Impact of Eighteen Degree Water thickness variation on the thermal and biogeochemical structure in the euphotic layer

Abstract

It has been recently found that North Pacific Subtropical Mode Water impacts the overlying thermal structure by uplifting the isotherms when it thickens. How the thickness variation of North Atlantic Subtropical Mode Water, also known as Eighteen Degree Water (EDW), affects the overlying thermal and biogeochemical structure through such uplifting effect has been investigated using Argo float data and shipboard observation data at Bermuda Atlantic Time-series Study site. When EDW was thicker, the overlying isotherms were uplifted, leading to a decrease in temperature centered at 50–100 dbar in the warm season; in addition, the oxycline existing around 100 dbar and the nitracline at 100–150 dbar also tended to be uplifted, leading to an increase of apparent oxygen utilization and nitrate concentrations in the lower euphotic layer; furthermore, there is a tendency that chlorophyll- a maximum around 100 dbar shallowed, and primary production integrated in the euphotic layer increased during the spring bloom season. Thus, although the core of thicker EDW tends to have less nitrate as shown by previous studies, thicker EDW tends to increase biological production in the euphotic layer through the enhanced uplifting effect.

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