544 / 2024-09-18 11:31:46

Temperature-Salinity Compensation in the Northeastern Atlantic: Scale Dependence and Cooling Selective Compensation Mechanism

Temperature-Salinity Compensation,Scale Dependence,Density Ratio R

Session 46 - Oceanic Mesoscale and Submesoscale Processes: Characteristics, Dynamics & Parameterizations

The density change of seawater in the ocean is mainly influenced by temperature and salinity changes, and the temperature-salinity compensation phenomenon is more significant in the ocean mixed layer. Argo data shows that temperature is the main factor affecting the density change of the ocean on a global scale. Using the measurement data of the mooring array and by calculating the density ratio R and Turner Angle, we studied the scale dependence and cooling selective compensation mechanism of the temperature-salinity compensation phenomenon in the marine mixed layer in the northeastern Atlantic in winter. It is found that the density change in the northeastern Atlantic is dominated by temperature changes. As the research scale decreases, the median of the density ratio R gradually approaches 1, indicating that at a smaller scale, the influence of temperature and salinity changes on density changes tends to balance, that is, the temperature-salinity compensation phenomenon is more significant. Under the action of wind stress, heat flux, and forcing, the submesoscale temperature-salinity compensation signals are more than the mesoscale ones. The proportion of the temperature-salinity compensation area at the front of the submesoscale mooring array is 12.3%, and after 16 hours of low-pass filtering, the proportion of the temperature-salinity compensation area at the front is 10%, and the temperature-salinity compensation weakens. In addition, the cooling effect will enhance the temperature-salinity compensation at the submesoscale front.