PO11B:
Deep and Abyssal Ocean Mixing: From Small-Scale Turbulence to the Large-Scale MOC I


Session ID#: 9642

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 R Ledwell, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA, United States
Student Paper Review Liaison:  James R Ledwell, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, 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:

PO11B-01
Abyssal Recipes II: Behind the Scenes (91929)
Walter Munk, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, United States
PO11B-02
Does deep ocean mixing drive upwelling or downwelling of abyssal waters? (88265)
Raffaele M Ferrari1, Trevor J McDougall2, Ali Mashayek1, Maxim Nikurashin3 and Jean-Michel Campin1, (1)Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, United States, (2)University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia, (3)Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, United States
PO11B-03
Internal-Wave-Driven Turbulence and the Meridional Overturning Circulation (87128)
Eric L Kunze, NorthWest Research Associates Redmond, Redmond, WA, United States
PO11B-04
Internal Wave-Driven Turbulent Mixing: an Argo-Based finescale strain approach versus the global internal wave model "IDEMIX" (87970)
Friederike Pollmann1, Carsten Eden1 and Dirk J Olbers2, (1)University of Hamburg, Institute of Oceanography, Hamburg, Germany, (2)Alfred-Wegener-Institute, Bremerhaven, Germany
PO11B-05
Impacts of Spatial Distribution of Parameterized Local and Remote Tidal Mixing on Large-scale Ocean Circulation and Climate. (89637)
Sonya Legg, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, United States, Angelique Melet, LEGOS, CNES, Toulouse, France and Robert Hallberg, Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory, Princeton, NJ, United States
PO11B-06
Dynamical Analysis of the Enhanced Turbulent Mixing Over a Rough Ocean Bottom (91039)
Toshiyuki Hibiya1, Robin Robertson2 and Tomoaki Takagi1, (1)The University of Tokyo, Department of Earth and Planetary Science, Graduate School of Science, Tokyo, Japan, (2)The University of New South Wales, School of Physical, Environmental, and Mathematical Sciences, Canberra, Australia
PO11B-07
Topographic Enhancement of Vertical Mixing in the Southern Ocean (90617)
Ali Mashayek1, Raffaele M Ferrari1, Sophia Merrifield1 and Louis St Laurent2, (1)Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, United States, (2)Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Physical Oceanography, Woods Hole, MA, United States
PO11B-08
Is the Abyssal Branch of the Overturning Driven by Breaking Internal Waves? (91084)
Casimir de Lavergne, UNSW, School of Mathematics and Statistics, Sydney, Australia, Gurvan Madec, LOCEAN-IPSL, Paris, France, Julien Le Sommer, CNRS, IGE, Grenoble, France, A. J. George Nurser, National Oceanography Center, Soton, Southampton, United Kingdom and Sheldon Bacon, University of Southampton, Southampton, United Kingdom
See more of: Physical Oceanography/Ocean Circulation