Bi‐Directional Energy Cascades in the Pacific Ocean From Equator to Subarctic Gyre
Ocean circulation receives its energy input at basin scales while dissipates at microscopic mixing scale. How this energy is transferred across different lengthscales is of paramount importance for understanding the ocean circulation equilibration and variability. Advancement in high-resolution nume...
Published in: | Geophysical Research Letters |
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American Geophysical Union
2022
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Online Access: | https://authors.library.caltech.edu/114765/ https://authors.library.caltech.edu/114765/1/Geophysical%20Research%20Letters%20-%202022%20-%20Qiu%20-%20Bi%E2%80%90directional%20Energy%20Cascades%20in%20the%20Pacific%20Ocean%20from%20Equator%20to%20Subarctic_accepted.pdf https://authors.library.caltech.edu/114765/3/2022gl097713-sup-0001-supporting%20information%20si-s01.pdf https://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechAUTHORS:20220517-393665000 |
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ftcaltechauth:oai:authors.library.caltech.edu:114765 2023-05-15T18:28:08+02:00 Bi‐Directional Energy Cascades in the Pacific Ocean From Equator to Subarctic Gyre Qiu, Bo Nakano, Toshiya Chen, Shuiming Klein, Patrice 2022-04-28 application/pdf https://authors.library.caltech.edu/114765/ https://authors.library.caltech.edu/114765/1/Geophysical%20Research%20Letters%20-%202022%20-%20Qiu%20-%20Bi%E2%80%90directional%20Energy%20Cascades%20in%20the%20Pacific%20Ocean%20from%20Equator%20to%20Subarctic_accepted.pdf https://authors.library.caltech.edu/114765/3/2022gl097713-sup-0001-supporting%20information%20si-s01.pdf https://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechAUTHORS:20220517-393665000 en eng American Geophysical Union https://authors.library.caltech.edu/114765/1/Geophysical%20Research%20Letters%20-%202022%20-%20Qiu%20-%20Bi%E2%80%90directional%20Energy%20Cascades%20in%20the%20Pacific%20Ocean%20from%20Equator%20to%20Subarctic_accepted.pdf https://authors.library.caltech.edu/114765/3/2022gl097713-sup-0001-supporting%20information%20si-s01.pdf Qiu, Bo and Nakano, Toshiya and Chen, Shuiming and Klein, Patrice (2022) Bi‐Directional Energy Cascades in the Pacific Ocean From Equator to Subarctic Gyre. Geophysical Research Letters, 49 (8). Art. No. e2022GL097713. ISSN 0094-8276. doi:10.1029/2022gl097713. https://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechAUTHORS:20220517-393665000 <https://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechAUTHORS:20220517-393665000> other Article PeerReviewed 2022 ftcaltechauth https://doi.org/10.1029/2022gl097713 2022-05-19T17:51:23Z Ocean circulation receives its energy input at basin scales while dissipates at microscopic mixing scale. How this energy is transferred across different lengthscales is of paramount importance for understanding the ocean circulation equilibration and variability. Advancement in high-resolution numerical simulations in recent years has significantly improved our understanding of kinetic energy (KE) cascades from basin to kilometer scales, although observational evidence to verify the simulated processes remains limited. Using repeat ship-board velocity measurements along 165°E across the equatorial, subtropical and subarctic Pacific Ocean, we show that the length scale separating the inverse and forward cascades, L_S, falls in the 8 ∼ 300 km range and it does not scale straightforwardly with the baroclinic deformation radius. Balanced and unbalanced oceanic motions co-exist in this range but contribute oppositely to the directional energy cascades. L_S is observed to depend on the relative strengths of these motions, as well as by their interaction. Article in Journal/Newspaper Subarctic Caltech Authors (California Institute of Technology) Pacific Geophysical Research Letters 49 8 |
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Open Polar |
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Caltech Authors (California Institute of Technology) |
op_collection_id |
ftcaltechauth |
language |
English |
description |
Ocean circulation receives its energy input at basin scales while dissipates at microscopic mixing scale. How this energy is transferred across different lengthscales is of paramount importance for understanding the ocean circulation equilibration and variability. Advancement in high-resolution numerical simulations in recent years has significantly improved our understanding of kinetic energy (KE) cascades from basin to kilometer scales, although observational evidence to verify the simulated processes remains limited. Using repeat ship-board velocity measurements along 165°E across the equatorial, subtropical and subarctic Pacific Ocean, we show that the length scale separating the inverse and forward cascades, L_S, falls in the 8 ∼ 300 km range and it does not scale straightforwardly with the baroclinic deformation radius. Balanced and unbalanced oceanic motions co-exist in this range but contribute oppositely to the directional energy cascades. L_S is observed to depend on the relative strengths of these motions, as well as by their interaction. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Qiu, Bo Nakano, Toshiya Chen, Shuiming Klein, Patrice |
spellingShingle |
Qiu, Bo Nakano, Toshiya Chen, Shuiming Klein, Patrice Bi‐Directional Energy Cascades in the Pacific Ocean From Equator to Subarctic Gyre |
author_facet |
Qiu, Bo Nakano, Toshiya Chen, Shuiming Klein, Patrice |
author_sort |
Qiu, Bo |
title |
Bi‐Directional Energy Cascades in the Pacific Ocean From Equator to Subarctic Gyre |
title_short |
Bi‐Directional Energy Cascades in the Pacific Ocean From Equator to Subarctic Gyre |
title_full |
Bi‐Directional Energy Cascades in the Pacific Ocean From Equator to Subarctic Gyre |
title_fullStr |
Bi‐Directional Energy Cascades in the Pacific Ocean From Equator to Subarctic Gyre |
title_full_unstemmed |
Bi‐Directional Energy Cascades in the Pacific Ocean From Equator to Subarctic Gyre |
title_sort |
bi‐directional energy cascades in the pacific ocean from equator to subarctic gyre |
publisher |
American Geophysical Union |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
https://authors.library.caltech.edu/114765/ https://authors.library.caltech.edu/114765/1/Geophysical%20Research%20Letters%20-%202022%20-%20Qiu%20-%20Bi%E2%80%90directional%20Energy%20Cascades%20in%20the%20Pacific%20Ocean%20from%20Equator%20to%20Subarctic_accepted.pdf https://authors.library.caltech.edu/114765/3/2022gl097713-sup-0001-supporting%20information%20si-s01.pdf https://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechAUTHORS:20220517-393665000 |
geographic |
Pacific |
geographic_facet |
Pacific |
genre |
Subarctic |
genre_facet |
Subarctic |
op_relation |
https://authors.library.caltech.edu/114765/1/Geophysical%20Research%20Letters%20-%202022%20-%20Qiu%20-%20Bi%E2%80%90directional%20Energy%20Cascades%20in%20the%20Pacific%20Ocean%20from%20Equator%20to%20Subarctic_accepted.pdf https://authors.library.caltech.edu/114765/3/2022gl097713-sup-0001-supporting%20information%20si-s01.pdf Qiu, Bo and Nakano, Toshiya and Chen, Shuiming and Klein, Patrice (2022) Bi‐Directional Energy Cascades in the Pacific Ocean From Equator to Subarctic Gyre. Geophysical Research Letters, 49 (8). Art. No. e2022GL097713. ISSN 0094-8276. doi:10.1029/2022gl097713. https://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechAUTHORS:20220517-393665000 <https://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechAUTHORS:20220517-393665000> |
op_rights |
other |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1029/2022gl097713 |
container_title |
Geophysical Research Letters |
container_volume |
49 |
container_issue |
8 |
_version_ |
1766210480356982784 |