Mode change of deep water formation deduced from slow variation of thermal structure: One-dimensional model study

Abstract

Recently, it has been observed in the East Sea that temperature increases below the thermocline, and dissolved oxygen increase in the intermediate layer but decrease below it. The layer of minimum dissolved oxygen deepens and the bottom homogeneous layer in oxygen becomes thinner. It emerges very probably that these changes are induced by the mode change of deep water formation associated with global warming. To further support this hypothesis, a one-dimensional model experiment is performed. First, a thermal profile is obtained by injecting a cold and high oxygen deep water into the bottom layer, say the bottom mode. Then, two thermal profiles are obtained from the bottom mode profile by assuming that either all the deep water introduce into the intermediate layer has been initiated, say the intermediate mode, or that only a part of the deep water has been initiated into the intermediate layer, say the intermediate-bottom mode. The results, from the intermediate-bottom mode experiment are closest to the observed results. They show quite well the tendency for oxygen to increase in the intermediate layer and the simultaneous thinning of the bottom homogeneous layer in oxygen. Therefore, it can be said that the recently observed slow variation of the thermal structure might be associated with changes in the deep water formation from the bottom mode to the intermediate-bottom mode.