scholarly journals Nitrogen cycling in the Middle Atlantic Bight: Results from a three-dimensional model and implications for the North Atlantic nitrogen budget

2006 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. n/a-n/a ◽  
Author(s):  
Katja Fennel ◽  
John Wilkin ◽  
Julia Levin ◽  
John Moisan ◽  
John O'Reilly ◽  
...  

Renewal rates of the waters of the thermocline in the eastern North Atlantic are estimated by combining linear quasi-geostrophic dynamics with steady and transient tracers into a unified eclectic, reservoir model. The two-dimensional model first employed is finally rejected when it is found that it generates oxygen-utilization rates (OUR) that are, by conventional biological wisdom, too high. The three-dimensional model that replaces the two-dimensional one shows that the our is indeterminate, with possible ranges from zero to unacceptably high values. The region is flushed primarily from the north and east. The problem of using transient tracers is mathematically equivalent to that of distributed-system boundary-control theory, the open-ocean boundary conditions playing the role of the unknown control variables. The missing time histories of this new set of unknowns means that tritium and helium-3 distributions are only comparatively weak constraints on the flow field, but do set upper bounds on the vertical exchange with surface waters. Surface Ekman pumping is adequate to explain the interior distributions without additional buoyancy ventilation, although this latter process is possible. Some speculation is made about conditions under which transient tracers might play a more definitive role.


2020 ◽  
Vol 59 (5) ◽  
pp. 793-817 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander Gavrikov ◽  
Sergey K. Gulev ◽  
Margarita Markina ◽  
Natalia Tilinina ◽  
Polina Verezemskaya ◽  
...  

AbstractWe present in this paper the results of the Russian Academy of Sciences North Atlantic Atmospheric Downscaling (RAS-NAAD) project, which provides a 40-yr 3D hindcast of the North Atlantic (10°–80°N) atmosphere at 14-km spatial resolution with 50 levels in the vertical direction (up to 50 hPa), performed with a regional setting of the WRF-ARW 3.8.1 model for the period 1979–2018 and forced by ERA-Interim as a lateral boundary condition. The dataset provides a variety of surface and free-atmosphere parameters at sigma model levels and meets many demands of meteorologists, climate scientists, and oceanographers working in both research and operational domains. Three-dimensional model output at 3-hourly time resolution is freely available to the users. Our evaluation demonstrates a realistic representation of most characteristics in both datasets and also identifies biases mostly in the ice-covered regions. High-resolution and nonhydrostatic model settings in NAAD resolve mesoscale dynamics first of all in the subpolar latitudes. NAAD also provides a new view of the North Atlantic extratropical cyclone activity with a much larger number of cyclones as compared with most reanalyses. It also effectively captures highly localized mechanisms of atmospheric moisture transports. Applications of NAAD to ocean circulation and wave modeling are demonstrated.


1993 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 417-450 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. L. Sarmiento ◽  
R. D. Slater ◽  
M. J. R. Fasham ◽  
H. W. Ducklow ◽  
J. R. Toggweiler ◽  
...  

1992 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 106-106
Author(s):  
Shaoping Fu ◽  
Friedrich Werner

General environmental correlation, established for trace fossils, is hard to apply to modern sediment cores, for which environmental factors can be measured directly - at least with regard to the top layers. Reasons for this difficulty are obvious: (1) Outcrop volume is limited by the core diameter. (2) Biogenic structures are hard to see, because they have not yet been “developed” by diagenetic processes. (3) Cores are traditionally studied in vertical cuts, in which search patterns parallel to bedding plane - typical for deep-sea environment - are poorly expressed. Therefore cores from the North Atlantic were studied not only by traditional X-ray radiography (both vertical and horizontal cuts), but by computer tomography (CT), which renders series of sections parallel to the bedding plane, as well as a three-dimensional picture, without destroying the valuable core.On the Iceland-Faeroe Ridge, the distribution of ichnocoenoses appears to be largely controlled by microenvironments in connection with local channel systems and their lateral migration. In a local, ridge-parallel channel system at the southern slope, a core from the NE flank shows a vertical alternation of Zoophycos, Trichichnus, and Planolites communities correlating with fluctuations of CaCO3 and the fraction >63μm. In contrast to this, on the opposite slope, sediments are uniform and dominated by Scolicia. On the colder N slope of the ridge, topography is more uniform and the water motion is sluggish. The characteristic and dominant ichnogenus is Chondrites. On top of the ridge the sediment cover becomes very thin, contains large amounts of dropstones, but still Chondrites is dominant.


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