Dissipation of the energy imparted by mid-latitude storms in the Southern Ocean
The aim of this study is to clarify the role of the Southern Ocean storms on interior mixing and meridional overturning circulation. A periodic and idealized numerical model has been designed to represent the key physical processes of a zonal portion of the Southern Ocean located between 70 and 40A...
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ftird:oai:ird.fr:fdi:010067657 2023-05-15T18:24:09+02:00 Dissipation of the energy imparted by mid-latitude storms in the Southern Ocean Jouanno, Julien Capet, X. Madec, G. Roullet, G. Klein, P. OCEAN AUSTRAL 2016 text/pdf http://www.documentation.ird.fr/hor/fdi:010067657 EN eng http://www.documentation.ird.fr/hor/fdi:010067657 oai:ird.fr:fdi:010067657 Jouanno Julien, Capet X., Madec G., Roullet G., Klein P. Dissipation of the energy imparted by mid-latitude storms in the Southern Ocean. Ocean Science, 2016, 12 (3), p. 743-769. text 2016 ftird 2020-08-21T06:51:32Z The aim of this study is to clarify the role of the Southern Ocean storms on interior mixing and meridional overturning circulation. A periodic and idealized numerical model has been designed to represent the key physical processes of a zonal portion of the Southern Ocean located between 70 and 40A degrees S. It incorporates physical ingredients deemed essential for Southern Ocean functioning: rough topography, seasonally varying air-sea fluxes, and high-latitude storms with analytical form. The forcing strategy ensures that the time mean wind stress is the same between the different simulations, so the effect of the storms on the mean wind stress and resulting impacts on the Southern Ocean dynamics are not considered in this study. Level and distribution of mixing attributable to high-frequency winds are quantified and compared to those generated by eddy-topography interactions and dissipation of the balanced flow. Results suggest that (1) the synoptic atmospheric variability alone can generate the levels of mid-depth dissipation frequently observed in the Southern Ocean (10(-10) -10(-9) W kg(-1)) and (2) the storms strengthen the overturning, primarily through enhanced mixing in the upper 300 m, whereas deeper mixing has a minor effect. The sensitivity of the results to horizontal resolution (20, 5, 2 and 1 km), vertical resolution and numerical choices is evaluated. Challenging issues concerning how numerical models are able to represent interior mixing forced by high-frequency winds are exposed and discussed, particularly in the context of the overturning circulation. Overall, submesoscale-permitting ocean modeling exhibits important delicacies owing to a lack of convergence of key components of its energetics even when reaching Delta x = 1 km. Text Southern Ocean IRD (Institute de recherche pour le développement): Horizon Southern Ocean Austral |
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IRD (Institute de recherche pour le développement): Horizon |
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English |
description |
The aim of this study is to clarify the role of the Southern Ocean storms on interior mixing and meridional overturning circulation. A periodic and idealized numerical model has been designed to represent the key physical processes of a zonal portion of the Southern Ocean located between 70 and 40A degrees S. It incorporates physical ingredients deemed essential for Southern Ocean functioning: rough topography, seasonally varying air-sea fluxes, and high-latitude storms with analytical form. The forcing strategy ensures that the time mean wind stress is the same between the different simulations, so the effect of the storms on the mean wind stress and resulting impacts on the Southern Ocean dynamics are not considered in this study. Level and distribution of mixing attributable to high-frequency winds are quantified and compared to those generated by eddy-topography interactions and dissipation of the balanced flow. Results suggest that (1) the synoptic atmospheric variability alone can generate the levels of mid-depth dissipation frequently observed in the Southern Ocean (10(-10) -10(-9) W kg(-1)) and (2) the storms strengthen the overturning, primarily through enhanced mixing in the upper 300 m, whereas deeper mixing has a minor effect. The sensitivity of the results to horizontal resolution (20, 5, 2 and 1 km), vertical resolution and numerical choices is evaluated. Challenging issues concerning how numerical models are able to represent interior mixing forced by high-frequency winds are exposed and discussed, particularly in the context of the overturning circulation. Overall, submesoscale-permitting ocean modeling exhibits important delicacies owing to a lack of convergence of key components of its energetics even when reaching Delta x = 1 km. |
format |
Text |
author |
Jouanno, Julien Capet, X. Madec, G. Roullet, G. Klein, P. |
spellingShingle |
Jouanno, Julien Capet, X. Madec, G. Roullet, G. Klein, P. Dissipation of the energy imparted by mid-latitude storms in the Southern Ocean |
author_facet |
Jouanno, Julien Capet, X. Madec, G. Roullet, G. Klein, P. |
author_sort |
Jouanno, Julien |
title |
Dissipation of the energy imparted by mid-latitude storms in the Southern Ocean |
title_short |
Dissipation of the energy imparted by mid-latitude storms in the Southern Ocean |
title_full |
Dissipation of the energy imparted by mid-latitude storms in the Southern Ocean |
title_fullStr |
Dissipation of the energy imparted by mid-latitude storms in the Southern Ocean |
title_full_unstemmed |
Dissipation of the energy imparted by mid-latitude storms in the Southern Ocean |
title_sort |
dissipation of the energy imparted by mid-latitude storms in the southern ocean |
publishDate |
2016 |
url |
http://www.documentation.ird.fr/hor/fdi:010067657 |
op_coverage |
OCEAN AUSTRAL |
geographic |
Southern Ocean Austral |
geographic_facet |
Southern Ocean Austral |
genre |
Southern Ocean |
genre_facet |
Southern Ocean |
op_relation |
http://www.documentation.ird.fr/hor/fdi:010067657 oai:ird.fr:fdi:010067657 Jouanno Julien, Capet X., Madec G., Roullet G., Klein P. Dissipation of the energy imparted by mid-latitude storms in the Southern Ocean. Ocean Science, 2016, 12 (3), p. 743-769. |
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