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A Review of Green's Function Methods for Tracer Timescales and Pathways in Ocean Models
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  • Thomas W N Haine,
  • Stephen M Griffies,
  • Geoffrey Gebbie,
  • Wenrui Jiang
Thomas W N Haine
Johns Hopkins University

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

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Stephen M Griffies
GFDL, NOAA
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Geoffrey Gebbie
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
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Wenrui Jiang
Johns Hopkins University
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Abstract

Understanding advective-diffusive dispersal of trace substances in environmental fluids like the global ocean is a ubiquitous challenge in geophysics. Since the turn of the millennium, substantial progress has been made in the theory, implementation in models, and application of such tracers in oceanography. For the first time, this progress is reviewed here in a synthetic way. We focus on tracer techniques in ocean models, including naturally-occurring and hypothetical tracers that diagnose timescale information, and we emphasize the connection to the Green's function that solves the advection-diffusion equation. Implementation of these techniques in ocean models is explained in an accessible way. We present example applications of these techniques to questions concerning ocean circulation, transport of biogeochemicals, and paleooceanography, including future opportunities.
20 Aug 2024Submitted to ESS Open Archive
22 Aug 2024Published in ESS Open Archive