Abstract
This study examines causes of the double silica maximum in the deep
interior Northeast Pacific Basin using a stochastic Lagrangian tracer
model based on steady-state advective fields and diapycnal diffusion
established by a hydrographic inverse method that conserves potential
vorticity and salinity. Lateral diffusion, unresolved by the inverse
model, is adjusted for overall agreement with radiocarbon distribution.
The double silica maximum in vertical profiles arises from an
eastern-intensified single-maximum in the North Pacific Deep Water along
the northern domain boundary (originating in the western Pacific), and a
strong subarctic bottom source supplying silica to Upper Circumpolar
Deep Water density surfaces that successively intersect the seafloor
over a broad area east of 150°W, associated geostrophically with
southward flow. The existence of the double silica maximum requires weak
diapycnal transport in the deep interior, with broader implications for
the conceptual picture of meridional overturning circulation in the
North Pacific.