HR: 11:08h
AN: OS42A-03    [Abstracts]
TI: Ocean Circulation and Mixing: New Insights From the Global Distribution of ³He
AU: * Schlosser, P
EM: schlosser@ldeo.columbia.edu
AF: Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences. Columbia University, New York, 2960 Broadway, New York, NY 10027, United States
AU: * Schlosser, P
EM: schlosser@ldeo.columbia.edu
AF: Department of Earth and Environmental Engineering, Columbia University, New York, 2960 Broadway, New York, NY 10027, United States
AU: * Schlosser, P
EM: schlosser@ldeo.columbia.edu
AF: Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, 61 Route 9W, Palisades, NY 10964, United States
AU: Newton, R
EM: bnewton@ldeo.columbia.edu
AF: Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, 61 Route 9W, Palisades, NY 10964, United States
AU: Winckler, G
EM: winckler@ldeo.columbia.edu
AF: Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, 61 Route 9W, Palisades, NY 10964, United States
AB: Since the discovery of mantle ³He in the ocean in the 1960's by Clarke and others this isotope has been used in numerous studies of ocean circulation and mixing. Recently, a global helium isotope data set has been collected during the World Ocean Circulation Experiment (WOCE). We combined the WOCE helium isotope data with similar, but smaller, data sets from previous global and regional studies such as GEOCSECS or TTO to study features of the global ocean circulation, as well as ventilation and mixing. In this contribution we describe the global data set and discuss the first results obtained on global ocean ventilation and deep ocean mixing. A simple model is used to estimate vertical turbulent exchange coefficients for the deep ocean in the South Pacific and the results are compared to mixing coefficients obtained from fine structure measurements and tracer release experiments.
DE: 4532 General circulation (1218, 1222)
DE: 4536 Hydrography and tracers
DE: 4808 Chemical tracers
DE: 4820 Gases
SC: Ocean Sciences [OS]
MN: 2007 Joint Assembly