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Transect Along 24°n Latitude of 14C in Dissolved Inorganic Carbon in the Subtropical North Atlantic Ocean

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 July 2016

Jeffrey P. Severinghaus
Affiliation:
Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, Palisades, New York 10964 USA
Wallace S. Broecker
Affiliation:
Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, Palisades, New York 10964 USA
Tsung-Hung Peng
Affiliation:
Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, University of Miami, Miami, Florida 33149 USA
Georges Bonani
Affiliation:
ETH/AMS Facility, Institut für Teilchenphysik, Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Hönggerberg, CH-8093 Zürich, Switzerland
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Abstract

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The distribution of bomb-produced 14C in the ocean provides a powerful constraint for circulation models of upper ocean mixing. We report 14C measurements from an east-west section of the main thermocline at 24°N latitude in the subtropical North Atlantic Ocean in summer 1992, and one profile from the Gulf of Mexico in 1993. Observed gradients reflect the transient invasion of bomb 14C into the thermocline via mixing along isopycnals from the poleward outcrop, with progressively more sluggish mixing at greater depths. A slight deepening of the profile is observed over the 20-yr period since the GEOSECS survey at one location where the comparison is possible.

Type
14C Cycling and the Oceans
Copyright
Copyright © the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona 

References

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