scholarly journals Maintenance and Broadening of the Ocean’s Salinity Distribution by the Water Cycle

2015 ◽  
Vol 28 (24) ◽  
pp. 9550-9560 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan D. Zika ◽  
Nikolaos Skliris ◽  
A. J. George Nurser ◽  
Simon A. Josey ◽  
Lawrence Mudryk ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Steady State ◽  
Simple Model ◽  
Time Scale ◽  
Hydrological Cycle ◽  
Water Cycle ◽  
Ocean Model ◽  
Salinity Distribution ◽  
Fresh Waters ◽  
Ocean Salinity ◽  
Saline Waters

Abstract The global water cycle leaves an imprint on ocean salinity through evaporation and precipitation. It has been proposed that observed changes in salinity can be used to infer changes in the water cycle. Here salinity is characterized by the distribution of water masses in salinity coordinates. Only mixing and sources and sinks of freshwater and salt can modify this distribution. Mixing acts to collapse the distribution, making saline waters fresher and fresh waters more saline. Hence, in steady state, there must be net precipitation over fresh waters and net evaporation over saline waters. A simple model is developed to describe the relationship between the breadth of the distribution, the water cycle, and mixing—the latter being characterized by an e-folding time scale. In both observations and a state-of-the-art ocean model, the water cycle maintains a salinity distribution in steady state with a mixing time scale of the order of 50 yr. The same simple model predicts the response of the salinity distribution to a change in the water cycle. This study suggests that observations of changes in ocean salinity could be used to infer changes in the hydrological cycle.

Internal salt content: a useful framework for understanding the oceanic branch of the water cycle

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher Bladwell ◽  
Ryan M. Holmes ◽  
Jan D. Zika
Keyword(s):  
Fresh Water ◽  
Ocean Circulation ◽  
Water Cycle ◽  
Salt Content ◽  
Ocean Model ◽  
Global Ocean ◽  
Freshwater Forcing ◽  
Freshwater Fluxes ◽  
Ocean Salinity ◽  
Isopycnal Mixing

AbstractThe global water cycle is dominated by an atmospheric branch which transfers fresh water away from subtropical regions and an oceanic branch which returns that fresh water from subpolar and tropical regions. Salt content is commonly used to understand the oceanic branch because surface freshwater fluxes leave an imprint on ocean salinity. However, freshwater fluxes do not actually change the amount of salt in the ocean and – in the mean – no salt is transported meridionally by ocean circulation. To study the processes which determine ocean salinity we introduce a new variable: “internal salt” and its counterpart “internal fresh water”. Precise budgets for internal salt in salinity coordinates relate meridional and diahaline transport to surface freshwater forcing, ocean circulation and mixing, and reveal the pathway of fresh water in the ocean. We apply this framework to a 1° global ocean model. We find that in order for fresh water to be exported from the ocean’s tropical and subpolar regions to the subtropics, salt must be mixed across the salinity surfaces that bound those regions. In the tropics, this mixing is achieved by parameterized vertical mixing, along-isopycnal mixing, and numerical mixing associated with truncation errors in the model’s advection scheme, while along-isopycnal mixing dominates at high latitudes. We analyze the internal freshwater budgets of the Indo-Pacific and Atlantic Ocean basins and identify the transport pathways between them which redistribute fresh water added through precipitation, balancing asymmetries in freshwater forcing between the basins.

A Survey of the 14C Content of Dissolved Inorganic Carbon in Chinese Lakes

Radiocarbon ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 60 (2) ◽  
pp. 705-716 ◽  
Author(s):  
Taibei Liu ◽  
Weijian Zhou ◽  
Peng Cheng ◽  
G S Burr
Keyword(s):  
Steady State ◽  
Simple Model ◽  
Residence Time ◽  
Surface Waters ◽  
Lake Water ◽  
Inorganic Carbon ◽  
Dissolved Inorganic Carbon ◽  
Water Cycle ◽  
Average Residence Time ◽  
Exchange Character

AbstractWe present radiocarbon (14C) measurements of dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) from surface waters of 11 lakes, widely distributed in China. Surface lake water DIC F14C values show distinct differences, and we relate these to the physical exchange character (“open” or “closed”) of each lake. Open lakes studied here generally have lower DIC F14C values than closed lakes. We present a simple model of a lake water cycle to calculate an average residence time for each lake. Comparisons between lake DIC F14C and average residence time shows that the DIC F14C increases with the average residence time and reflects a steady-state.

scholarly journals Improved Estimates of Changes in Upper Ocean Salinity and the Hydrological Cycle

