Geothermal heating in the Panama Basin. Part II: abyssal water mass transformation

Banyte, D.; Morales Maqueda, M.; Smeed, D.A.; Megann, A.; Hobbs, R.; Recalde, S.

doi:10.1029/2018jc013869

Geothermal heating in the Panama Basin. Part II: abyssal water mass transformation

Banyte, D.; Morales Maqueda, M.; Smeed, D.A.; Megann, A.; Hobbs, R.; Recalde, S.

Authors

D. Banyte

M. Morales Maqueda

D.A. Smeed

A. Megann

R. Hobbs

S. Recalde

Abstract

Diabatic upwelling of abyssal waters is investigated in the Panama Basin employing the water mass transformation framework of Walin [1982]. We find that, in large areas of the basin, the bottom boundary layer is very weakly stratified and extends hundreds of meters above the sea floor. Within the weakly stratified bottom boundary layer (wsBBL) neutral density layers intercept the bottom of the basin. The area of these density layer incrops increases gradually as the abyssal waters become lighter. Large incrop areas are associated with strong diabatic upwelling of abyssal water, geothermal heating being the largest buoyancy source. While a significant amount of water mass transformation is due to extreme turbulence downstream of the Ecuador Trench, the only abyssal water inflow passage, water mass transformation across the upper boundary of abyssal water layer is accomplished almost entirely by geothermal heating.

Citation

Banyte, D., Morales Maqueda, M., Smeed, D., Megann, A., Hobbs, R., & Recalde, S. (2018). Geothermal heating in the Panama Basin. Part II: abyssal water mass transformation. Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, 123(10), 7393-7406. https://doi.org/10.1029/2018jc013869

Journal Article Type	Article
Acceptance Date	Aug 20, 2018
Online Publication Date	Oct 21, 2018
Publication Date	Oct 21, 2018
Deposit Date	Sep 4, 2018
Publicly Available Date	Apr 21, 2019
Journal	Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans
Print ISSN	2169-9291
Electronic ISSN	2169-9291
Publisher	American Geophysical Union
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	123
Issue	10
Pages	7393-7406
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1029/2018jc013869

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Copyright Statement
Banyte, D., Morales Maqueda, M., Smeed, D. A., Megann, A., Hobbs, R. & Recalde, S. (2018). Geothermal heating in the Panama Basin. Part II: abyssal water mass transformation. Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans 123(10): 7393-7406, 10.1029/2018JC013869 (DOI). To view the published open abstract, go to https://doi.org/ and enter the DOI.