Yes, we have no abyssal mixing

• Main Author: E. Kunze
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 2003
• Subjects: Southern Ocean; Pacific; Indian
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.434.7088; http://www.soest.hawaii.edu/PubServices/2003pdfs/Kunze.pdf

Abstract. A number of indirect means for inferring turbulent mixing have been developed over the past two decades. In particular, a combination of internal wave/wave interaction theory and observations has suggested a relationship between the turbulence dissipation rate ε and levels of the vertical wavenumber spectra for shear and strain. Here, we apply a parameterization based on finescale strain variance < ξz 2> to hydrography collected during several WOCE and ACCE cruises in the Southern Ocean, eastern S. Pacific, eastern polar gyre of the N. Atlantic and tropical Indian. Inferred average eddy diffusivities K are consistently O(0.1 × 10 –4 m 2 s –1). 1.