On the Abruptness of Bølling–Allerød Warming

Previous observations and simulations suggest that an approximate 3°–5°C warming occurred at intermediate depths in the North Atlantic over several millennia during Heinrich stadial 1 (HS1), which induces warm salty water (WSW) lying beneath surface cold freshwater. This arrangement eventually generates ocean convective available potential energy (OCAPE), the maximum potential energy releasable by adiabatic vertical parcel rearrangements in an ocean column. The authors find that basin-scale OCAPE starts to appear in the North Atlantic (~67.5°–73.5°N) and builds up over decades at the end of HS1 with a magnitude of about 0.05 J kg^(−1). OCAPE provides a key kinetic energy source for thermobaric cabbeling convection (TCC). Using a high-resolution TCC-resolved regional model, it is found that this decadal-scale accumulation of OCAPE ultimately overshoots its intrinsic threshold and is released abruptly (~1 month) into kinetic energy of TCC, with further intensification from cabbeling. TCC has convective plumes with approximately 0.2–1-km horizontal scales and large vertical displacements (~1 km), which make TCC difficult to be resolved or parameterized by current general circulation models. The simulation herein indicates that these local TCC events are spread quickly throughout the OCAPE-contained basin by internal wave perturbations. Their convective plumes have large vertical velocities (~8–15 cm s^(−1)) and bring the WSW to the surface, causing an approximate 2°C sea surface warming for the whole basin (~700 km) within a month. This exposes a huge heat reservoir to the atmosphere, which helps to explain the abrupt Bølling–Allerød warming

The formation and evolution of layered structures in porous media: effects of porosity and mechanical dispersion

Horizontally layered structures can develop in porous or partially molten environments, such as hydrothermal systems, magmatic intrusions and the early Earth's mantle. The porosity f of these natural environments is typically small. Since dissolved chemical elements unlike heat cannot diffuse through the solid rocks, heat and solute influence the interstitial fluid density in a different manner: heat advects slower than solute through the liquid by the factor f, while diffusion of heat through the bulk porous medium is larger by the factor f y 1 times the ratio between the thermal and chemical diffusivities. By performing numerical experiments in which a rigid low-porosity medium is heated from below, we have studied the formation and evolution of layers in an initially stably stratified liquid. Growth of a convective layer through convective entrainment, the formation of a stable density interface on top of the layer and destabilization of the next layer are intimately . . linked. By monitoring the heat solute fluxes, it is observed that the transport of heat solute across the interface changes . from convective entrainment towards a regime in which transfer is purely diffusive dispersive . Because this transition occurs before the stage at which the lower layer arrives at the thermal equilibrium, we conclude that the layer growth stops when the density interface on top has grown sufficiently strong to keep the ascending plumes in the lower layer from convectively entraining more fluid from above. A simple balance between the most important forces, exerted on a fluid parcel in the lower layer, is proposed to determine this transition. This force balance also indicates whether a density interface keeps intact, migrates upwards or breaks down during the further evolution of the layered sequence. Finally, mechanical dispersion tends to increase transport of chemically dissolved elements across the density interface. Since this reduces the density difference between the two adjacent layers, the thickness of the lower layer increases. q2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved

On the Abruptness of Bølling–Allerød Warming

Previous observations and simulations suggest that an approximate 3°–5°C warming occurred at intermediate depths in the North Atlantic over several millennia during Heinrich stadial 1 (HS1), which induces warm salty water (WSW) lying beneath surface cold freshwater. This arrangement eventually generates ocean convective available potential energy (OCAPE), the maximum potential energy releasable by adiabatic vertical parcel rearrangements in an ocean column. The authors find that basin-scale OCAPE starts to appear in the North Atlantic (~67.5°–73.5°N) and builds up over decades at the end of HS1 with a magnitude of about 0.05 J kg^(−1). OCAPE provides a key kinetic energy source for thermobaric cabbeling convection (TCC). Using a high-resolution TCC-resolved regional model, it is found that this decadal-scale accumulation of OCAPE ultimately overshoots its intrinsic threshold and is released abruptly (~1 month) into kinetic energy of TCC, with further intensification from cabbeling. TCC has convective plumes with approximately 0.2–1-km horizontal scales and large vertical displacements (~1 km), which make TCC difficult to be resolved or parameterized by current general circulation models. The simulation herein indicates that these local TCC events are spread quickly throughout the OCAPE-contained basin by internal wave perturbations. Their convective plumes have large vertical velocities (~8–15 cm s^(−1)) and bring the WSW to the surface, causing an approximate 2°C sea surface warming for the whole basin (~700 km) within a month. This exposes a huge heat reservoir to the atmosphere, which helps to explain the abrupt Bølling–Allerød warming

Double diffusion in oceanography : proceedings of a meeting September 26-29, 1989

A meeting to review research progress on double-diffusive phenomena in the ocean was held September 26-29, 1989, at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Twenty-five oral presentations were made and a number of discussion sessions were held. This report contains manuscripts provided by meeting participants, summaries of the discussion sessions and an extensive bibliography on oceanic double-diffusion. Since double-diffusive processes appear to play an important role in ocean mixing, further research in this field should have high priority. It is hoped that this update on the status of our current understanding will facilitate planning of additional research.Funding was provided by the National Science Foundation under grant No. OCE 88-13060