IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v3y2012i1d10.1038_ncomms1811.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Two centuries of limited variability in subtropical North Atlantic thermocline ventilation

Author

Listed:
  • Nathalie F. Goodkin

    (University of Hong Kong)

  • Ellen R. M. Druffel

    (University of California, Irvine, California 92697, USA.)

  • Konrad A. Hughen

    (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, Massachusetts 02543, USA.)

  • Scott C. Doney

    (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, Massachusetts 02543, USA.)

Abstract

Ventilation and mixing of oceanic gyres is important to ocean-atmosphere heat and gas transfer, and to mid-latitude nutrient supply. The rates of mode water formation are believed to impact climate and carbon exchange between the surface and mid-depth water over decadal periods. Here, a record of 14C/12C (1780–1940), which is a proxy for vertical ocean mixing, from an annually banded coral from Bermuda, shows limited inter-annual variability and a substantial Suess Effect (the decrease in 14C/12C since 1900). The Sargasso Sea mixing rates between the surface and thermocline varied minimally over the past two centuries, despite changes to mean-hemispheric climate, including the Little Ice Age and variability in the North Atlantic Oscillation. This result indicates that regional formation rates of sub-tropical mode water are stable over decades, and that anthropogenic carbon absorbed by the ocean does not return to the surface at a variable rate.

Suggested Citation

  • Nathalie F. Goodkin & Ellen R. M. Druffel & Konrad A. Hughen & Scott C. Doney, 2012. "Two centuries of limited variability in subtropical North Atlantic thermocline ventilation," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 3(1), pages 1-6, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:3:y:2012:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms1811
    DOI: 10.1038/ncomms1811
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms1811
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/ncomms1811?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:3:y:2012:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms1811. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.