The North Atlantic tritium and radiocarbon transients 1972-1983

Journal Article · Thu Nov 15 00:00:00 EST 1990 · Journal of Geophysical Research; (United States)

OSTI ID:5230180

Oestlund, H G; Rooth, C G.H. ^[1]

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1. Univ. of Miami, FL (USA)

Deep ventilation and water mass transformation processes in the North Atlantic, on decadal time scales, are illustrated by the evolving distribution patterns of anthropogenic tritium and radiocarbon. Data from two quasi-synoptics surveys of the interior of the North Atlantic, the Geochemical Ocean Sections Study (GEOSECS) and complementary oceanographic observation projects in 1972, and the Transient Tracers in the Oceans (TTO) in 1981 and 1983, are presented in comparative cross sections and maps representing conditions roughly one and two decades, respectively, after the first major tracer injections. The discussion emphasizes comparisons of the decay-corrected tritium concentration fields, which show several distinct regimes of transient evolution, including examples of surprising constancy in some regional patterns. While largely supportive of previous qualitative ideas about transport patterns, these results also suggest that the patterns of deep water injection in high latitudes must have undergone a major change around or soon after the time of GEOSECS (1972), involving a major increase in supply of Upper North Atlantic Deep Water. The near-surface waters show strong signatures of tropical (low tritium) influence in the southwestern and western part of the subtropical (low tritium) influence in the southwestern and western part of the subtropical gyre, while the northeastern part is influenced by continued tritium input from Arctic surface waters. Strong evidence for distinct sub-basin-scale interior circulation domains is found in the fact that the major distribution regime transitions seen in the GEOSECS data are observed again in TTO, and thus maintained through the second decade of the transient.

• OSTI ID: 5230180
• Journal Information: Journal of Geophysical Research; (United States), Vol. 95:C11; ISSN 0148-0227
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
ATLANTIC OCEAN
ISOTOPE RATIO
OCEANIC CIRCULATION
CARBON 14
ECOLOGICAL CONCENTRATION
TRITIUM
GEOCHEMISTRY
MASS TRANSFER
NORTHERN HEMISPHERE
OCEANOGRAPHY
TIME DEPENDENCE
TRACER TECHNIQUES
VENTILATION
WATER CHEMISTRY
BETA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
BETA-MINUS DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
CARBON ISOTOPES
CHEMISTRY
EARTH PLANET
EVEN-EVEN NUCLEI
HYDROGEN ISOTOPES
ISOTOPE APPLICATIONS
ISOTOPES
LIGHT NUCLEI
NUCLEI
ODD-EVEN NUCLEI
PLANETS
RADIOISOTOPES
SEAS
SURFACE WATERS
YEARS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES
540311* - Environment
Aquatic- Basic Studies- Radiometric Techniques- (1990-)