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刚果河每秒向大西洋注入4万立方米淡水。一项新研究追踪了这些淡水的去向。

EOS - Wed, 08/05/2026 - 13:16

Source: Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans

This is an authorized translation of an Eos article. 本文是Eos文章的授权翻译。

刚果河是世界第二大河流，平均每秒向大西洋注入4万立方米的水量。如此巨大的流量，形成了一股绵延800公里的淡水羽流。

在雨季，这股羽流会向西南方向移动，并可能被称为“中尺度涡旋”的大型旋转洋流所捕获，这些涡旋的尺度可达上百公里。这些涡旋可将淡水输送到距离海岸数百公里之外的地方。在图卢兹空间地球物理学和海洋学研究实验室（LEGOS）及其合作实验室开展的一项研究中，Cardot等人结合模型模拟与实测数据，分析了中尺度涡旋的旋转洋流，以深入理解淡水从刚果河流入大西洋的过程。

研究人员使用了一个分辨率为3公里的海洋环流模型——NEMO（欧洲海洋建模核心模型）来模拟刚果河的流量。该研究聚焦于2016年，因为这一年间，热带大西洋预测与研究系泊阵列（PIRATA）的观测数据，以及该区域的盐度和海流卫星记录都极为丰富。研究人员利用eOdyn公司通过船舶自动识别系统（Automatic Identification System, AIS）收集的海面盐度、海面高度和表层洋流数据，对模型输出结果进行了验证。总体而言，该模型能够成功复现刚果河淡水羽流的空间范围、地理位置及其季节变化特征。

2016年期间发生了多次中尺度天气事件。其中一次涡旋在3月和4月将大量淡水输送至海洋。该反气旋涡（在南半球呈逆时针旋转）形成于刚果河羽流附近，持续了49天，半径增长至150公里。该涡旋将羽流中的低盐度水裹挟于其核心，并将其输送至离岸约200公里处，随后逐渐消散。

粒子追踪实验追溯了被涡旋捕获的水体来源，揭示了河水向大西洋输送的具体路径。研究人员通过时间倒推，追踪了超过5000个虚拟粒子，发现这些4月被困于涡旋核心内的粒子，可追溯至3月初刚形成的刚果河羽流南部区域。这一发现表明，2016年类似事件等间歇性过程主导了淡水向海洋的输送，而非刚果河水的持续扩散。这些发现对区域海洋环流，以及依赖此类淡水输入的海洋生态系统和渔业，具有重要意义。(Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, https://doi.org/10.1029/2025JC023642, 2026)

—科学撰稿人Rebecca Owen (@beccapox.bsky.social)

This translation was made by Wiley. 本文翻译由Wiley提供。

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