al inputs and in upwelling regions. As dAl is a key trace element in the GEOTRACES programme, the approach presented in this study allows calculations of atmospheric deposition fluxes at high spatial resolution for remote ocean regions.

scholarly journals Modelling the vertical distribution of bromoform in the upper water column of the tropical Atlantic Ocean

2008 ◽  
Vol 5 (6) ◽  
pp. 4919-4944 ◽  
Author(s):  
I. Hense ◽  
B. Quack
Keyword(s):  
Atlantic Ocean ◽  
Water Column ◽  
Mixed Layer ◽  
Surface Mixed Layer ◽  
Tropical Atlantic ◽  
Tropical Atlantic Ocean ◽  
Subsurface Maximum ◽  
The Vertical Distribution ◽  
Production Layer ◽  
Inverse Proportionality

Abstract. The relative importance of potential source and sink terms for bromoform (CHBr3) in the tropical Atlantic Ocean is investigated with a coupled physical-biogeochemical water column model. Bromoform production is either assumed to be linked to primary production or to phytoplankton losses; bromoform decay is treated as light dependent (photolysis), and in addition either vertically uniform, proportional to remineralisation or to nitrification. All experiments lead to the observed subsurface maximum of bromoform, corresponding to the subsurface phytoplankton biomass maximum. In the surface mixed layer, the concentration is set by entrainment from below, photolysis in the upper few meters and the outgassing to the atmosphere. The assumed bromoform production mechanism has only minor effects on the solution, but the various loss terms lead to significantly different bromoform concentrations below 200 m depth. The best agreement with observations is obtained when the bromoform decay is coupled to nitrification (parameterised by an inverse proportionality to the light field). Our model results reveal a pronounced seasonal cycle of bromoform outgassing, with a minimum in summer and a maximum in early winter, when the deepening surface mixed layer reaches down into the bromoform production layer.

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