Estimation of the Rate of Water Renewal in the Ocean Conveyor

A. Kh. Degterev

The imitating numerical model of the turbulent exchange between the ocean conveyor belt and the surrounding waters is proposed. The water particle exchange through the belt surface of the given size during its movement along the deep conveyor branch is considered. The length of the turbulent jump is parameterized with the aid of coefficients of vertical and horizontal turbulent diffusion and its direction is simulated using the Monte Carlo method. By means of the computation of trajectories of 106 separate particles, their spatial distribution is determined for different time intervals after the deep water formation. It is demonstrated that due to the lateral exchange, the water in the given part of the belt is renewed by 60% during 25 years and by 75% during 75 years. A comparison with the computations based on the usual method is carried out for the vertical exchange: it is revealed that in both cases the considerable renewal of water in the conveyor belt occurs during the time period of about 104 years.