Aspects of Deep Ocean Mixing |
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| Authors: | Chris Garrett Louis St Laurent |
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| Institution: | (1) School of Earth and Ocean Sciences, University of Victoria, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada |
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| Abstract: | The turbulent motions responsible for ocean mixing occur on scales much smaller than those resolved in numerical simulations
of oceanic flows. Great progress has been made in understanding the sources of energy for mixing, the mechanisms, and the
rates. On the other hand, we still do not have adequate answers to first order questions such as the extent to which the thermohaline
circulation of the ocean, and hence the earth's climate, is sensitive to the present mixing rates in the ocean interior. Internal
waves, generated by either wind or flow over topography, appear to be the principle cause of mixing. Mean and eddy flows over
topography generate internal lee waves, while tidal flows over topography generate internal tides. The relative importance
of these different internal wave sources is unknown. There are also great uncertainties about the spatial and temporal variation
of mixing. Calculations of internal tide generation are becoming increasingly robust, but we do not know enough about the
subsequent behavior of internal tides and their eventual breakdown into turbulence. It does seem, however, that most internal
tide energy flux is radiated away from generation sites as low modes that propagate over basin scales. The mechanisms of wave-wave
interaction and topographic scattering both act to transfer wave energy from low modes to smaller dissipative scales.
This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date. |
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| Keywords: | Ocean mixing internal tides internal waves turbulence |
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