The Impact of Small-Scale Topography on the Dynamical Balance of the Ocean
International audience The impact of small-scale topography on the ocean's dynamical balance is investigated by quantifying the rates at which internal wave drag extracts (angular) momentum and vorticity from the general circulation. The calculation exploits the recent advent of two near-global...
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ftccsdartic:oai:HAL:hal-00853253v1 2023-05-15T13:59:26+02:00 The Impact of Small-Scale Topography on the Dynamical Balance of the Ocean Naveira Garabato, Alberto C. Nurser, A. J. George Scott, Robert B. Goff, John A. Nathional Oceanography Centre University of Southampton National Oceanography Centre Southampton (NOC) Laboratoire de physique des océans (LPO) Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Institut Français de Recherche pour l'Exploitation de la Mer (IFREMER)-Université de Brest (UBO)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) Institute of Geophysics Austin (IG) University of Texas at Austin Austin 2013 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00853253 https://doi.org/10.1175/JPO-D-12-056.1 en eng HAL CCSD American Meteorological Society info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1175/JPO-D-12-056.1 hal-00853253 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00853253 doi:10.1175/JPO-D-12-056.1 ISSN: 0022-3670 EISSN: 1520-0485 Journal of Physical Oceanography https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00853253 Journal of Physical Oceanography, American Meteorological Society, 2013, 43 (3), pp.647-668. ⟨10.1175/JPO-D-12-056.1⟩ Dynamics Internal waves Momentum Ocean circulation Ocean dynamics [SDU.STU.OC]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/Oceanography info:eu-repo/semantics/article Journal articles 2013 ftccsdartic https://doi.org/10.1175/JPO-D-12-056.1 2021-10-17T01:38:10Z International audience The impact of small-scale topography on the ocean's dynamical balance is investigated by quantifying the rates at which internal wave drag extracts (angular) momentum and vorticity from the general circulation. The calculation exploits the recent advent of two near-global descriptions of topographic roughness on horizontal scales on the order of 1-10 km, which play a central role in the generation of internal lee waves by geostrophic flows impinging on topography and have been hitherto unresolved by bathymetric datasets and ocean general circulation models alike. It is found that, while internal wave drag is a minor contributor to the ocean's dynamical balance over much of the globe, it is a significant player in the dynamics of extensive areas of the ocean, most notably the Antarctic Circumpolar Current and several regions of enhanced small-scale topographic variance in the equatorial and Southern Hemisphere oceans. There, the contribution of internal wave drag to the ocean's (angular) momentum and vorticity balances is generally on the order of ten to a few tens of percent of the dominant source and sink terms in each dynamical budget, which are respectively associated with wind forcing and form drag by topography with horizontal scales from 500 to 1000 km. It is thus suggested that the representation of internal wave drag in general circulation models may lead to significant changes in the deep ocean circulation of those regions. A theoretical scaling is derived that captures the basic dependence of internal wave drag on topographic roughness and near-bottom flow speed for most oceanographically relevant regimes. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Archive ouverte HAL (Hyper Article en Ligne, CCSD - Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe) Antarctic The Antarctic Journal of Physical Oceanography 43 3 647 668 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Archive ouverte HAL (Hyper Article en Ligne, CCSD - Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe) |
op_collection_id |
ftccsdartic |
language |
English |
topic |
Dynamics Internal waves Momentum Ocean circulation Ocean dynamics [SDU.STU.OC]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/Oceanography |
spellingShingle |
Dynamics Internal waves Momentum Ocean circulation Ocean dynamics [SDU.STU.OC]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/Oceanography Naveira Garabato, Alberto C. Nurser, A. J. George Scott, Robert B. Goff, John A. The Impact of Small-Scale Topography on the Dynamical Balance of the Ocean |
topic_facet |
Dynamics Internal waves Momentum Ocean circulation Ocean dynamics [SDU.STU.OC]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/Oceanography |
description |
International audience The impact of small-scale topography on the ocean's dynamical balance is investigated by quantifying the rates at which internal wave drag extracts (angular) momentum and vorticity from the general circulation. The calculation exploits the recent advent of two near-global descriptions of topographic roughness on horizontal scales on the order of 1-10 km, which play a central role in the generation of internal lee waves by geostrophic flows impinging on topography and have been hitherto unresolved by bathymetric datasets and ocean general circulation models alike. It is found that, while internal wave drag is a minor contributor to the ocean's dynamical balance over much of the globe, it is a significant player in the dynamics of extensive areas of the ocean, most notably the Antarctic Circumpolar Current and several regions of enhanced small-scale topographic variance in the equatorial and Southern Hemisphere oceans. There, the contribution of internal wave drag to the ocean's (angular) momentum and vorticity balances is generally on the order of ten to a few tens of percent of the dominant source and sink terms in each dynamical budget, which are respectively associated with wind forcing and form drag by topography with horizontal scales from 500 to 1000 km. It is thus suggested that the representation of internal wave drag in general circulation models may lead to significant changes in the deep ocean circulation of those regions. A theoretical scaling is derived that captures the basic dependence of internal wave drag on topographic roughness and near-bottom flow speed for most oceanographically relevant regimes. |
author2 |
Nathional Oceanography Centre University of Southampton National Oceanography Centre Southampton (NOC) Laboratoire de physique des océans (LPO) Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Institut Français de Recherche pour l'Exploitation de la Mer (IFREMER)-Université de Brest (UBO)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) Institute of Geophysics Austin (IG) University of Texas at Austin Austin |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Naveira Garabato, Alberto C. Nurser, A. J. George Scott, Robert B. Goff, John A. |
author_facet |
Naveira Garabato, Alberto C. Nurser, A. J. George Scott, Robert B. Goff, John A. |
author_sort |
Naveira Garabato, Alberto C. |
title |
The Impact of Small-Scale Topography on the Dynamical Balance of the Ocean |
title_short |
The Impact of Small-Scale Topography on the Dynamical Balance of the Ocean |
title_full |
The Impact of Small-Scale Topography on the Dynamical Balance of the Ocean |
title_fullStr |
The Impact of Small-Scale Topography on the Dynamical Balance of the Ocean |
title_full_unstemmed |
The Impact of Small-Scale Topography on the Dynamical Balance of the Ocean |
title_sort |
impact of small-scale topography on the dynamical balance of the ocean |
publisher |
HAL CCSD |
publishDate |
2013 |
url |
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00853253 https://doi.org/10.1175/JPO-D-12-056.1 |
geographic |
Antarctic The Antarctic |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic The Antarctic |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic |
op_source |
ISSN: 0022-3670 EISSN: 1520-0485 Journal of Physical Oceanography https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00853253 Journal of Physical Oceanography, American Meteorological Society, 2013, 43 (3), pp.647-668. ⟨10.1175/JPO-D-12-056.1⟩ |
op_relation |
info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1175/JPO-D-12-056.1 hal-00853253 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00853253 doi:10.1175/JPO-D-12-056.1 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1175/JPO-D-12-056.1 |
container_title |
Journal of Physical Oceanography |
container_volume |
43 |
container_issue |
3 |
container_start_page |
647 |
op_container_end_page |
668 |
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1766267986759385088 |