Jennifer A. MacKinnon

Mixing on the Late-Summer New England Shelf—Solibores, Shear, and Stratification

Observations are presented of microstructure and velocity measurements made on the outer New England shelf in the late summer of 1996 as part of the Coastal Mixing and Optics Experiment. The depth- and timeaveraged turbulent dissipation rate was 5‐50 (3 1029 Wk g 21). The associated average diapycnal diffusivity in stratified water was 5‐20 ( 1026 m2 s 21), comparable to observed open-ocean thermocline values and too low to explain the strong variability observed in local water properties. Dissipation rates and diffusivity were both highly episodic. Turbulent boundary layers grew down from the surface and up from the bottom. The dissipation rate within the bottom boundary layer had an average of 1.2 3 1027 Wk g 21 and varied in magnitude with the strength of near-bottom flow from the barotropic tide, an along-shelf flow, and low-frequency internal waves. The average dissipation rate in the peak thermocline was 5 3 1028 Wk g21; one-half of the thermocline dissipation was due to the strong shear and strain within six solibores that cumulatively lasted less than a day but contained 100-fold elevated dissipation and diffusivity. Nonsolibore, midcolumn dissipation was strongly correlated with shear from low-frequency internal waves. Dissipation was not well parameterized by Gregg‐Henyey-type scaling. An alternate scaling, modified to account for observed coastal internal wave properties, was in good agreement with measured dissipation rates. At the end of the observational period Hurricane Edouard passed by, producing strong dissipation rates (4 3 1026 Wk g 21) and consequent mixing during and for several days following the peak winds.

The formation and fate of internal waves in the South China Sea

Internal gravity waves, the subsurface analogue of the familiar surface gravity waves that break on beaches, are ubiquitous in the ocean. Because of their strong vertical and horizontal currents, and the turbulent mixing caused by their breaking, they affect a panoply of ocean processes, such as the supply of nutrients for photosynthesis, sediment and pollutant transport and acoustic transmission; they also pose hazards for man-made structures in the ocean. Generated primarily by the wind and the tides, internal waves can travel thousands of kilometres from their sources before breaking, making it challenging to observe them and to include them in numerical climate models, which are sensitive to their effects. For over a decade, studies have targeted the South China Sea, where the oceans’ most powerful known internal waves are generated in the Luzon Strait and steepen dramatically as they propagate west. Confusion has persisted regarding their mechanism of generation, variability and energy budget, however, owing to the lack of in situ data from the Luzon Strait, where extreme flow conditions make measurements difficult. Here we use new observations and numerical models to (1) show that the waves begin as sinusoidal disturbances rather than arising from sharp hydraulic phenomena, (2) reveal the existence of >200-metre-high breaking internal waves in the region of generation that give rise to turbulence levels >10,000 times that in the open ocean, (3) determine that the Kuroshio western boundary current noticeably refracts the internal wave field emanating from the Luzon Strait, and (4) demonstrate a factor-of-two agreement between modelled and observed energy fluxes, which allows us to produce an observationally supported energy budget of the region. Together, these findings give a cradle-to-grave picture of internal waves on a basin scale, which will support further improvements of their representation in numerical climate predictions.

Energy Flux and Dissipation in Luzon Strait: Two Tales of Two Ridges

AbstractInternal tide generation, propagation, and dissipation are investigated in Luzon Strait, a system of two quasi-parallel ridges situated between Taiwan and the Philippines. Two profiling moorings deployed for about 20 days and a set of nineteen 36-h lowered ADCP–CTD time series stations allowed separate measurement of diurnal and semidiurnal internal tide signals. Measurements were concentrated on a northern line, where the ridge spacing was approximately equal to the mode-1 wavelength for semidiurnal motions, and a southern line, where the spacing was approximately two-thirds that. The authors contrast the two sites to emphasize the potential importance of resonance between generation sites. Throughout Luzon Strait, baroclinic energy, energy fluxes, and turbulent dissipation were some of the strongest ever measured. Peak-to-peak baroclinic velocity and vertical displacements often exceeded 2 m s−1 and 300 m, respectively. Energy fluxes exceeding 60 kW m−1 were measured at spring tide at the wester...

