PO13B:
Deep and Abyssal Ocean Mixing: From Small-Scale Turbulence to the Large-Scale MOC III


Session ID#: 11495

Session Description:
Diapycnal mixing plays an important role in the Meridional Overturning Circulation (MOC). It is, for example, the primary mechanism by which bottom water is converted to lighter deep water to close the deep cell of the MOC. The enhancement of mixing over rough topography that has been observed affects our theories and simulations of ocean circulation. The many mechanisms of mixing, however, are not entirely understood or quantified. Furthermore the energy sources and boundary conditions for mixing will change with the climate, so mixing may play an important role in climate change. A chain of processes connects the energy sources to the scales of turbulence. Such processes include, but are not limited to, the cascade of energy through the internal wave field from wind and tidal forcing, shear instability and hydraulic jumps associated with topographic constrictions or descending overflows, and lee waves generated by geostrophic flow over rough topography. Abstracts are welcome on all individual aspects of this subject, as well as on studies connecting small scale processes to large scale energetics and circulation.
Primary Chair:  Ali Mashayek, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, United States
Chairs:  James R Ledwell, WHOI, Woods Hole, MA, United States, James B Girton, University of Washington, Applied Physics Laboratory, Seattle, WA, United States and Glenn S Carter, University of Hawaii, Manoa, Honolulu, HI, United States
Moderators:  Ali Mashayek, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, United States and James B Girton, University of Washington, Applied Physics Laboratory, Seattle, WA, United States
Student Paper Review Liaison:  Ali Mashayek, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, United States
Index Terms:

4532 General circulation [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):
  • PC - Past, Present and Future Climate
  • TP - Turbulent Processes

Abstracts Submitted to this Session:

PO13B-01
The Efficiency of Deep and Abyssal Ocean Turbulent Mixing (91866)
Colm-cille Patrick Caulfield1, Raffaele M Ferrari2, Ali Mashayek2, Maxim Nikurashin3 and W Richard Peltier4, (1)University of Cambridge, BP Institute/Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, Cambridge, United Kingdom, (2)Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, United States, (3)Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, United States, (4)University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
PO13B-02
A Comparison Between Internal Waves Observed in the Southern Ocean and Lee Wave Generation Theory (93141)
Maxim Nikurashin, University of Tasmania, Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, Hobart, Australia, Jessica Benthuysen, Australian Institute of Marine Science, Townsville, QLD, Australia, Sheldon Bacon, University of Southampton, Southampton, United Kingdom and Kurt L Polzin, WHOI, Woods Hole, MA, United States
PO13B-03
Evidence for Seafloor-Intensified Mixing by Surface-Generated Equatorial Waves (89130)
Ryan Holmes, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia, Jim Moum, Oregon State Univ, Corvallis, OR, United States and Leif N Thomas, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, United States
PO13B-04
Is it Always True that the Mixing Efficiency Decreases for Large (>400) Values of the Buoyancy Reynolds Number? (92209)
Alberto D Scotti, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Marine Sciences, Chapel Hill, NC, United States and Brian L White, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, United States
PO13B-05
Inertial Gravity Waves in Eddying Flows (90879)
Jin-Song von Storch, Max Planck Institute for Meteorology, Ocean, Hamburg, Germany
PO13B-06
Observations of near-inertial kinetic energy inside mesoscale eddies. (92499)
Beatriz Ixetl Garcia Gomez, Centro de Investigación Científica y de Educación Superior de Ensenada (CICESE), Physical Oceanography, Ensenada, Mexico, Enric Pallas Sanz, CICESE, Ensenada, Mexico and Julio Candela, Centro de Investigación Científica y de Educación Superior de Ensenada, San Diego, CA, United States
PO13B-07
A multi-parameter parameterization of ocean diapycnal mixing efficiency: global estimates inferred from Argo-float based profiles (90298)
Hesam Salehipour1, W Richard Peltier2, Caitlin Beth Whalen3 and Jennifer A MacKinnon3, (1)University of Toronto, Department of Physics, Toronto, ON, Canada, (2)University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada, (3)University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, United States
PO13B-08
Impact of a mean current on internal tide energy dissipation at the critical latitude (87250)
Oceane Richet1, Caroline j Muller2 and Jean Marc Chomaz1, (1)Ecole polytechnique - Ladhyx, fluid dynamics, palaiseau, France, (2)LMD - Ecole Normale Superieure, Paris, France
See more of: Physical Oceanography/Ocean Circulation