Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Thomsen, S.
• Kanzow, T.
• Colas, F.
• Echevin, V.
• Krahmann, G.
• Engel, A.

Titel

Do submesoscale frontal processes ventilate the oxygen minimum zone off Peru?

Ist Teil von

• Geophysical research letters, 2016-08, Vol.43 (15), p.8133-8142

Ort / Verlag

Washington: Blackwell Publishing Ltd

Erscheinungsjahr

2016

Link zum Volltext

Quelle

Wiley Online Library Journals Frontfile Complete

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• The Peruvian upwelling system encompasses the most intense and shallowest oxygen minimum zone (OMZ) in the ocean. This system shows pronounced submesoscale activity like filaments and fronts. We carried out glider‐based observations off Peru during austral summer 2013 to investigate whether submesoscale frontal processes ventilate the Peruvian OMZ. We present observational evidence for the subduction of highly oxygenated surface water in a submesoscale cold filament. The subduction event ventilates the oxycline but does not reach OMZ core waters. In a regional submesoscale‐permitting model we study the pathways of newly upwelled water. About 50% of upwelled virtual floats are subducted below the mixed layer within 5 days emphasizing a hitherto unrecognized importance of subduction for the ventilation of the Peruvian oxycline. Key Points Observed subduction of oxygenated surface water in a submesoscale filament off Peru Submesoscale‐permitting model simulations confirm that subduction occurs in filaments off Peru Lagrangian float diagnostics suggest that 50% of the newly upwelled water is subducted