Rapid mixing and exchange of deep-ocean waters in an abyssal boundary current
The overturning circulation of the global ocean is critically shaped by deep-ocean mixing, which transforms cold waters sinking at high latitudes into warmer, shallower waters. The effectiveness of mixing in driving this transformation is jointly set by two factors: the intensity of turbulence near...
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ftpubmed:oai:pubmedcentral.nih.gov:6613131 2023-05-15T18:25:25+02:00 Rapid mixing and exchange of deep-ocean waters in an abyssal boundary current Naveira Garabato, Alberto C. Frajka-Williams, Eleanor E. Spingys, Carl P. Legg, Sonya Polzin, Kurt L. Forryan, Alexander Abrahamsen, E. Povl Buckingham, Christian E. Griffies, Stephen M. McPhail, Stephen D. Nicholls, Keith W. Thomas, Leif N. Meredith, Michael P. 2019-07-02 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6613131/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31213535 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1904087116 en eng National Academy of Sciences http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6613131/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31213535 http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1904087116 Copyright © 2019 the Author(s). Published by PNAS. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This open access article is distributed under Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0 (CC BY) (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) . CC-BY Physical Sciences Text 2019 ftpubmed https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1904087116 2019-07-21T00:23:01Z The overturning circulation of the global ocean is critically shaped by deep-ocean mixing, which transforms cold waters sinking at high latitudes into warmer, shallower waters. The effectiveness of mixing in driving this transformation is jointly set by two factors: the intensity of turbulence near topography and the rate at which well-mixed boundary waters are exchanged with the stratified ocean interior. Here, we use innovative observations of a major branch of the overturning circulation—an abyssal boundary current in the Southern Ocean—to identify a previously undocumented mixing mechanism, by which deep-ocean waters are efficiently laundered through intensified near-boundary turbulence and boundary–interior exchange. The linchpin of the mechanism is the generation of submesoscale dynamical instabilities by the flow of deep-ocean waters along a steep topographic boundary. As the conditions conducive to this mode of mixing are common to many abyssal boundary currents, our findings highlight an imperative for its representation in models of oceanic overturning. Text Southern Ocean PubMed Central (PMC) Southern Ocean Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 116 27 13233 13238 |
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Physical Sciences |
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Physical Sciences Naveira Garabato, Alberto C. Frajka-Williams, Eleanor E. Spingys, Carl P. Legg, Sonya Polzin, Kurt L. Forryan, Alexander Abrahamsen, E. Povl Buckingham, Christian E. Griffies, Stephen M. McPhail, Stephen D. Nicholls, Keith W. Thomas, Leif N. Meredith, Michael P. Rapid mixing and exchange of deep-ocean waters in an abyssal boundary current |
topic_facet |
Physical Sciences |
description |
The overturning circulation of the global ocean is critically shaped by deep-ocean mixing, which transforms cold waters sinking at high latitudes into warmer, shallower waters. The effectiveness of mixing in driving this transformation is jointly set by two factors: the intensity of turbulence near topography and the rate at which well-mixed boundary waters are exchanged with the stratified ocean interior. Here, we use innovative observations of a major branch of the overturning circulation—an abyssal boundary current in the Southern Ocean—to identify a previously undocumented mixing mechanism, by which deep-ocean waters are efficiently laundered through intensified near-boundary turbulence and boundary–interior exchange. The linchpin of the mechanism is the generation of submesoscale dynamical instabilities by the flow of deep-ocean waters along a steep topographic boundary. As the conditions conducive to this mode of mixing are common to many abyssal boundary currents, our findings highlight an imperative for its representation in models of oceanic overturning. |
format |
Text |
author |
Naveira Garabato, Alberto C. Frajka-Williams, Eleanor E. Spingys, Carl P. Legg, Sonya Polzin, Kurt L. Forryan, Alexander Abrahamsen, E. Povl Buckingham, Christian E. Griffies, Stephen M. McPhail, Stephen D. Nicholls, Keith W. Thomas, Leif N. Meredith, Michael P. |
author_facet |
Naveira Garabato, Alberto C. Frajka-Williams, Eleanor E. Spingys, Carl P. Legg, Sonya Polzin, Kurt L. Forryan, Alexander Abrahamsen, E. Povl Buckingham, Christian E. Griffies, Stephen M. McPhail, Stephen D. Nicholls, Keith W. Thomas, Leif N. Meredith, Michael P. |
author_sort |
Naveira Garabato, Alberto C. |
title |
Rapid mixing and exchange of deep-ocean waters in an abyssal boundary current |
title_short |
Rapid mixing and exchange of deep-ocean waters in an abyssal boundary current |
title_full |
Rapid mixing and exchange of deep-ocean waters in an abyssal boundary current |
title_fullStr |
Rapid mixing and exchange of deep-ocean waters in an abyssal boundary current |
title_full_unstemmed |
Rapid mixing and exchange of deep-ocean waters in an abyssal boundary current |
title_sort |
rapid mixing and exchange of deep-ocean waters in an abyssal boundary current |
publisher |
National Academy of Sciences |
publishDate |
2019 |
url |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6613131/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31213535 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1904087116 |
geographic |
Southern Ocean |
geographic_facet |
Southern Ocean |
genre |
Southern Ocean |
genre_facet |
Southern Ocean |
op_relation |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6613131/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31213535 http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1904087116 |
op_rights |
Copyright © 2019 the Author(s). Published by PNAS. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This open access article is distributed under Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0 (CC BY) (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) . |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1904087116 |
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Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |
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116 |
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27 |
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13233 |
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13238 |
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1766206855095255040 |