Louis C. St. Laurent

The Role of Internal Tides in Mixing the Deep Ocean

Abstract Internal wave theory is used to examine the generation, radiation, and energy dissipation of internal tides in the deep ocean. Estimates of vertical energy flux based on a previously developed model are adjusted to account for the influence of finite depth, varying stratification, and two-dimensional topography. Specific estimates of energy flux are made for midocean ridge topography. Weakly nonlinear theory is applied to the wave generation at idealized topography to examine finite amplitude corrections to the linear theory. Most internal tide energy is generated at low modes associated with spatial scales from roughly 20 to 100 km. The Richardson number of the radiated internal tide typically exceeds unity for these motions, and so direct shear instability of the generated waves is not the dominant energy transfer mechanism. It also seems that wave–wave interactions are ineffective at transferring energy from the large wavelengths that dominate the energy flux. Instead, it appears that most of ...

Parameterizing tidal dissipation over rough topography

The traditional model of tidal dissipation is based on a frictional bottom boundary layer, in which the work done by bottom drag is proportional to a drag coefficient and the velocity cubed. However, away from shallow, coastal regions the tidal velocities are small, and the work done by the bottom boundary layer can account for only weak levels of dissipation. In the deep ocean, the energy flux carried by internal waves generated over rough topography dominates the energy transfer away from barotropic flow. A parameterization for the internal wave drag over rough topography is included as a dissipative mechanism in a model for the barotropic tides. Model results suggest that the inclusion of this dissipation mechanism improves hydro-dynamical models of the ocean tide. It also substantially increases the amount of modeled tidal dissipation in the deep ocean, bringing dissipation levels there into agreement with recent estimates from TOPEX/Poseidon altimetry data.

The Contribution of Salt Fingers to Vertical Mixing in the North Atlantic Tracer Release Experiment

Abstract The North Atlantic Tracer Release Experiment (NATRE) was performed in an area moderately favorable to salt fingers. However, the classic finger signature of a distinct thermohaline staircase caused by upgradient density flux was absent. This is likely because mixing by turbulence was sufficiently strong to disrupt the formation of permanent step and layer systems. Despite the lack of a staircase, optical shadowgraph profiles revealed that small-scale tilted laminae, previously observed in a salt-finger staircase, were abundant at the NATRE site. Using microstructure observations, the strength of salt-finger mixing has been diagnosed using a nondimensional parameter related to the ratio of the diffusivities for heat and buoyancy (Γ, “the dissipation ratio”). By examining the dissipation ratio in a parameter space of density ratio (Rρ) and Richardson number (Ri), the signal of salt fingers was discerned even under conditions where turbulent mixing also occurred. While the model for turbulence descr...

Buoyancy Forcing by Turbulence above Rough Topography in the Abyssal Brazil Basin

Abstract Observations of turbulent dissipation above rough bathymetry in the abyssal Brazil Basin are presented. Relative to regions with smooth bathymetry, dissipation is markedly enhanced above rough topography of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge with levels above bathymetric slopes exceeding levels observed over crests and canyon floors. Furthermore, mixing levels in rough areas are modulated by the spring–neap tidal cycle. Internal waves generated by barotropic tidal flow over topography are the likely mechanism for supplying the energy needed to support the observed turbulent dissipation. A model of the spatial and temporal patterns in the turbulent dissipation rate is used to constrain the diapycnal advection in an inverse calculation for the circulation in an area of rough bathymetry. This inverse model uses both beta-spiral and integrated forms of the advective budgets for heat, mass, and vorticity, and contains sufficient information to resolve the full three-dimensional flow. The inverse model solution re...

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.

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.

The generation of internal tides at abrupt topography

Internal tide generation is examined for a knife-edge ridge and an abrupt step. The energy flux from a knife-edge ridge with a height much less than the water depth is shown to be twice that from a Witch of Agnesi ridge with the same height but a small slope. In contrast, the energy flux from an abrupt step with an infinitesimal depth change compared to the water depth is the same as from a small slope with the same depth change. For larger topographic heights in both cases, the energy flux from the abrupt topography can significantly exceed that from gentle topography. The energy flux generated at a top-hat ridge and top-hat trench is also calculated. A top-hat ridge generates more energy flux than a knife edge of equivalent height, though the increase is large only for ridges whose height is small compared to the total depth. Additionally, the energy flux produced by a top-hat ridge is found to be rather insensitive to the ridge width. In contrast, the energy flux generated at a top-hat trench is strongly dependent on width. A knife-edge ridge of moderate height has much of its energy flux in mode 1. For a height to depth ratio comparable to that of the Hawaiian Ridge this fraction is 75%, consistent with observations. We also show that energy flux estimates based on representing general topography as a number of independent steps are flawed.

