Meridional Overturning in a Buoyancy-Driven Thin "Slot"
Small regions of fresh and saling water input are located along the
surface, with an equal amount of withdrawal to preserve total mass of the
fluid. Localized sinking in the "high latitudes" (right) entrains nearby
fluid, driving a meridional overturning much stronger than the source
flux.
With a bottom slope, entrainment into the sinking branch is much weaker and initially a shallow
meridional cell occurs.
References -
- Pierce, D.W. and P.B. Rhines, 1996, Convective building of a
pycnocline, part A: Laboratory experiments, J.Phys.Oceanogr. 26, 176-190.
- Pierce, D.W. and P.B. Rhines, 1997, Convective building of a
pycnocline, Part B: A 2-dimensioinal, non-hydrostatic numerical model,
J.Phys.Oceanogr. 27, 909-925.