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    Diapycnal mixing in the Antarctic Circumpolar Current

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    2010jpo4557.1.pdf (1.444Mb)
    Date
    2011-01
    Author
    Ledwell, James R.  Concept link
    St. Laurent, Louis C.  Concept link
    Girton, James B.  Concept link
    Toole, John M.  Concept link
    Metadata
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    Citable URI
    https://hdl.handle.net/1912/4409
    As published
    https://doi.org/10.1175/2010JPO4557.1
    DOI
    10.1175/2010JPO4557.1
    Keyword
     Diapycnal mixing; Currents; Antarctica; Ocean circulation; Meridional overturning circulation 
    Abstract
    The vertical dispersion of a tracer released on a density surface near 1500-m depth in the Antarctic Circumpolar Current west of Drake Passage indicates that the diapycnal diffusivity, averaged over 1 yr and over tens of thousands of square kilometers, is (1.3 ± 0.2) × 10−5 m2 s−1. Diapycnal diffusivity estimated from turbulent kinetic energy dissipation measurements about the area occupied by the tracer in austral summer 2010 was somewhat less, but still within a factor of 2, at (0.75 ± 0.07) × 10−5 m2 s−1. Turbulent diapycnal mixing of this intensity is characteristic of the midlatitude ocean interior, where the energy for mixing is believed to derive from internal wave breaking. Indeed, despite the frequent and intense atmospheric forcing experienced by the Southern Ocean, the amplitude of finescale velocity shear sampled about the tracer was similar to background amplitudes in the midlatitude ocean, with levels elevated to only 20%–50% above the Garrett–Munk reference spectrum. These results add to a long line of evidence that diapycnal mixing in the interior middepth ocean is weak and is likely too small to dictate the middepth meridional overturning circulation of the ocean.
    Description
    Author Posting. © American Meteorological Society, 2011. This article is posted here by permission of American Meteorological Society for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Physical Oceanography 41 (2011): 241-246, doi:10.1175/2010JPO4557.1.
    Collections
    • Physical Oceanography (PO)
    • Applied Ocean Physics and Engineering (AOP&E)
    Suggested Citation
    Journal of Physical Oceanography 41 (2011): 241-246
     

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