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Physical mechanisms driving the global ocean breathing
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  • Esther Portela Rodriguez,
  • Nicolas Kolodziejczyk,
  • Virginie Thierry,
  • Clément Vic
Esther Portela Rodriguez
LOPS, CNRS

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

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Nicolas Kolodziejczyk
Univ. Brest
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Virginie Thierry
Ifremer
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Clément Vic
Univ. Brest
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Abstract

Future changes in subduction are suspected to be critical for the ocean deoxygenation pre- dicted by climate models over the 21 st century. However, the drivers of global oxygen subduction have not been fully described or quantified. Here, we address the physical mech- anisms responsible for the oxygen transport across the late winter mixed layer base and their relation with water-mass formation. Up to 70% of the global oxygen uptake takes place during Mode Water subduction mostly in the Southern Ocean and the North At- lantic. This oxygen subduction is driven by the combination of strong currents with large mixed-layer-depth gradients at localized hot-spots and by the wind-driven vertical velocity within the Subtropical gyres. Although oxygen diffusion, often neglected, is uncertain, it is likely to be important for the global oxygenation. The physical mass flux dominates the total oxygen subduction while the oxygen solubility plays a minor role in its modulation.