Generation of internal waves by eddies impinging on the western boundary of the North Atlantic
Despite the major role played by mesoscale eddies in redistributing the energy of the large-scale circulation, our understanding of their dissipation is still incomplete. This study investigates the generation of internal waves by decaying eddies in the North Atlantic western boundary. The eddy pres...
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2016
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ftsouthampton:oai:eprints.soton.ac.uk:387985 2023-08-27T04:10:48+02:00 Generation of internal waves by eddies impinging on the western boundary of the North Atlantic Clément, L. Frajka-Williams, E. Sheen, K.L. Brearley, J.A. Naveira Garabato, A.C. 2016-04 text https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/387985/ https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/387985/1/jpo-d-14-0241%25252E1.pdf en English eng https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/387985/1/jpo-d-14-0241%25252E1.pdf Clément, L., Frajka-Williams, E., Sheen, K.L., Brearley, J.A. and Naveira Garabato, A.C. (2016) Generation of internal waves by eddies impinging on the western boundary of the North Atlantic. Journal of Physical Oceanography, 46 (4), 1067-1079. (doi:10.1175/JPO-D-14-0241.1 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1175/JPO-D-14-0241.1>). Article PeerReviewed 2016 ftsouthampton https://doi.org/10.1175/JPO-D-14-0241.1 2023-08-03T22:21:33Z Despite the major role played by mesoscale eddies in redistributing the energy of the large-scale circulation, our understanding of their dissipation is still incomplete. This study investigates the generation of internal waves by decaying eddies in the North Atlantic western boundary. The eddy presence and decay are measured from the altimetric surface relative vorticity associated with an array of full-depth current meters extending ~100 km offshore at 26.5°N. In addition, internal waves are analysed over a topographic rise from 2-year high-frequency measurements of an Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP), which is located 13 km offshore in 600 m deep water. Despite an apparent polarity independence of the eddy decay observed from altimetric data, the flow in the deepest 100 m is enhanced for anticyclones (25.2 cm s?1) compared with cyclones (-4.7 cm s?1). Accordingly, the internal wave field is sensitive to this polarity-dependent deep velocity. This is apparent from the eddy-modulated enhanced dissipation rate, which is obtained from a finescale parameterization and exceeds 10?9 W kg?1 for near-bottom flows greater than 8 cm s?1. The present study underlines the importance of oceanic western boundaries for removing the energy of low-mode westward-propagating eddies to higher-mode internal waves. Article in Journal/Newspaper North Atlantic University of Southampton: e-Prints Soton Journal of Physical Oceanography 46 4 1067 1079 |
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Open Polar |
collection |
University of Southampton: e-Prints Soton |
op_collection_id |
ftsouthampton |
language |
English |
description |
Despite the major role played by mesoscale eddies in redistributing the energy of the large-scale circulation, our understanding of their dissipation is still incomplete. This study investigates the generation of internal waves by decaying eddies in the North Atlantic western boundary. The eddy presence and decay are measured from the altimetric surface relative vorticity associated with an array of full-depth current meters extending ~100 km offshore at 26.5°N. In addition, internal waves are analysed over a topographic rise from 2-year high-frequency measurements of an Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP), which is located 13 km offshore in 600 m deep water. Despite an apparent polarity independence of the eddy decay observed from altimetric data, the flow in the deepest 100 m is enhanced for anticyclones (25.2 cm s?1) compared with cyclones (-4.7 cm s?1). Accordingly, the internal wave field is sensitive to this polarity-dependent deep velocity. This is apparent from the eddy-modulated enhanced dissipation rate, which is obtained from a finescale parameterization and exceeds 10?9 W kg?1 for near-bottom flows greater than 8 cm s?1. The present study underlines the importance of oceanic western boundaries for removing the energy of low-mode westward-propagating eddies to higher-mode internal waves. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Clément, L. Frajka-Williams, E. Sheen, K.L. Brearley, J.A. Naveira Garabato, A.C. |
spellingShingle |
Clément, L. Frajka-Williams, E. Sheen, K.L. Brearley, J.A. Naveira Garabato, A.C. Generation of internal waves by eddies impinging on the western boundary of the North Atlantic |
author_facet |
Clément, L. Frajka-Williams, E. Sheen, K.L. Brearley, J.A. Naveira Garabato, A.C. |
author_sort |
Clément, L. |
title |
Generation of internal waves by eddies impinging on the western boundary of the North Atlantic |
title_short |
Generation of internal waves by eddies impinging on the western boundary of the North Atlantic |
title_full |
Generation of internal waves by eddies impinging on the western boundary of the North Atlantic |
title_fullStr |
Generation of internal waves by eddies impinging on the western boundary of the North Atlantic |
title_full_unstemmed |
Generation of internal waves by eddies impinging on the western boundary of the North Atlantic |
title_sort |
generation of internal waves by eddies impinging on the western boundary of the north atlantic |
publishDate |
2016 |
url |
https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/387985/ https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/387985/1/jpo-d-14-0241%25252E1.pdf |
genre |
North Atlantic |
genre_facet |
North Atlantic |
op_relation |
https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/387985/1/jpo-d-14-0241%25252E1.pdf Clément, L., Frajka-Williams, E., Sheen, K.L., Brearley, J.A. and Naveira Garabato, A.C. (2016) Generation of internal waves by eddies impinging on the western boundary of the North Atlantic. Journal of Physical Oceanography, 46 (4), 1067-1079. (doi:10.1175/JPO-D-14-0241.1 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1175/JPO-D-14-0241.1>). |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1175/JPO-D-14-0241.1 |
container_title |
Journal of Physical Oceanography |
container_volume |
46 |
container_issue |
4 |
container_start_page |
1067 |
op_container_end_page |
1079 |
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1775353116862971904 |