We found a match
Your institution may have access to this item. Find your institution then sign in to continue.
- Title
Intense Abyssal Flow Through the Yap‐Mariana Junction in the Western North Pacific.
- Authors
Zhou, Chun; Xu, Hongzhou; Xiao, Xin; Zhao, Wei; Yang, Jiayan; Yang, Qingxuan; Jiang, Huichang; Xie, Qiang; Long, Tong; Wang, Tinghao; Huang, Xiaodong; Zhang, Zhiwei; Guan, Shoude; Tian, Jiwei
- Abstract
Water‐mass transports in the vast and seemingly quiescent abyssal ocean, basically along topographically‐guided pathways, play a pivotal role in the Earth's climate. The pulse of abyssal circulations can be taken with observations at topographic choke points. The Yap‐Mariana Junction (YMJ) is the exclusive choke point through which the Lower Circumpolar Deep Water (LCDW) enters the Philippine Sea. Here, we quantify the LCDW transport and its variability based on mooring observations at the YMJ and the Mariana Trench (MT). The LCDW flows northward toward the Philippine Sea as an intensified current on the western side of the YMJ, with maximum mean velocity reaching 7.6 cm/s. The mean LCDW transports through the MT and the YMJ are 2.2 ± 1.0 Sv and 2.1 ± 0.4 Sv, respectively. Reversal flow at autumn in both the YMJ and MT is captured, indicating seasonal variability of the abyssal flow. Plain Language Summary: Water‐mass transports in the vast and seemingly quiescent abyssal ocean, basically along topographically‐guided pathways, play a pivotal role in the Earth's climate. In the North Pacific, the knowledge on the Yap‐Mariana Junction (YMJ), an exclusive choke point through which the Lower Circumpolar Deep Water (LCDW), the abyssal water from the Antarctic, enters the Philippine Sea, is sparse, leaving a gap in our understanding of the abyssal circulation in the Pacific and accordingly the global overturning circulation. To fill this gap, we quantify the LCDW transport and variability based on a densely distributed deep mooring array at the YMJ and the Mariana Trench. Based on this observational program, we reveal the velocity structure from ∼4,000 m down to the bottom across the YMJ, and estimate the LCDW transport. Besides, temporal variability of the abyssal flows through the YMJ and the Mariana Trench are investigated. This study illuminates the connectivity of abyssal flows between the YMJ and the Mariana Trench, and enhances our understanding of the abyssal circulation in the western North Pacific. Key Points: A densely distributed mooring array was deployed to observe the hitherto barely studied abyssal flow through the Yap‐Mariana JunctionVelocity section and volume transport (2.1±0.4 Sv) of the intense abyssal flow through the Yap‐Mariana Junction are acquiredPathway of the Lower Circumpolar Deep Water and its reversal in autumn are revealed
- Subjects
MARIANA Trench; TRENCHES
- Publication
Geophysical Research Letters, 2022, Vol 49, Issue 3, p1
- ISSN
0094-8276
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1029/2021GL096530