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  • Inverse method  (2)
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  • 1
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    Contribution of Th-230 measurements to the estimation of the abyssal circulation (2007)
    Details
    Publication Date: 2022-05-25
    Description: Author Posting. © Elsevier B.V., 2007. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of Elsevier B.V. for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Deep Sea Research Part I: Oceanographic Research Papers 54 (2007): 557-585, doi:10.1016/j.dsr.2007.01.002.
    Description: An inverse finite-difference model of the abyssal circulation in the North Atlantic Ocean is developed in order to evaluate the dynamical information contained in measurements of thorium-230 (230Th). The model has a very coarse resolution and is based on lowest order balances for planetary flows. The naturally occurring 230Th differs from more conventional oceanic tracers in several respects, e.g., its production (by 234U radioactive decay) is globally uniform to a good approximation and its removal can be understood in terms of a simple reversible exchange with particles sinking slowly to the seafloor. The time required for 230Th to reach steady state with respect to particle exchange is estimated to increase with depth, reaching O(10) yr below 1000 m. In the North Atlantic 230Th activities at distant locations share a similar increase with depth in the upper 1000m—a pattern consistent with a reversible exchange—but show drastic differences in the abyssal interior. Two inversions are conducted in order to determine whether the 230Th differences reflect the effects of the circulation—by preventing the slow attainment to steady state w.r.t. particle exchange in deep water—and provide complementary information about the abyssal flow. In a first inversion, observations of density from a hydrographic compilation and of volume transports at specific locations are combined with the dynamical balances in order to infer the basin-scale flow. The inferred flow displays the western boundary current and coherent structures in the abyssal interior with low statistical significance. In a second inversion, the flow is further constrained by the 230Th measurements and the condition that 230Th divergence by the flow field and particle sinking must be locally balanced by 230Th production from 234U decay. The addition of 230Th leads to the estimation of a larger amplitude of the integrated meridional transports below 1000 m (by 2–9 Sv), where the range reflects the uncertainties in the large scale 230Th distribution and in the radiochemical balance. This result is interpreted as a correction by 230Th for the tendency of inverse geostrophic models to lead to the inference of a vanishing circulation when horizontal density gradients are insignificant.
    Description: OM acknowledges the support from the Ocean and Climate Change Institute at WHOI and from the US National Science Foundation. The IAEA (JS) is grateful for the support provided to its Marine Environment Laboratory by the Government of the Principality of Monaco. JS is grateful to Jan Fietzke for ICPMS measurements and for support from the ‘Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft’ (grant no. SCHO752/ 2-1).
    Keywords: Thorium-230 ; Abyssal circulation ; North Atlantic ; Inverse method
    Repository Name: Woods Hole Open Access Server
    Type: Preprint
    Format: application/pdf
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  • 2
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    Application of an inverse method to interpret 231Pa/230Th observations from marine sediments (2011)
    American Geophysical Union
    Details
    Publication Date: 2022-05-26
    Description: Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2011. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Paleoceanography 26 (2011): PA1212, doi:10.1029/2010PA002022.
    Description: Records of 231Pa/230Th from Atlantic sediments have been interpreted to reflect changes in ocean circulation during the geologic past. Such interpretations should be tested with due regard to the limited spatial coverage of 231Pa/230Th data and the uncertainties in our current understanding of the behavior of both nuclides in the ocean. Here an inverse method is used to evaluate the information contained in 231Pa/230Th compilations for the Holocene, Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), and Heinrich Event 1 (H1). An estimate of the abyssal circulation in the modern Atlantic Ocean is obtained by combining hydrographic observations and dynamical constraints. Then sediment 231Pa/230Th data for each time interval are combined with an advection-scavenging model in order to determine their (in)consistency with the modern circulation estimate. We find that the majority of sediment 231Pa/230Th data for the Holocene, LGM, or H1 can be brought into consistency with the modern circulation if plausible assumptions are made about the large-scale distribution of 231Pa and about model uncertainties. Moreover, the adjustments in the data needed to reach compatibility with a hypothetical state of no flow (no advection) are positively biased for each time interval, suggesting that the 231Pa/230Th data (including that for H1) are more consistent with a persistence of some circulation than with no circulation. Our study does not imply that earlier claims of a circulation change during the LGM or H1 are inaccurate, but that these claims cannot be given a rigorous basis given the current uncertainties involved in the analysis of the 231Pa/230Th data.
    Description: O.M. acknowledges the support from the U.S. National Science Foundation. J.F.M. acknowledges support from the U.S. National Science Foundation and the Comer Research and Education Foundation.
    Keywords: Pa-231/Th-230 ; Meridional overturning circulation ; Inverse method ; Heinrich Event
    Repository Name: Woods Hole Open Access Server
    Type: Article
    Format: application/msword
    Format: application/pdf
    Format: text/plain
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