The new methodology, developed by a team from the ICM-CSIC, accurately estimates the horizontal diffusion of water masses in different oceanic regions and will help to improve climate predictions.
Understanding Atlantic Ocean circulation is key for assessing the global ocean interconnections, in what is known as the "global conveyor belt". This is because the latitudinal ends of the Atlantic, bordering the polar regions, are cold-water formation regions that trigger the onset of the global conveyor belt. Because of their high density, each winter the waters of these polar regions sink and initiate the conveyor belt, thus helping to redistribute heat on a planetary scale, which ultimately influences the climate, especially in Europe.
To quantify this circulation on a planetary scale, it is necessary to understand the intensity of all those processes that cause the spatial and temporal intermittency of the large currents, i.e. the diffusive processes. A new study led by the Institut de Ciències del Mar (ICM-CSIC) in Barcelona, which delves into the processes of horizontal diffusion in the South Atlantic, has developed a new methodology for calculating this diffusion at both regional and global levels.
Read more at Spanish National Research Council (CSIC)
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