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. 2014 Jun 18;9(6):e100306. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0100306

Figure 5. AMOC flow and period vs. depth to the bottom of the thermocline.

Figure 5

The curves show calculated volumetric flow (Ψ) and oscillation period (T-) for depths to the bottom of the thermocline at the south end of the flow path (ZH = ZML+ZTC) ranging from 300 to 400 m for mixed layer temperatures (TML) of 28, 30, and 32°C (blue, red and black lines). The length and width of the flow path (LF and WF) are the same as for Fig. 4. The sensitivity of the calculated values for AMOC flow and period to the depth to the bottom of the thermocline is high because the depth of the flow path ZF used in the calculation of AMOC flow is related to the depth to the bottom of the thermocline, ranging between 0.5 and 0.7 of ZH depending on the relative depths of the mixed layer and thermocline. This term appears as ZF4 in Eq. 7. The shaded areas on the figures indicate the approximate range of observed values for AMOC flow and oscillation period.