Global Patterns of Diapycnal Mixing from Measurements of the Turbulent Dissipation Rate

The authors present inferences of diapycnal diffusivity from a compilation of over 5200 microstructure profiles. As microstructure observations are sparse, these are supplemented with indirect measurements of mixingobtainedfrom(i)Thorpe-scaleoverturnsfrommooredprofilers,afinescaleparameterizationappliedto (ii) shipboard observations of upper-ocean shear, (iii) strain as measured by profiling floats, and (iv) shear and strainfromfull-depthloweredacousticDoppler currentprofilers (LADCP)andCTDprofiles. Verticalprofiles of the turbulent dissipation rate are bottom enhanced over rough topography and abrupt, isolated ridges. The geography of depth-integrated dissipation rate shows spatial variability related to internal wave generation, suggesting one direct energy pathway to turbulence. The global-averaged diapycnal diffusivity below 1000-m depth is O(10 24 )m 2 s 21 and above 1000-m depth is O(10 25 )m 2 s 21 . The compiled microstructure observations sample a wide range of internal wave power inputs and topographic roughness, providing a dataset with which to estimate a representative global-averaged dissipation rate and diffusivity. However, there is strong regional variabilityin theratiobetweenlocal internalwavegeneration and local dissipation.Insomeregions,the depthintegrateddissipationrateiscomparabletotheestimatedpowerinputintothelocalinternalwavefield.Inafew cases, more internal wave power is dissipated than locally generated, suggesting remote internal wave sources. However,atmostlocationsthetotalpowerlostthroughturbulentdissipationislessthantheinputintothelocal internal wave field. This suggests dissipation elsewhere, such as continental margins.

Long-Range Propagation of the Semidiurnal Internal Tide from the Hawaiian Ridge

Abstract The northeastward progression of the semidiurnal internal tide from French Frigate Shoals (FFS), Hawaii, is studied with an array of six simultaneous profiling moorings spanning 25.5°–37.1°N (≈1400 km) and 13-yr-long Ocean Topography Experiment (TOPEX)/Poseidon (T/P) altimeter data processed by a new technique. The moorings have excellent temporal and vertical resolutions, while the altimeter offers broad spatial coverage of the surface manifestation of the internal tide’s coherent portion. Together these two approaches provide a unique view of the internal tide’s long-range propagation in a complex ocean environment. The moored observations reveal a rich, time-variable, and multimodal internal tide field, with higher-mode motions contributing significantly to velocity, displacement, and energy. In spite of these contributions, the coherent mode-1 internal tide dominates the northeastward energy flux, and is detectable in both moored and altimetric data over the entire array. Phase and group prop...

Optics, particles, stratification, and storms on the New England continental shelf

In situ beam attenuation and chlorophyll fluorescence were correlated with concentration and bulk composition of particles in shelf waters during summer and spring under different physical forcing conditions to determine if optical parameters could be used as an additional tracer in examining the process of mixing in shelf waters. Time series measurements were made for two 18 day periods during high stratification (late summer 1996, Δσt = ∼3.0 kg m−3 surface to bottom) and low but rapidly developing stratification (spring 1997, Δσt = 0.05 to 0.5 kg m−3) in 70 m of water in a midshelf environment south of Marthas Vineyard, Massachusetts. When defined by hydrography and optical profiles, four layers were identified during the summer: the surface mixed layer, the particle/chlorophyll maximum, the midwater particle minimum, and the bottom nepheloid layer. Fast moving solitons perturbed the water column briefly, but no storms perturbed the system until large surface swells from Hurricane Edouard intensified and thickened the nepheloid layer. Bulk composition and optics of particles in and above the nepheloid layer were distinctly different after the passage of Hurricane Edouard. The hurricane passage demonstrated that intense atmospheric forcing greatly influences both hydrographic and optical properties in the entire water column, even when highly stratified (Δσt = ∼3.0 kg m−3, decreasing to 0.8 kg m−3 post hurricane), and causes massive resuspension, due initially to wave shear stress that was later dominated by current shear. Restratification progressed rapidly after the hurricane passed. During spring the water column started as a weakly stratified two-layer system hydrographically and optically but evolved into three layers as stratification developed. Strong spring storms affected both surface and bottom layers but with decreasing impact as the water column stratified.

