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The leaky funnel model, a metaphor of the ventilation of the World Ocean as simulated in an OGCM

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Mouchet, Anne Deleersnijder, Eric [UCL]

It is seen that an idealized model may suggest an appropriate scaling of the water age in the World Ocean, which is a measure of the ventilation rate. We use a 1-D advection-diffusion model in which the deep ocean is represented as a leaky funnel, allowing recirculation towards the surface. The analytical solutions to the steady-state problem are readily obtained. The three parameters of the leaky funnel model are estimated in such a way that the behaviour of the domain-averaged water age be as similar as possible to that derived from a 3-D model in a series of sensitivity runs. The agreement between both sets of mean ages is excellent, with a linear correlation coefficient very close to unity. A good agreement is also found for the age of radioactive tracers and the associated radioages. The parameters of the leaky funnel model have a clear physical meaning, that is, the order of magnitude of the horizontal velocity, the mean length of water parcel trajectories in the deep ocean, and a horizontal diffusivity scale. The values of all of them turn out to be consistent with our current knowledge of the World Ocean circulation.

Document type Article de périodique (Journal article) – Article de recherche
Access type Accès libre
Publication date 2008
Language Anglais
Journal information "Tellus. Series A: Dynamic Meteorology and Oceanography" - Vol. 60, no. 4, p. 761-774 (2008)
Peer reviewed yes
Publisher Blackwell Publishing (Oxford)
issn 0280-6495
e-issn 1600-0870
Publication status Publié
Affiliation UCL
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Bibliographic reference Mouchet, Anne ; Deleersnijder, Eric. The leaky funnel model, a metaphor of the ventilation of the World Ocean as simulated in an OGCM. In: Tellus. Series A: Dynamic Meteorology and Oceanography, Vol. 60, no. 4, p. 761-774 (2008)
Permanent URL http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/36474