Circulation of tritium in the Pacific Ocean

Journal Article · Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 1981 · J. Phys. Oceanogr.; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0485(1981)011<0003:COTITP>2.0.CO;2· OSTI ID:5632708

Fine, R A; Reid, J L; Goete Ostlund, H

The input of bomb tritium into the high-latitude Northern Hemisphere waters has demonstrated the spread of a tracer in three dimensions in the North Pacific Ocean. Subsurface tritium maxima in middle and low latitudes clearly show the importance of lateral mixing (along isopycnals) in the upper waters. The tritium pattern as mapped on isopycnal surfaces puts definite time bounds on the exchange between the subtropical anticyclonic gyre of the North Pacific and both the subarctic cyclonic gyre and the system of zonal flows in the equatorial region. The penetration of bomb tritium to depths below 1000 m in the western North Pacific Ocean shows that these waters have been ventilated at least partially in the past 17 years of the post-bomb era. From the tritium pattern the upper waters of the North Pacific can be divided into three regions: a mixed layer that exchanges rapidly with the atmosphere, a laterally ventilated intermediate region (between the mixed layer and at most the winter-outcrop isopycnal) that exchanges on decadal time scales with the atmosphere, and a deeper layer penetrated by vertical diffusion alone, with a longer atmospheric exchange time scale. The greatest percentage of the tritium inventory of the North Pacific is in the intermediate region. This indicates that such lateral ventilations, which take place from all high-latitude regions, are a major source of penetration for atmospheric constituents into the oceans on decadal time scales.

• Research Organization: Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, University of Miami, FL 33149
• OSTI ID: 5632708
• Journal Information: J. Phys. Oceanogr.; (United States), Vol. 11:1
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
PACIFIC OCEAN
RADIONUCLIDE MIGRATION
TRITIUM
FALLOUT
LAYERS
MIXING
BETA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
BETA-MINUS DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
ENVIRONMENTAL TRANSPORT
HYDROGEN ISOTOPES
ISOTOPES
LIGHT NUCLEI
MASS TRANSFER
NUCLEI
ODD-EVEN NUCLEI
RADIOISOTOPES
SEAS
SURFACE WATERS
YEARS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES
530300* - Environmental-Social Aspects of Energy Technologies- Environmental Impact Statements- (-1987)