Ventilation of the North Atlantic and North Pacific: subduction versus obduction

Abstract

Ventilation is examined by analysing the Levitus climatological data and the Hellerman and Rosenstein wind stress data. Ventilation between the permanent pycnocline and the overlying seasonal pycnocline and mixed layer consists of two physical processes: subduction and obduction. Subduction takes place mainly in the subtropical basin where surface water is irreversibly transferred into the permanent pycnocline below. Obduction takes place in the subpolar basin where water from the permanent pycnocline is irreversibly transferred into the mixed layer above. -from Authors