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Article Released Sun-22nd-July-2018 08:14 GMT
 Red Sea flushes faster from far flung volcanoes

Volcanic eruptions in Mexico and the Philippines can lead to atmospheric changes that favor the ventilation of deep water in the Red Sea.

Red Sea waters
Copyright : © 2018 Fengchao Yao






The 1982 El Chichón volcanic eruption in Mexico and the 1991 Mount Pinatubo eruption in the Philippines were implicated. “The model simulation also convincingly linked these deep water renewals to the global climate variability associated with remote volcanic eruptions and the North Atlantic Oscillation, an inherent atmospheric variability mostly affecting Europe,” Yao explained.

Generally, volcanic eruptions warm the middle atmosphere of the tropics by releasing large amounts of sulfate aerosols, which absorb the sun’s rays for periods of up to two years. The westerly jet across the Atlantic Ocean becomes stronger as the atmospheric circulation adjusts to this warming. This, in turn, increases dry, cold northwesterly winds above the Red Sea: heat is lost from the sea’s waters to the air, and the surface temperature becomes cold enough to trigger warmer waters to rise and colder waters to sink. This is known as open-ocean deep convection.

In contrast with previous studies, Hoteit and Yao found it was this open-ocean deep convection that formed the primary source of the replenishment of the Red Sea’s deep water while the flows of water originating in the Gulfs of Suez and Aqaba represented secondary sources.

Organic matter from surface waters falls downwards, where it decomposes into its basic mineral components. This makes deep water rich in nutrients, so its circulation affects the health of the Red Sea ecosystem as a whole. “Also, because the floor of the Red Sea is abundant in mineral deposits and metals, understanding deep circulations is vital for environmentally sustainable deep-sea exploration and mining,” says Hoteit.

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Keywords associated to this article: marine science oceanography red sea modeling water
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