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Dynamics of a Snowball Earth ocean

机译:雪球地球海洋的动力学

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Geological evidence suggests that marine ice extended to the Equator at least twice during the Neoproterozoic era (about 750 to 635 million years ago), inspiring the Snowball Earth hypothesis that the Earth was globally ice-covered. In a possible Snowball Earth climate, ocean circulation and mixing processes would have set the melting and freezing rates that determine ice thickness, would have influenced the survival of photosynthetic life, and may provide important constraints for the interpretation of geo-chemical and sedimentological observations. Here we show that in a Snowball Earth, the ocean would have been well mixed and characterized by a dynamic circulation, with vigorous equatorial meridional overturning circulation, zonal equatorial jets, a well developed eddy field, strong coastal upwelling and convective mixing. This is in contrast to the sluggish ocean often expected in a Snowball Earth scenario owing to the insulation of the ocean from atmospheric forcing by the thick ice cover. As a result of vigorous convective mixing, the ocean temperature, salinity and density were either uniform in the vertical direction or weakly stratified in a few locations. Our results are based on a model that couples ice flow and ocean circulation, and is driven by a weak geothermal heat flux under a global ice cover about a kilometre thick. Compared with the modern ocean, the Snowball Earth ocean had far larger vertical mixing rates, and comparable horizontal mixing by ocean eddies. The strong circulation and coastal upwelling resulted in melting rates near continents as much as ten times larger than previously estimated. Although we cannot resolve the debate over the existence of global ice cover, we discuss the implications for the nutrient supply of photosynthetic activity and for banded iron formations. Our insights and constraints on ocean dynamics may help resolve the Snowball Earth controversy when combined with future geochemical and geological observations.%关于在距今7.50亿年至6.35亿年左右的新元古rn代有可能存在一个全球性的“雪球地球”的问rn题目前还有争议。但不管当时的严寒是否是全rn球性的,清楚的是当时确实发生了大范围的冰rn川化。迄今为止的大部分研究工作都是关注发rn挥作用的大气过程,基本上忽略了海洋的影rn响。现在,Yosef Ashkenazy及其同事发现,rn若假设存在一公里厚的一个冰层,由于地热流rn动弱,那么地球上将会形成一个“雪球海洋”,rn其中将会有猛烈的海水混合过程以及一个强大rn的赤道翻转环流、赤道喷射流和大量漩涡。沿rn海上涌(Coastal upwelling)过程可能会在大陆rn边缘附近造成无冰水域。这项工作对于“雪球”rn事件期间光合作用生物的生存和对于当前的地rn质及地球化学观测结果的解读都有意义。
机译:地质证据表明,在新元古代(大约750至6.35亿年前),海冰至少两次扩展到了赤道,这激发了雪球地球假说,即地球是全球冰雪覆盖的。在可能的雪球地球气候中,海洋环流和混合过程将确定决定冰层厚度的融化和冻结速率,影响光合生命的生存,并可能为解释地球化学和沉积学观测提供重要限制。在这里,我们表明,在一个雪球地球中,海洋将被很好​​地混合,并具有动态环流的特征,包括剧烈的赤道经向翻转环流,纬向赤道射流,发达的涡流场,强烈的海岸上升流和对流混合。这与在“雪球地球”场景中经常预期的海洋低迷形成对比,这是由于海洋与厚冰层的大气强迫隔离。由于剧烈的对流混合,海洋温度,盐度和密度在垂直方向上是均匀的,或者在几个位置上是弱分层的。我们的结果基于一个模型,该模型将冰流和海洋环流耦合,并且由大约一公里厚的全球冰盖下的弱地热热通量驱动。与现代海洋相比,“雪球地球”海洋的垂直混合速率要大得多,并且与海洋涡流相比具有相当的水平混合速率。强劲的环流和沿海上升流导致各大洲附近的融化速度比以前估计的大十倍。尽管我们无法解决有关全球冰盖存在的争论,但我们讨论了对光合作用养分供应和带状铁形成的影响。当与未来的地球化学和地质观测相结合时,我们对海洋动力学的见识和制约因素可能有助于解决“雪球地球”争议。%关于在距今7.50亿年至6.35亿年左右的新元古rn代有可能存在一个全球性的“雪球地球”的问rn题目前还有争议。但不管当时的严寒是否是全rn球性的,清楚的是当时确实发生了大范围的冰rn川化。大部分的大部分现在,Yosef Ashkenazy及其同事发现,rn若假设存在一公里厚的一个冰层,由于地热流rn动弱,那么地球上将会形成一个“雪球海洋”,rn其中将会有猛烈的海水混合过程以及一个强大的赤道旋转环流,赤道喷射流和大量漩涡。沿rn海上涌(Coastal upwelling)过程可能会在大陆rn边缘附近附近造成无冰水域。这对于“雪球” rn事件期间光合作用生物的生存和对于当前的地质和地球化学观测结果的解读都有价值。

著录项

  • 来源
    《Nature》 |2013年第7439期|90-93B2|共5页
  • 作者单位

    Department of Solar Energy and Environmental Physics, The Blaustein lnstitutes for Desert Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Midreshet Ben-Gurion,84990, Israel;

    lnstitute of Earth Sciences, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, 91904, Israel;

    Alfred-Wegener-lnstitut fur Polar- und Meeresforschung, 27515 Bremerhaven, Germany;

    Earth and Planetary Sciences, Harvard University, 20 Oxford Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA;

    Earth and Planetary Sciences, Harvard University, 20 Oxford Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA,School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, 20 Oxford Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA;

    Earth and Planetary Sciences, Harvard University, 20 Oxford Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA,School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, 20 Oxford Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA;

  • 收录信息 美国《科学引文索引》(SCI);美国《工程索引》(EI);美国《生物学医学文摘》(MEDLINE);美国《化学文摘》(CA);
  • 原文格式 PDF
  • 正文语种 eng
  • 中图分类
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