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Center for Nonlinear Studies |
The wind power input into the ocean is dominated by the work done in the Southern Ocean where it drives the Antarctic Circumpolar Current system and is eventually converted, through baroclinic instability, into a vigorous geostrophic eddy field. Kinetic energy of the ocean is dominated by geostrophic eddies. However, where and how eddies dissipate their energy remains unclear. Recent estimates from observations and inverse models indicate that turbulent mixing associated with internal wave breaking is enhanced above rough topography in the Southern Ocean. Using results from idealized numerical simulations, observations, and linear theory, I will argue in this talk that enhanced abyssal mixing in the Southern Ocean can be sustained by internal waves generated by geostrophic eddies flowing over rough topography. The results suggest that the generation of internal waves at rough topography is a significant energy sink for the geostrophic flows as well as an important energy source for internal waves and the associated turbulent mixing in the deep ocean.
Host: Balu Nadiga, CCS-2, balu@beasley.lanl.gov