2020 ◽  
Vol 33 (23) ◽  
pp. 10357-10381 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lijing Cheng ◽  
Kevin E. Trenberth ◽  
Nicolas Gruber ◽  
John P. Abraham ◽  
John T. Fasullo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Hydrological Cycle ◽  
Water Cycle ◽  
Sampling Error ◽  
Model Simulations ◽  
Low Salinity ◽  
Ocean Salinity ◽  
Interpolation Technique ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Observational Estimate ◽  
Over The Top

AbstractOcean salinity records the hydrological cycle and its changes, but data scarcity and the large changes in sampling make the reconstructions of long-term salinity changes challenging. Here, we present a new observational estimate of changes in ocean salinity since 1960 from the surface to 2000 m. We overcome some of the inconsistencies present in existing salinity reconstructions by using an interpolation technique that uses information on the spatiotemporal covariability of salinity taken from model simulations. The interpolation technique is comprehensively evaluated using recent Argo-dominated observations through subsample tests. The new product strengthens previous findings that ocean surface and subsurface salinity contrasts have increased (i.e., the existing salinity pattern has amplified). We quantify this contrast by assessing the difference between the salinity in regions of high and low salinity averaged over the top 2000 m, a metric we refer to as SC2000. The increase in SC2000 is highly distinguishable from the sampling error and less affected by interannual variability and sampling error than if this metric was computed just for the surface. SC2000 increased by 1.9% ± 0.6% from 1960 to 1990 and by 3.3% ± 0.4% from 1991 to 2017 (5.2% ± 0.4% for 1960–2017), indicating an acceleration of the pattern amplification in recent decades. Combining this estimate with model simulations, we show that the change in SC2000 since 1960 emerges clearly as an anthropogenic signal from the natural variability. Based on the salinity-contrast metrics and model simulations, we find a water cycle amplification of 2.6% ± 4.4% K−1 since 1960, with the larger error than salinity metric mainly being due to model uncertainty.

Mathematical modelling of salt purification by recrystallization. Countercurrent arrangement

1986 ◽  
Vol 51 (11) ◽  
pp. 2481-2488
Author(s):  
Benitto Mayrhofer ◽  
Jana Mayrhoferová ◽  
Lubomír Neužil ◽  
Jaroslav Nývlt
Keyword(s):  
Steady State ◽  
Simple Model ◽  
Mathematical Modelling ◽  
Distribution Coefficient ◽  
Mother Liquor ◽  
Equilibrium Temperature ◽  
Operating Conditions ◽  
Limiting Case

The paper presents a simple model of recrystallization with countercurrent flows of the solution and the crystals being purified. The model assumes steady-state operating conditions, an equilibrium between the outlet streams of each stage, and the same equilibrium temperature and distribution coefficient for all stages. With these assumptions, the model provides the basis for analyzing the variation in the degree of purity as a function of the number of recrystallization stages. The analysis is facilitated by the use of a diagram constructed for the limiting case of perfect removal of the mother liquor from the crystals between the stages.

Spin down problem of rotating stratified fluid in thermally insulated circular cylinders

1969 ◽  
Vol 37 (4) ◽  
pp. 689-699 ◽  
Author(s):  
Takeo Sakurai
Keyword(s):  
Steady State ◽  
Time Scale ◽  
Boussinesq Approximation ◽  
Circular Cylinders ◽  
Heat Conducting ◽  
Quasi Steady State ◽  
Homogeneous Fluid ◽  
Time Duration ◽  
Viscous Heat ◽  
Final Approach

A response of viscous heat-conducting compressible fluid to an abrupt change of angular velocity of a containing thermally insulated circular cylinder under the existence of stable distribution of the temperature is investigated within the framework of the Boussinesq approximation for a time duration of the order of the homogeneous-fluid spin down time in order to resolve the Holton-Pedlosky controversy. The explicit expression of the solution is obtained by the standard method and Holton's conclusion is confirmed. The secondary meridional current induced by the Ekman layers spins the fluid down to a quasi-steady state within the present time scale. However, unlike the homogeneous case, the quasi-steady state is not one of solid body rotation. The final approach to the state of rigid rotation is achieved via the viscous diffusion in the time scale of the usual diffusion time.

