Lateral friction in the oceans as an effect of potential vorticity mixing |
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| Authors: | Pierre Welander |
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| Institution: | Department of Oceanography, University of Washington , USA |
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| Abstract: | AbstractApplying a mixing-length calculation to potential vorticity rather than to momentum a new type of lateral friction appears in the oceanic mass transport equations. This friction is evaluated for the special case of horizontally homogeneous, quasi-geostrophic turbulence. The main effect is a westward force arising from the so-called β-term. This produces an additional southward interior transport and a strengthening of the western boundary current. A turbulent exchange coefficient KH = 108 em2s?1 is sufficient to give a Gulf Stream transport twice that obtained by the classical Sverdrup model. |
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