Models isopycnal thermocline

The horizontal isopycnal thermocline model is important for the problem of determining the fate of the excess atmospheric CO2. The increase of CO2 in the atmosphere is modulated by transport of excess CO2 from the atmosphere into the interior of the ocean. The direct ventilation of the thermocline in its outcropping regions at high latitudes plays an important... 

Radiocarbon has been used to study thermocline ventilation using tools ranging from simple 3-box models to full 3D ocean circulation models. Many of the ID and 2D models are based on work by W. Jenkins using tritium in the North Atlantic. In a recent example, R. Sonnerup and co-workers at the University of Washington used chlorofluorocarbon data to calibrate a ID (meridional) along-isopycnal advection-diffusion model in the North Pacific with WOCE data. [4] is the basic equation for the... 

Two dimensional gyre-scale tracer models have been fruitfully applied to observed isopycnal tri-tium- He and chlorofluorocarbon patterns. As shown in Figure 4, recently ventilated water (nearzero tracer age) enters the thermocline on the pole-ward side of the gyre and is swept around the clockwise circulation of the gyre (for a Northern Hemisphere case). Comparisons of model tracer patterns and property-property relationships constrain the absolute ventilation rate and the relative effects of isopycnal advection versus turbulent mixing by depth and region. 

Figure 4 Tracer results from a two-dimensional gyre model. The model represents the circulation on a constant density surface (isopycnal) in the main thermocline that outcrops along the northern boundary (shaded region). Thermocline ventilation is indicated by the gradual increase of tritium- He ages around the clockwise flowing gyre circulation. TU, tritium unit (1 TU = 1 atom/10 H...

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