Conversion among North Atlantic surface water types

Kevin G. Speer

doi:10.3402/tellusa.v45i1.14858

Conversion among North Atlantic surface water types

Tellus

Volume 45 (1993): Issue 1

By: Kevin G. Speer

Open Access

|Jan 1993

Abstract

Climatological data sets are used to estimate the amount of water changing temperature and salinity at the sea-surface owing to air-sea exchanges. Considering this conversion as a function of sea-surface temperature and salinity leads to the definition of a conversion vector, which represents mass sources and sinks for each water type. The vector representation shows graphically the way the shape of the temperature-salinity relation is driven at the surface by the air-sea heat and fresh water fluxes.

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