Global simulation of dissolved ²³¹Pa and ²³⁰Th in the ocean and the sedimentary ²³¹Pa∕²³⁰Th ratios with the ocean general circulation model COCO ver4.0

Abstract

Sedimentary 231Pa/230Th ratios provide clues to estimate the strength of past ocean circulation. For its estimation, understanding the processes controlling the distributions of 231Pa and 230Th in the ocean is important. However, simulations of dissolved and particulate 231Pa and 230Th in the modern ocean, recently obtained from the GEOTRACES project, remain challenging. Here we report a model simulation of 231Pa and 230Th in the global ocean with COCO ver4.0. Starting from the basic water-column reversible scavenging model, we also introduced the bottom scavenging and the dependence of scavenging efficiency on particle concentration. As demonstrated in a previous study, the incorporation of bottom scavenging improves the simulated distribution of dissolved 231Pa and 230Th in the deep ocean, which has been overestimated in models not considering the bottom scavenging. We further demonstrate that introducing the dependence of scavenging efficiency on particle concentration results in a high concentration of dissolved 230Th in the Southern Ocean as observed in the GEOTRACES data. Our best simulation can well reproduce not only the oceanic distribution of 231Pa and 230Th but also the sedimentary 231Pa/230Th ratios. Sensitivity analysis reveals that oceanic advection of 231Pa primarily determines sedimentary 231Pa/230Th ratios. On the other hand, 230Th advection and bottom scavenging have an opposite effect to 231Pa advection on the sedimentary 231Pa/230Th ratios, reducing their latitudinal contrast. Our best simulation shows the realistic residence times of 231Pa and 230Th, but simulation without bottom scavenging and dependence of scavenging efficiency on particle concentration significantly overestimates the residence times for both 231Pa and 230Th in spite of similar distribution of sedimentary 231Pa/230Th ratios to our best simulation.