PO21C:
The Ocean's Energy Cascade: Measuring and Modeling of Instabilities, Internal Waves, and Turbulence at the Submesoscale and Smaller I


Session ID#: 9237

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 Institution, Physical Oceanography, 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 Louis St Laurent, Woods Hole Oceanographic Insti, Woods Hole, MA, United States
Student Paper Review Liaison:  Harper L Simmons, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, AK, 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:

PO21C-01
NEAR-INERTIAL PROPAGATION INSIDE MESOSCALE EDDIES (90405)
Marie-Pascale Lelong1, Pascale Bouruet Aubertot2,3 and Yannis Cuypers3, (1)Northwest Research Associates, Redmond, WA, United States, (2)Universite Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris, France, (3)LOCEAN UPMC, Paris, France
PO21C-02
Numerical Simulations of the Competition Between Restratification and Mixing Induced by Submesoscale Instabilities (91112)
Megan A Stamper1, John Ryan Taylor2, Kate Adams3, Scott Bachman2, Phil John Hosegood4, Jean-baptiste Sallee5 and Ricardo Torres6, (1)University of Cambridge, Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, Cambridge, United Kingdom, (2)University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom, (3)Plymouth University, Plymouth, PL4, United Kingdom, (4)Plymouth University, School of Marine Science and Engineering, Plymouth, United Kingdom, (5)University Pierre and Marie Curie Paris VI, Paris, France, (6)Plymouth Marine Laboratory, Plymouth, United Kingdom
PO21C-03
Coupled Evolution of Near-inertial Waves and Quasigeostrophic Flow (88644)
Gregory LeClaire Wagner, University of California San Diego, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, La Jolla, CA, United States and William R Young, University of California San Diego, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, La Jolla, CA, United States
PO21C-04
Effects of Submesoscale Eddies and Small-Scale Langmuir Turbulence on Multi-Scale Fluxes, Flow Instabilities, and Spectra in the Oceanic Mixed Layer (93436)
Peter Hamlington, Univ of Colorado, Boulder, CO, United States, Katherine Smith, Univ of Colorado, Mechanical Egnineering, Boulder, CO, United States and Baylor Fox-Kemper, Brown University, Providence, RI, United States
PO21C-05
The Role of the Wind and Mesoscale Eddies in Internal Wave Driven Mixing at Midlatitudes (93178)
Caitlin Beth Whalen, Jennifer A MacKinnon and Lynne D Talley, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, United States
PO21C-06
Mid-depth mixing under the subpolar front at the Mid-Atlantic Ridge (90878)
Maren Walter and Christian Mertens, University of Bremen, Bremen, Germany
PO21C-07
Upper Ocean Turbulent Processes in the Antarctic Frontal Zones (91787)
Sophia Merrifield1,2, Louis St Laurent2, Andreas Thurherr3, John Merrill Toole2 and Breck Owens2, (1)Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, United States, (2)Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA, United States, (3)Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, New York, NY, United States
PO21C-08
Energy Cascade from Internal Modes in Non-uniformly Stratified Fluid through Excitation of Superharmonic Disturbances (88486)
Bruce R Sutherland, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada
See more of: Physical Oceanography/Ocean Circulation