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Formation of Thermocline in the Equatorial Zone of the Oceans

  • Analysis of Observations and Methods for Calculating Hydrophysical Fields in the Ocean
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Physical Oceanography

Abstract

We study the formation of the vertical distribution of temperature in the upper layer of the oceans (0– 300m) at low latitudes (10°N-10°S) by using the nonlinear dependence of the vertical heat flow on the vertical temperature gradient with regard for the influence of the bulk absorption of solar radiation and heat sink on the temperature of water. The thermocline is formed under the condition that the modulus of temperature gradient attains values for which their subsequent increase leads either to insignificant variations of the heat flow or even to its decrease. We consider the possibility of solution of inverse problems for the evaluation of the heat-exchange coefficient and the parameter of the heat sink. For the Equatorial Atlantic considered as an example, we compare the theoretical results with the data of instrumental measurements.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Marine Hydrophysical Institute, Ukrainian Academy of Sciences, Sevastopol, Ukraine

    S. G. Boguslavskii, A. S. Kuznetsov, A. S. Boguslavskii & I. K. Ivashchenko

Authors
  1. S. G. Boguslavskii
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  2. A. S. Kuznetsov
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  3. A. S. Boguslavskii
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  4. I. K. Ivashchenko
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Translated from Morskoi Gidrofizicheskii Zhurnal, No. 6, pp. 10–16, November–December, 2004.

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Boguslavskii, S.G., Kuznetsov, A.S., Boguslavskii, A.S. et al. Formation of Thermocline in the Equatorial Zone of the Oceans. Phys Oceanogr 14, 328–334 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11110-005-0020-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11110-005-0020-7

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