Small scale thermohaline ocean circulation

Abstract

Upon examining the how convective flows are generated in the ocean, Henry Stommel presented a simple idealized model called the Stommel model (1961) to better understand how salinity and temperature differences can affect the ocean circulation between the Arctic and Atlantic. The ocean circulation is named thermohaline circulation. This thesis implements the Stommel model using a small scale setup filled with a salt mixture including external systems duplicating the Arctic and Atlantic like the buffer system and evaporation system respectively. A mass balance of the salt content is to preserved throughout the experiment, however it was observed that this was not the case. Despite some mishaps in the data collection, measurements of the conductivity show lessened value in both basins plus a salt accumulation in the evaporation system meaning an ineffective salt drive to the Atlantic basin. It was also observed that the freshwater input reached a maximum limit and transitions between the circulation modes were abrupt. Suggestions to modifications in terms of the setup were discussed, however these have some limitations. Nonetheless, this thesis can be used a precursor to see how complex and diverse the thermohaline circulation really is.