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| Who is taking its temperature? |
Ocean photon grouping:
"Potential temperature is used in oceanography as though it is a conservative variable like salinity; however, turbulent mixing processes conserve enthalpy and usually destroy potential temperature.
This negative production of potential temperature is similar in magnitude to the well-known production of entropy that always occurs during mixing processes.
Here it is shown that potential enthalpy—the enthalpy that a water parcel would have if raised adiabatically and without exchange of salt to the sea surface—is more conservative than potential temperature by two orders of magnitude.
Furthermore, it is shown that a flux of potential enthalpy can be called ‘‘the heat flux’’ even though potential enthalpy is undefined up to a linear function of salinity.
The exchange of heat across the sea surface is identically the flux of potential enthalpy.
This same flux is not proportional to the flux of potential temperature because of variations in heat capacity of up to 5%.
The geothermal heat flux across the ocean floor is also approximately the flux of potential enthalpy with an error of no more than 0.15%.
These results prove that potential enthalpy is the quantity whose advection and diffusion is equivalent to advection and diffusion of ‘‘heat’’ in the ocean.
That is, it is proven that to very high accuracy, the first law of thermo-dynamics in the ocean is the conservation equation of potential enthalpy.
It is shown that potential enthalpy is to be preferred over the Bernoulli function.
A new temperature variable called ‘‘conservative temperature’’ is advanced that is simply proportional to potential enthalpy.
It is shown that present ocean models contain typical errors of 0.18C and maximum errors of 1.48C in their temperature because of the neglect of the nonconservative production of potential temperature.
The meridional flux of heat through oceanic sections found using this conservative approach is different by up to 0.4% from that calculated by the approach used in present ocean models in which the nonconservative nature of potential temperature is ignored and the specific heat at the sea surface is assumed to be constant.
An alternative approach [to potential enthalpy] that has been recommended and is often used with observed section data, namely, calculating the meridional heat flux using the specific heat (at zero pressure) and potential temperature, rests on an incorrect theoretical foundation, and this estimate of heat flux is actually less accurate than simply using the flux of potential temperature with a constant heat capacity."
(Potential Enthalpy: A Conservative Oceanic Variable for Evaluating Heat Content and Heat Fluxes; emphasis added, Trevor J. McDougall, 01 May 2003, Journal of Physical Oceanography).
If we remember that since the advent of quantum mechanics "saturation" of atoms/molecules by photons depends on the characteristics of the Second Law of Thermodynamics.
The particular dynamic which applies is that "ocean heat" spontaneously flows from warm water to cooler water near it.
Which means that ocean water "photon saturation" has taken place and so a warmer-water-photon is emitted from an atom to flow into a cooler-water-atom.
The depth is not relevant because it spontaneously takes place based upon the laws of physics which apply at all depths:
"... it does serve as a useful way to remember the various physical processes that contribute to light propagation in an absorbing and scattering medium like the ocean or atmosphere. This derivation is also of historical interest because it shows how the founding fathers of radiative transfer theory proceeded in order to obtain a governing equation (e.g., Preisendorfer (1965), page 65) before the link between fundamental physics and radiative transfer theory was firmly established."
(The Saturation Chronicles - 19, quotinq The SRTE: Heuristic Development).
The previous post in this series is here.
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