PO23C:
The Ocean's Energy Cascade: Measuring and Modeling of Instabilities, Internal Waves, and Turbulence at the Submesoscale and Smaller II


Session ID#: 11431

Session Description:
Large scale O(10^5 m) oceanic motions are linked to the turbulent scales O(<1 m) through a variety of mechanisms including internal wave radiation, interaction, and scattering, frontal instabilities, and boundary layer physics. Such mechanisms are essential for the vertical redistribution of energy generated along the ocean’s upper and bottom boundaries and thus are of critical importance in providing mechanical energy to processes in the stratified interior of the ocean. Regions of enhanced mixing are often found where a combination of currents, stratification, and topography act together to increase the potential for nonlinear interactions in the flow, for example through frontal instabilities and strong internal wave generation. Enhanced turbulence leads to mixing of water mass properties and changes to flow dynamics that can feedback on the larger-scale physics.  This session welcomes contributions from observational, theoretical, and numerical studies of the ocean's energy cascade at small scales (i.e. submesoscale and smaller).
Primary Chair:  Subhas Karan Venayagamoorthy, Colorado State University, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Fort Collins, CO, United States
Chairs:  Louis St Laurent, Woods Hole Oceanographic Insti, Woods Hole, MA, United States, Emily Shroyer, Oregon State Univ, Corvallis, OR, United States and Harper L Simmons, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, AK, United States
Moderators:  Emily Shroyer, Oregon State Univ, Corvallis, OR, United States and Subhas Karan Venayagamoorthy, Colorado State University, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Fort Collins, CO, United States
Student Paper Review Liaison:  Louis St Laurent, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Physical Oceanography, Woods Hole, MA, United States
Index Terms:

4524 Fine structure and microstructure [OCEANOGRAPHY: PHYSICAL]
4544 Internal and inertial waves [OCEANOGRAPHY: PHYSICAL]
4562 Topographic/bathymetric interactions [OCEANOGRAPHY: PHYSICAL]
4568 Turbulence, diffusion, and mixing processes [OCEANOGRAPHY: PHYSICAL]
Co-Sponsor(s):
  • A - Air-sea Interactions and Upper Ocean Processes
  • EC - Estuarine and Coastal
  • OD - Ocean Observing and Data Management
  • TP - Turbulent Processes

Abstracts Submitted to this Session:

PO23C-01
Deep Cycle Turbulence and Oceanic Heat Uptake in the Eastern Equatorial Pacific (90505)
William Smyth, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, United States and Jim Moum, Oregon State University, College of Earth Ocean & Atmospheric Sciences, Corvalis, OR, United States
PO23C-02
Enhanced Energy Dissipation in the Equatorial Pycnocline in a Simple Model of a Tropical Ocean (93482)
Andrei Natarov, IPRC/SOEST Univ Hawaii, Honolulu, HI, United States
PO23C-03
Internal Waves, Shear, and Mixing at the Equator (93057)
Jerome A Smith and San T Nguyen, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, La Jolla, CA, United States
PO23C-04
BUOYANT GRAVITY CURRENTS RELEASED FROM TROPICAL INSTABILITY WAVES (90404)
Sally J Warner1, Ryan Holmes2, Jim Moum3 and Elizabeth H McHugh Hawkins1, (1)Oregon State University, CEOAS, Corvallis, OR, United States, (2)University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia, (3)Oregon State Univ, Corvallis, OR, United States
PO23C-05
The Tasman Tidal Dissipation Experiment: Tidal Mixing, Scattering, and Reflection on the East Tasman Slope (89143)
Robert Pinkel1, Matthew H Alford2, Andrew Lucas3, Shaun Johnston1, Nicole L Jones4, Sam Kelly5, Jody M Klymak6, Jennifer A MacKinnon1, Jonathan D Nash7, Luc Rainville8, Harper L Simmons9, Peter G Strutton10, Amy Frances Waterhouse1 and Zhongxiang Zhao11, (1)University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, United States, (2)Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, United States, (3)Scripps Institution of Oceanography, La Jolla, CA, United States, (4)University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA, Australia, (5)University of Minnesota Duluth, Duluth, MN, United States, (6)University of Victoria, Victoria, BC, Canada, (7)Oregon State Univ, Corvallis, OR, United States, (8)University of Washington, Applied Physics Laboratory, Seattle, WA, United States, (9)University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, AK, United States, (10)University of Tasmania, Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS), Hobart, Australia, (11)Applied Physics Laboratory University of Washington, Seattle, WA, United States
PO23C-06
Diffraction and Reflection of the Internal Tide on the Tasman Continental Slope (90266)
Jody M Klymak, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC, Canada and Harper L Simmons, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, AK, United States
PO23C-07
Internal tide breaking processes at the Tasman Continental Slope (93271)
Matthew H Alford, University of California San Diego, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, La Jolla, CA, United States and The TTIDE Team
PO23C-08
Pathway from tides to turbulence: fission of internal solitary waves over rough topography (90605)
Zhiyu Liu, Xiamen University, State Key Lab of Marine Environmental Science, Xiamen, China, Xiaolin Bai, Xiamen University, Xiamen, China and Tom Philip Rippeth, Bangor University, School of Ocean Sciences, Bangor, Wales, United Kingdom
See more of: Physical Oceanography/Ocean Circulation