corresponding author address:
Satellite altimetry and high-resolution ocean models indicate that the Southern Ocean is comprised of an intricate web of narrow, meandering jets that undergo spontaneous formation, merger and splitting events, and rapid latitude shifts over periods of weeks to months. The role of topography in cont...
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| Format: | Text |
| Language: | English |
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| Online Access: | http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.385.6341 http://www.atm.damtp.cam.ac.uk/people/aft26/publications/Thompson_JPODraft.pdf |
| Summary: | Satellite altimetry and high-resolution ocean models indicate that the Southern Ocean is comprised of an intricate web of narrow, meandering jets that undergo spontaneous formation, merger and splitting events, and rapid latitude shifts over periods of weeks to months. The role of topography in controlling jet variability is explored using over 100 simulations from a doubly-periodic, forced-dissipative, two-layer quasigeostrophic model. The system is forced by a baroclinically-unstable, vertically-sheared mean flow in a domain that is large enough to accommodate multiple jets. The dependence of (i) meridional jet spacing, (ii) jet variability and (iii) large-scale, domainaveraged transport properties on changes in the length scale and steepness of simple sinusoidal topographical features is analyzed. The Rhines scale ℓβ = 2π √ Ve/β, where Ve is an eddy velocity scale and β is the barotropic potential vorticity gradient, measures the meridional extent of eddy mixing by a single jet. The ratio ℓβ/ℓT, where ℓT is the topographic length scale, governs jet behavior. Multiple, steady jets with fixed meridional spacing are observed when |
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