scholarly journals Combining physical and geochemical methods to investigate lower halocline water formation and modification along the Siberian continental slope

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew B. Alkire ◽  
Igor Polyakov ◽  
Robert Rember ◽  
Andrey Pnyushkov ◽  
Vladimir Ivanov ◽  
...  

Abstract. A series of cross-slope transects were occupied in 2013 and 2015 that extended eastward from St. Anna Trough to the Lomonosov Ridge. High-resolution physical and chemical observations collected along these transects revealed fronts in the potential temperature and the stable oxygen isotopic ratio (δ18O) that were observed north of Severnaya Zemlya (SZ). Using linear regressions, we describe mixing regimes on either side of the front that characterize the convective formation of lower halocline water (LHW) and the cold halocline layer. Initial freshening of Atlantic water by sea-ice meltwater occurs west of SZ whereas higher influences of meteoric water and brine result in a transition to a separate mixing regime that alters LHW through mixing with overlying waters and shifts the characteristic temperature-salinity bend from higher (34.4 ≤ S ≤ 34.5) toward lower (34.2 ≤ S ≤ 34.3) salinities. These mixing regimes appear to have been robust since at least 2000.

Ocean Science ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (6) ◽  
pp. 983-995 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew B. Alkire ◽  
Igor Polyakov ◽  
Robert Rember ◽  
Andrey Pnyushkov ◽  
Vladimir Ivanov ◽  
...  

Abstract. A series of cross-slope transects were occupied in 2013 and 2015 that extended eastward from St. Anna Trough to the Lomonosov Ridge. High-resolution physical and chemical observations collected along these transects revealed fronts in the potential temperature and the stable oxygen isotopic ratio (δ18O) that were observed north of Severnaya Zemlya (SZ). Using linear regressions, we describe mixing regimes on either side of the front that characterize a transition from a seasonal halocline to a permanent halocline. This transition describes the formation of lower halocline water (LHW) and the cold halocline layer via a mechanism that has been previously postulated by Rudels et al. (1996). Initial freshening of Atlantic Water (AW) by sea-ice meltwater occurs west of SZ, whereas higher influences of meteoric water and brine result in a transition to a separate mixing regime that alters LHW through mixing with overlying waters and shifts the characteristic temperature–salinity bend from higher (34.4  ≤  S  ≤  34.5) toward lower (34.2  ≤  S  ≤  34.3) salinities. These mixing regimes appear to have been robust since at least 2000.


2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michaela Knoll ◽  
Ines Borrione ◽  
Heinz-Volker Fiekas ◽  
Andreas Funk ◽  
Michael P. Hemming ◽  
...  

Abstract. In the mainframe of the REP14-MED sea trial in June 2014, the hydrography and circulation west of Sardinia, observed by means of gliders, shipborne CTD instruments, towed devices, and vessel-mounted ADCPs, are presented and compared with previous knowledge. So far, the circulation is not well known in this area, and the hydrography is subject to long-term changes. Potential temperature, salinity, and potential density ranges, as well as core values of the observed water masses were determined. Modified Atlantic Water (MAW), with potential density anomalies below 28.72 kg m−3, showed a salinity minimum of 37.93 at 50 dbar. Levantine Intermediate Water (LIW), with a salinity maximum of about 38.70 at 400 dbar, was observed within a range of 28.72 < σΘ [kg m−3] < 29.10. MAW and LIW showed slightly higher salinities than previous investigations. During the trial, LIW covered the whole area from the Sardinian shelf to 7°15' E. Only north of 40° N was it tied to the continental slope. Within the MAW, a cold and saline anticyclonic eddy was observed in the southern trial area. The strongest variability in temperature and salinity appeared around this eddy, and in the southwestern part of the domain, where unusually low saline surface water entered the area towards the end of the experiment. An anticyclonic eddy of Winter Intermediate Water was recorded moving northward at 0.014 m s−1. Geostrophic currents and water mass transports calculated across zonal and meridional transects showed a good agreement with vessel-mounted ADCP measurements. Within the MAW, northward currents were observed over the shelf and offshore, while a southward transport of about 1.5 Sv occurred over the slope. A net northward transport of 0.38 Sv across the southern transect decreased to zero in the north. Within the LIW, northward transport of 0.6 Sv across the southern transects were mainly observed offshore, and decreased to 0.3 Sv in the north where they were primarily located over the slope. This presentation of the REP14-MED observations helps to further understand the long-term evolution of hydrography and circulation in the Western Mediterranean, where considerable changes occurred after the Eastern Mediterranean Transient and the Western Mediterranean Transition.


2012 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 831-839 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Alessio ◽  
G. Vivaldo ◽  
C. Taricco ◽  
M. Ghil

Abstract. We evaluate the contribution of natural variability to the modern decrease in foraminiferal δ18O by relying on a 2200-yr-long, high-resolution record of oxygen isotopic ratio from a Central Mediterranean sediment core. Pre-industrial values are used to train and test two sets of algorithms that are able to forecast the natural variability in δ18O over the last 150 yr. These algorithms are based on autoregressive models and neural networks, respectively; they are applied separately to each of the δ18O series' significant variability components, rather than to the complete series. The separate components are extracted by singular-spectrum analysis and have narrow-band spectral content, which reduces the forecast error. By comparing the sum of the predicted low-frequency components to its actual values during the Industrial Era, we deduce that the natural contribution to these components of the modern δ18O variation decreased gradually, until it reached roughly 40%, as early as the end of the 1970s.


1983 ◽  
Vol 20 (12) ◽  
pp. 1862-1879 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tetsuro Urabe ◽  
S. D. Scott

South Bay is an Archean volcanogenic massive Cu–Zn sulphide deposit having many features in common with the Kuroko deposits of Japan. The ore lenses overlie a quartz–feldspar porphyritic rhyolite (QFP) lava dome and are covered by or occur within rhyolitic tuff breccia that, together with rhyolite tuffs and lavas, is contained within a caldera-like structure.Footwall hydrothermal alteration at South Bay is detectable for several hundred metres from ore. "Unaltered" footwall QFP lava dome contains a mineral assemblage of quartz + two feldspars + two micas + epidote + calcite + ilmenite. Closer to the orebodies, K-feldspar, epidote, and biotite disappear first, followed by consumption of calcite, ilmenite, and albitized plagioclase. The most altered QFP has an assemblage of quartz + paragonite + phengitic muscovite + chlorite + dolomite + sphene + rutile. The ratio Fe/(Fe + Mg) in dolomite, muscovite (phengite), and chlorite decreases consistently towards the orebodies. Neither bulk chemistry (except for Na2O) nor oxygen isotopic ratio shows consistently systematic lateral changes within the alteration halo. Quartz from the stringer zone, from lenses in massive ore, and from ore-horizon chert all have a very narrow δ18O range of +9.0 to +11.3‰. The δ18O of the QFP is +9.3 to +9.4‰, regardless of the degree of alteration.The temperature of ore formation is estimated to have been around 300 °C based on the paragonite–muscovite geothermometer and the carbonate geothermometer. The δ18O value of the ore-forming solution at 300 °C would have been between +2.1 and +4.4‰, which is similar to that of the Kuroko deposits.


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