Shear and Baroclinic Energy Flux on the Summer New England Shelf

Observations are presented of internal wave properties and energy fluxes through a site near the 70-m isobath on the New England shelf in late summer. Data collected from a shipboard ADCP and microstructure profiler over a three-week period and projected onto dynamic vertical modes reveals large variations in the magnitude and vertical structure of internal waves. Baroclinic energy and shear were primarily associated with low-mode near-inertial and semidiurnal waves and, at times, high-frequency solibores. The energies in each mode varied by factors from 2 to 10 over several days and were not significantly correlated with one another. The associated shear variance was concentrated in the thermocline. However, the strength and vertical range of shear varied significantly throughout the research period and depended sensitively on both the magnitude and evolving vertical mode content of the wave field. Shear during the quasi-two-layer solibores was strong enough to temporarily lower the 4-m Richardson number below the threshold for shear instability. Energy flux through the site came primarily from the mode-1 internal tide, in both linear and nonlinear (solibore) forms. The average energy flux from the first five baroclinic modes was 130 W m 21. A comparison of energy fluxes from each mode and locally measured average dissipation rates suggests that near-inertial and high-mode waves were generated near the experimental site.

Parametric Subharmonic Instability of the Internal Tide at 29°N

Observational evidence is presented for transfer of energy from the internal tide to near-inertial motions near 298N in the Pacific Ocean. The transfer is accomplished via parametric subharmonic instability (PSI), which involvesinteractionbetweena primarywave (the internaltide in this case) andtwo smaller-scale waves of nearly half the frequency. The internal tide at this location is a complex superposition of a low-mode waves propagating north from Hawaii and higher-mode waves generated at local seamounts, making application of PSI theory challenging. Nevertheless, a statistically significant phase locking is documented between the internal tide and upward- and downward-propagating near-inertial waves. The phase between those three waves is consistent with that expected from PSI theory. Calculated energy transfer rates from the tide to nearinertial motions are modest, consistent with local dissipation rate estimates. The conclusion is that while PSI does befall the tide near a critical latitude of 298N, it does not do so catastrophically.

Spring Mixing: Turbulence and Internal Waves during Restratification on the New England Shelf

Abstract Integrated observations are presented of water property evolution and turbulent microstructure during the spring restratification period of April and May 1997 on the New England continental shelf. Turbulence is shown to be related to surface mixed layer entrainment and shear from low-mode near-inertial internal waves. The largest turbulent diapycnal diffusivity and associated buoyancy fluxes were found at the bottom of an actively entraining and highly variable wind-driven surface mixed layer. Away from surface and bottom boundary layers, turbulence was systematically correlated with internal wave shear, though the nature of that relationship underwent a regime shift as the stratification strengthened. During the first week, while stratification was weak, the largest turbulent dissipation away from boundaries was coincident with shear from mode-1 near-inertial waves generated by passing storms. Wave-induced Richardson numbers well below 0.25 and density overturning scales of several meters were o...

Near-Inertial Waves on the New England Shelf: The Role of Evolving Stratification, Turbulent Dissipation, and Bottom Drag

Abstract Energetic variable near-inertial internal waves were observed on the springtime New England shelf as part of the Coastal Mixing and Optics (CMO) project. Surface warming and freshwater advection tripled the average stratification during a 3-week observational period in April/May 1997. The wave field was dominated by near-inertial internal waves generated by passing storms. Wave evolution was controlled by a balance among wind stress, bottom drag, and turbulent dissipation. As the stratification evolved, the vertical structure of these near-inertial waves switched from mode 1 to mode 2 with associated changes in the magnitude and location of wave shear. The growth of mode-2 waves was attributable to a combination of changing wind stress forcing and a nonlinear coupling between the first and second vertical modes through quadratic bottom stress. To explore both forcing mechanisms, an open-ocean mixed layer model is adapted to the continental shelf. In this model, surface wind stress and bottom stre...