Intense mixing of lower thermocline water on the crest of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge

Louis C. St Laurent () and Andreas M. Thurnherr
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Louis C. St Laurent: Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida 32306, USA
Andreas M. Thurnherr: Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Palisades, New York 10964, USA

Nature, 2007, vol. 448, issue 7154, 680-683

Abstract: Ocean ridge mixing The mixing of warm upper-ocean water with the colder water beneath is an essential component of global ocean circulation because it increases the buoyancy of deep water, but it is not clear where this mixing takes place. Louis St Laurent and Andreas Thurnherr have measured the mixing that occurs as water flows through a narrow passage on the crest of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. The rates they observe are unusually high: if similar mixing rates occur in the other narrow passages on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge in the North Atlantic basin, these sites could account for as much buoyancy flux at the depth of the passages as the rest of the basin combined. So mixing in narrow passages on mid-ocean ridges — sites that have previously been overlooked — may make a significant contribution to buoyancy flux at the global scale.

Date: 2007
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DOI: 10.1038/nature06043

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