Turbulence and Mixing in the Arctic Ocean’s Amundsen Gulf
This study uses CTD and microstructure measurements of shear and temperature from 348 glider profiles to characterize turbulence and turbulent mixing in the southeastern Beaufort Sea, where turbulence observations are presently scarce. We find that turbulence is typically weak: the turbulent kinetic...
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fthzgzmk:oai:publications.hereon.de:39156 2023-06-11T04:03:32+02:00 Turbulence and Mixing in the Arctic Ocean’s Amundsen Gulf Scheifele, B. Waterman, S. Carpenter, J. 2021 https://publications.hereon.de/id/39156 https://publications.hzg.de/id/39156 https://www.hzg.de/imperia/md/content/gkss/zentrale_einrichtungen/bibliothek/journals/scheifele_39156.pdf en eng AMS https://dx.doi.org/10.1175/JPO-D-20-0057.1 urn:issn:0022-3670 https://publications.hereon.de/id/39156 https://publications.hzg.de/id/39156 https://www.hzg.de/imperia/md/content/gkss/zentrale_einrichtungen/bibliothek/journals/scheifele_39156.pdf info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess open_access oa_gruen issn:0022-3670 Scheifele, B.; Waterman, S.; Carpenter, J.: Turbulence and Mixing in the Arctic Ocean’s Amundsen Gulf. In: Journal of Physical Oceanography. Vol. 51 (2021) 1, 169 - 186. (DOI: /10.1175/JPO-D-20-0057.1) info:eu-repo/semantics/article Zeitschrift Artikel 2021 fthzgzmk https://doi.org/10.1175/JPO-D-20-0057.1 2023-05-28T23:25:06Z This study uses CTD and microstructure measurements of shear and temperature from 348 glider profiles to characterize turbulence and turbulent mixing in the southeastern Beaufort Sea, where turbulence observations are presently scarce. We find that turbulence is typically weak: the turbulent kinetic energy dissipation rate, ε, has a median value (with 95% confidence intervals) of 2.3 (2.2, 2.4) × 10−11 W kg−1 and is less than 1.0×10−10 W kg−1 in 68% of observations. Variability in ε spans five orders of magnitude, with indications that turbulence is bottom enhanced and modulated in time by the semidiurnal tide. Stratification is strong and frequently damps turbulence, inhibiting diapycnal mixing. Buoyancy Reynolds number estimates suggest that turbulent diapycnal mixing is unlikely in 93% of observations; however, a small number of strongly turbulent mixing events are disproportionately important in determining net buoyancy fluxes. The arithmetic mean diapycnal diffusivity of density is 4.5 (2.3, 14) ×10−6 m2 s−1, three orders of magnitude larger than that expected from molecular diffusion. Vertical heat fluxes are modest at O(0.1) W m−2, of the same order of magnitude as those in the Canada Basin double-diffusive staircase, however, staircases are generally not observed. Despite significant heat present in the Pacific Water layer in the form of a warm-core mesoscale eddy and smaller, O(1) km, temperature anomalies, turbulent mixing was found to be too low to release this heat to shallower depths. Article in Journal/Newspaper Amundsen Gulf Arctic Arctic Beaufort Sea canada basin Hereon Publications (Helmholtz-Zentrum) Arctic Canada Pacific Journal of Physical Oceanography 51 1 169 186 |
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Open Polar |
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Hereon Publications (Helmholtz-Zentrum) |
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fthzgzmk |
language |
English |
description |
This study uses CTD and microstructure measurements of shear and temperature from 348 glider profiles to characterize turbulence and turbulent mixing in the southeastern Beaufort Sea, where turbulence observations are presently scarce. We find that turbulence is typically weak: the turbulent kinetic energy dissipation rate, ε, has a median value (with 95% confidence intervals) of 2.3 (2.2, 2.4) × 10−11 W kg−1 and is less than 1.0×10−10 W kg−1 in 68% of observations. Variability in ε spans five orders of magnitude, with indications that turbulence is bottom enhanced and modulated in time by the semidiurnal tide. Stratification is strong and frequently damps turbulence, inhibiting diapycnal mixing. Buoyancy Reynolds number estimates suggest that turbulent diapycnal mixing is unlikely in 93% of observations; however, a small number of strongly turbulent mixing events are disproportionately important in determining net buoyancy fluxes. The arithmetic mean diapycnal diffusivity of density is 4.5 (2.3, 14) ×10−6 m2 s−1, three orders of magnitude larger than that expected from molecular diffusion. Vertical heat fluxes are modest at O(0.1) W m−2, of the same order of magnitude as those in the Canada Basin double-diffusive staircase, however, staircases are generally not observed. Despite significant heat present in the Pacific Water layer in the form of a warm-core mesoscale eddy and smaller, O(1) km, temperature anomalies, turbulent mixing was found to be too low to release this heat to shallower depths. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Scheifele, B. Waterman, S. Carpenter, J. |
spellingShingle |
Scheifele, B. Waterman, S. Carpenter, J. Turbulence and Mixing in the Arctic Ocean’s Amundsen Gulf |
author_facet |
Scheifele, B. Waterman, S. Carpenter, J. |
author_sort |
Scheifele, B. |
title |
Turbulence and Mixing in the Arctic Ocean’s Amundsen Gulf |
title_short |
Turbulence and Mixing in the Arctic Ocean’s Amundsen Gulf |
title_full |
Turbulence and Mixing in the Arctic Ocean’s Amundsen Gulf |
title_fullStr |
Turbulence and Mixing in the Arctic Ocean’s Amundsen Gulf |
title_full_unstemmed |
Turbulence and Mixing in the Arctic Ocean’s Amundsen Gulf |
title_sort |
turbulence and mixing in the arctic ocean’s amundsen gulf |
publisher |
AMS |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
https://publications.hereon.de/id/39156 https://publications.hzg.de/id/39156 https://www.hzg.de/imperia/md/content/gkss/zentrale_einrichtungen/bibliothek/journals/scheifele_39156.pdf |
geographic |
Arctic Canada Pacific |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Canada Pacific |
genre |
Amundsen Gulf Arctic Arctic Beaufort Sea canada basin |
genre_facet |
Amundsen Gulf Arctic Arctic Beaufort Sea canada basin |
op_source |
issn:0022-3670 Scheifele, B.; Waterman, S.; Carpenter, J.: Turbulence and Mixing in the Arctic Ocean’s Amundsen Gulf. In: Journal of Physical Oceanography. Vol. 51 (2021) 1, 169 - 186. (DOI: /10.1175/JPO-D-20-0057.1) |
op_relation |
https://dx.doi.org/10.1175/JPO-D-20-0057.1 urn:issn:0022-3670 https://publications.hereon.de/id/39156 https://publications.hzg.de/id/39156 https://www.hzg.de/imperia/md/content/gkss/zentrale_einrichtungen/bibliothek/journals/scheifele_39156.pdf |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess open_access oa_gruen |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1175/JPO-D-20-0057.1 |
container_title |
Journal of Physical Oceanography |
container_volume |
51 |
container_issue |
1 |
container_start_page |
169 |
op_container_end_page |
186 |
_version_ |
1768380192739295232 |