Division of Earth and Ocean Sciences, Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708, USA.
Science. 2010 Jun 18;328(5985):1507-11. doi: 10.1126/science.1189250.
For the past several decades, oceanographers have embraced the dominant paradigm that the ocean's meridional overturning circulation operates like a conveyor belt, transporting cold waters equatorward at depth and warm waters poleward at the surface. Within this paradigm, the conveyor, driven by changes in deepwater production at high latitudes, moves deep waters and their attendant properties continuously along western boundary currents and returns surface waters unimpeded to deepwater formation sites. A number of studies conducted over the past few years have challenged this paradigm by revealing the vital role of the ocean's eddy and wind fields in establishing the structure and variability of the ocean's overturning. Here, we review those studies and discuss how they have collectively changed our view of the simple conveyor-belt model.
在过去的几十年中，海洋学家们接受了一个主导性的范式，即海洋的经向翻转环流像输送带一样运作，将深层的冷水输送到赤道方向，而将表面的暖水输送到极地方向。在这个范式中，输送带由高纬度地区深层水产量的变化驱动，沿着西边界流不断输送深层水及其伴随的特性，并将表面水无障碍地送回深层水形成区域。过去几年进行的一些研究通过揭示海洋涡旋和风场在建立海洋翻转结构和可变性方面的重要作用，对这一范式提出了挑战。在这里，我们回顾了这些研究，并讨论了它们如何共同改变了我们对简单输送带模型的看法。
