2019年6月，我研究组博士研究生谢腾祥等在地学顶级期刊Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans发表题为“Long-Term Mean Mass, Heat and Nutrient Flux Through the Indonesian Seas, Based on the Tritium Inventory in the Pacific and Indian Oceans”的研究论文，准确量化了印尼贯穿流的长期平均流量。
全球氚（3H）储量显示北太平洋的3H储量远高于南太平洋和印度洋（图1）。ITF将北太平洋具有高3H浓度的水团经印尼海向南印度洋传输，势必造成南太平洋与南印度洋之间的3H储量差异。基于此设想，本论文首先通过GEOSECS（Geochemical Ocean Sections Study）和WOCE（World Ocean Circulation Experiment）计划提供的3H数据集，对印度洋和太平洋的3H储量分布特征进行分析，并发现南印度洋的3H储量明显高于南太平洋。然后，我们利用南太平洋和南印度洋3H的储量和收支差异随时间的变化，估算出ITF的长期平均流量。估算结果显示来自于北太平洋水团的ITF通量为14.1 ± 2.7 Sv。其中，0-250m、250-650 m和650-1000m层位的通量分别为7.3 ± 0.6 Sv、5.4 ± 1.3 Sv和1.4 ± 3.0 Sv。如果考虑南太平洋水团的输入，总的ITF长期平均流量为16.2 ± 3.5 Sv，其覆盖了多个El Niño和La Niña气候现象。这些来自于北太平洋水团的ITF将0.84 ± 0.14 PW的热量从太平洋传输到印度洋，并且这些热量在退出印度洋30°S之前耗散较少。此外我们发现，ITF水平传输的营养盐较少，垂向扩散对印尼海上层水体的营养盐供应起到关键的作用。
图1 GEOSECS和WOCE数据在不同深度范围的氚储量分布（TU·m）。上图（a, b, c）显示太平洋和印度洋的主要环流(Hu et al., 2015; Peng et al., 2015; Schott and McCreary, 2001; Sprintall et al., 2014)；下左图（e）为GEOSECS数据；下右图（d）为WOCE数据
该研究成果由谢腾祥博士（厦门大学2014届博士毕业生)、Robert Newton教授、Peter Schlosser教授、杜川军博后以及戴民汉教授共同完成，戴民汉教授为通讯作者。该成果对认识印尼贯穿流在气候及生物地球化学循环中的作用具有重要意义。
The Indonesian Throughflow (ITF), the only oceanic tropical pathway linking the Pacific and Indian Oceans, plays a critical role in the redistribution of heat and mass, affecting both the regional and global climate systems. Based on the distributions and changes in the tritium inventories, and tritium budgets in and between the South Pacific and South Indian Oceans from the Geochemical Ocean Sections Study and World Ocean Circulation Experiment programs, the long‐term mean water mass transport of the ITF is estimated. The total throughflow of the ITF is estimated as 16.2 ± 3.5 Sv. The North Pacific contributes 14.1 ± 2.7 Sv to the total throughflow, of which the layers between 0–250, 250–650, and 650–1,000 m carry 7.3 ± 0.6, 5.4 ± 1.3, and 1.4 ± 3.0 Sv, respectively. Along with the water transport, the North Pacific component of the ITF transfers 0.84 ± 0.14 PW of heat into the Indian Ocean, of which almost 90% exits from the Indian Ocean at 30°S. The net nitrate flux into the photic zone associated with the ITF is 2.71 ± 2.60 mmol·m−2·d−1in the Indonesian Seas, ~90% of which is induced by vertical diffusion.
Citation:Xie, T., Newton, R., Schlosser, P., Du, C., & Dai, M, 2019. Long‐term mean mass, heat and nutrient flux through the Indonesian Seas, based on the tritium inventory in the Pacific and Indian Oceans. Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans,124, 3859–3875.https://doi.org/10.1029/2018JC014863
全文链接：https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1029/2018JC014863
