Fig. 6: Deep Pacific ventilation schematic.
From: Diffusion controls the ventilation of a Pacific Shadow Zone above abyssal overturning
Schematic summarizing the major transport pathways by which the Pacific Shadow Zone (PSZ) and the Pacific Abyssal Zone (PAZ) of the North Pacific exchange water with the surface ocean. Solid lines indicate overturning-dominated transport while dashed lines indicate diffusion-dominated transport. Bright green indicates North Atlantic ventilated water (NADW), while blue tones indicate waters last ventilated in the Southern Ocean (AABW and Antarctic intermediate water (AAIW)) or destined for re-exposure in the Southern Ocean. Amber and dark green arrows illustrate shadow-zone waters bound for re-exposure in low latitudes and in the subarctic Pacific, respectively. The thickness of the arrows scales approximately with the volume flow rate of each transport pathway, with a reference value of 7.3 Sv for the inflow of high-latitude-sourced water into the PAZ (thick solid blue-green arrow, a mixture of AABW and NADW). For the transport timescales associated with the pathways illustrated here see Fig. 3g–j. Like all circulation schematics, this picture is a simplification; for a detailed, rigorous quantification of the transports refer to Figs. 4 and 5.