Ocean Salinity Aspects of the Ningaloo Niño

2021 ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Yaru Guo ◽  
Yuanlong Li ◽  
Fan Wang ◽  
Yuntao Wei
Keyword(s):  
Fresh Water ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Southern Oscillation ◽  
Regional Climate ◽  
Ocean Model ◽  
Sea Surface ◽  
Sea Surface Salinity ◽  
Surface Salinity ◽  
Near Surface ◽  
Ocean Salinity

AbstractNingaloo Niño – the interannually occurring warming episode in the southeast Indian Ocean (SEIO) – has strong signatures in ocean temperature and circulation and exerts profound impacts on regional climate and marine biosystems. Analysis of observational data and eddy-resolving regional ocean model simulations reveals that the Ningaloo Niño/Niña can also induce pronounced variability in ocean salinity, causing large-scale sea surface salinity (SSS) freshening of 0.15–0.20 psu in the SEIO during its warm phase. Model experiments are performed to understand the underlying processes. This SSS freshening is mutually caused by the increased local precipitation (~68%) and enhanced fresh-water transport of the Indonesian Throughflow (ITF; ~28%) during Ningaloo Niño events. The effects of other processes, such as local winds and evaporation, are secondary (~18%). The ITF enhances the southward fresh-water advection near the eastern boundary, which is critical in causing the strong freshening (> 0.20 psu) near the Western Australian coast. Owing to the strong modulation effect of the ITF, SSS near the coast bears a higher correlation with the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (0.57, 0.77, and 0.70 with Niño-3, Niño-4, and Niño-3.4 indices, respectively) than sea surface temperature (-0.27, -0.42, and -0.35) during 1993-2016. Yet, an idealized model experiment with artificial damping for salinity anomaly indicates that ocean salinity has limited impact on ocean near-surface stratification and thus minimal feedback effect on the warming of Ningaloo Niño.

scholarly journals THE RICH AND THE POOR IN A SIMPLE MODEL OF GROWTH AND DISTRIBUTION

2016 ◽  
Vol 20 (7) ◽  
pp. 1934-1952 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kirill Borissov
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Steady State ◽  
Simple Model ◽  
Disposable Income ◽  
State Equilibrium ◽  
Positional Concerns ◽  
The Poor ◽  
The Rich ◽  
Intertemporal Equilibrium ◽  
Unique Steady State

We consider a model of economic growth with altruistic agents who care about their consumption and the disposable income of their offspring. The agents' consumption and the offspring's disposable income are subject to positional concerns. We show that, if the measure of consumption-related positional concerns is sufficiently low and/or the measure of offspring-related positional concerns is sufficiently high, then there is a unique steady-state equilibrium, which is characterized by perfect income and wealth equality, and all intertemporal equilibira converge to it. Otherwise, in steady-state equilibria, the population splits into two classes, the rich and the poor; under this scenario, in any intertemporal equilibrium, all capital is eventually owned by the households that were the wealthiest from the outset and all other households become poor.

Upper ocean salinity variabilities in the Southern Ocean responding to the recent surface salting in perspective of climate changes

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ling Du ◽  
Xubin Ni
Keyword(s):  
Southern Ocean ◽  
Deep Water ◽  
Water Mass ◽  
Water Cycle ◽  
Upper Ocean ◽  
Tropical Ocean ◽  
Circumpolar Deep Water ◽  
Salinity Changes ◽  
Ocean Salinity ◽  
The Antarctic

<p>Water cycle have prevailed on upper ocean salinity acting as the climate change fingerprint in the numerous observation and simulation works. Water mass in the Southern Ocean accounted for the increasing importance associated with the heat and salt exchanges between Subantarctic basins and tropical oceans. The circumpolar deep water (CDW), the most extensive water mass in the Southern Ocean, plays an indispensable role in the formation of Antarctic Bottom Water. In our study, the observed CTDs and reanalysis datasets are examined to figure out the recent salinity changes in the three basins around the Antarctica. Significant surface salinity anomalies occurred in the South Indian/Pacific sectors south of 60ºS since 2008, which are connected with the enhanced CDW incursion onto the Antarctic continental shelf. Saltier shelf water was found to expand northward from the Antarctica coast. Meanwhile, the freshening of Upper Circumpolar Deep Water(UCDW), salting and submergence of Subantarctic Mode Water(SAMW) were also clearly observed. The modified vertical salinity structures contributed to the deepen mixed layer and enhanced intermediate stratification between SAMW and UCDW. Their transport of salinity flux attributed to the upper ocean processes responding to the recent atmospheric circulation anomalies, such as the Antarctic Oscillation and Indian Ocean Dipole. The phenomena of SAMW and UCDW salinity anomalies illustrated the contemporaneous changes of the subtropical and polar oceans, which reflected the meridional circulation fluctuation. Salinity changes in upper southern ocean (< 2000m) revealed the influence of global water cycle changes, from the Antarctic to the tropical ocean, by delivering anomalies from high- and middle-latitudes to low-latitudes oceans.</p>

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