Intense mixing of lower thermocline water on the crest of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge.

Buoyancy exchange between the deep and the upper ocean, which is essential for maintaining global ocean circulation, mainly occurs through turbulent mixing. This mixing is thought to result primarily from instability of the oceanic internal wave field, but internal waves tend to radiate energy away from the regions in which they are generated rather than dissipate it locally as turbulence and the resulting distribution of turbulent mixing remains unknown. Another, more direct, mixing mechanism involves the generation of turbulence as strong flows pass through narrow passages in topography, but the amount of turbulence generated at such locations remains poorly quantified owing to a lack of direct measurements. Here we present observations from the crest of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge in the subtropical North Atlantic Ocean that suggest that passages in rift valleys and ridge-flank canyons provide the most energetic sites for oceanic turbulence. Our measurements show that diffusivities as large as 0.03 m2 s-1 characterize the mixing downstream of a sill in a well-stratified boundary layer, with mixing levels remaining of the order of 10-4 m2 s-1 at the base of the main thermocline. These mixing rates are significantly higher than the diffusivities of the order of 10-5 m2 s-1 that characterize much of the global thermocline and the abyssal ocean. Our estimates suggest that overflows associated with narrow passages on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge in the North Atlantic Ocean produce as much buoyancy flux as has previously been estimated for the entire Romanche fracture zone, a large strait in the Mid-Atlantic Ridge that connects the North and South Atlantic basins. This flux is equivalent to the interior mixing that occurs in the entire North Atlantic basin at the depth of the passages, suggesting that turbulence generated in narrow passages on mid-ocean ridges may be important for buoyancy flux at the global scale.

Abyssal mixing in the Brazil Basin

One of the major objectives of the Deep Basin Experiment, a component of the World Ocean Circulation Experiment, was to quantify the intensity and spatial distribution of deep vertical mixing within the Brazil Basin. In this study, basin-averaged estimates of deep vertical mixing rates are calculated using two independent methodologies and datasets: 1) vertical fluxes are derived from large-scale temperature and density budgets using direct measurements of deep flow through passages connecting the Brazil Basin to surrounding basins and a comprehensive hydrographic dataset within the basin interior and 2) vertical mixing rates are estimated from finescale bathymetry and hydrographic data using a functional relationship between turbulent dissipation and bathymetric roughness, deduced from localized measurements of ocean microstructure obtained during the Deep Basin Experiment. The space‐time mean estimates of vertical mixing diffusivities across representative surfaces within the Antarctic Bottom Water layer fell in the range ; 1‐5(3 1024 m2 s 21) and were indistinguishable k from each other within the estimation uncertainties. The mixing rates inferred from potential temperature budgets update, and are consistent with, earlier estimates that were based on less data. Mixing rates inferred from budgets bounded by neutral surfaces are not significantly different from the former. This implies that lateral eddy fluxes along isopycnals are not important in the potential temperature budgets, at least within the large estimation uncertainties. Unresolved processes, such as cabbeling and low frequency variability, which complicate inference of mixing from large-scale budgets, have been considered. The agreement between diffusivity estimates based on a modeled relationship between bathymetric roughness and turbulent dissipation, with those inferred from large-scale budgets, provides independent confirmation that the mixing rates have been accurately quantified.

Estimates of Power Consumed by Mixing in the Ocean Interior

Abstract Much attention has focused on the power required for driving mixing processes in the ocean interior, the thermohaline circulation, and the related meridional overturning circulation (MOC). Recent estimates range from roughly 0.5 to 2 TW (1 TW = 1 × 1012 W), based on differing arguments for the closure of the MOC mass budget. While these values are both O(1) TW, the thermodynamic implications of the estimates are significantly different. In addition, these numbers represent an integral constraint on the global circulation, and the apparent discrepancy merits careful examination. Through basic thermodynamic considerations on water mass mixing, a mechanical power consumption of 3 ± 1 TW is found to be consistent with a basic knowledge of the distribution and magnitude of oceanic turbulence diffusivities. This estimate is somewhat independent of any specific model for mass closure of the MOC. In addition, this estimate is based on a thermocline diffusivity of only 0.1 cm2 s−1, with enhanced diffusivi...