Tidal Conversion and Mixing Poleward of the Critical Latitude (an Arctic Case Study)
©2017. American Geophysical Union. The tides are a major source of the kinetic energy supporting turbulent mixing in the global oceans. The prime mechanism for the transfer of tidal energy to turbulent mixing results from the interaction between topography and stratified tidal flow, leading to the g...
Published in: | Geophysical Research Letters |
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Language: | English |
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American Geophysical Union
2017
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Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/10026.1/10564 https://doi.org/10.1002/2017GL075310 |
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ftunivplympearl:oai:pearl.plymouth.ac.uk:10026.1/10564 2023-05-15T15:08:46+02:00 Tidal Conversion and Mixing Poleward of the Critical Latitude (an Arctic Case Study) Rippeth, TP Vlasenko, V Stashchuk, N Scannell, BD Green, JAM Lincoln, BJ Bacon, S 2017-12-26 12349 - 12357 http://hdl.handle.net/10026.1/10564 https://doi.org/10.1002/2017GL075310 en eng American Geophysical Union ISSN:0094-8276 E-ISSN:1944-8007 0094-8276 http://hdl.handle.net/10026.1/10564 doi:10.1002/2017GL075310 1944-8007 Not known Journal Article 2017 ftunivplympearl https://doi.org/10.1002/2017GL075310 2021-03-09T18:35:40Z ©2017. American Geophysical Union. The tides are a major source of the kinetic energy supporting turbulent mixing in the global oceans. The prime mechanism for the transfer of tidal energy to turbulent mixing results from the interaction between topography and stratified tidal flow, leading to the generation of freely propagating internal waves at the period of the forcing tide. However, poleward of the critical latitude (where the period of the principal tidal constituent exceeds the local inertial period), the action of the Coriolis force precludes the development of freely propagating linear internal tides. Here we focus on a region of sloping topography, poleward of the critical latitude, where there is significant conversion of tidal energy and the flow is supercritical (Froude number, Fr > 1). A high-resolution nonlinear modeling study demonstrates the key role of tidally generated lee waves and supercritical flow in the transfer of energy from the barotropic tide to internal waves in these high-latitude regions. Time series of flow and water column structure from the region of interest show internal waves with characteristics consistent with those predicted by the model, and concurrent microstructure dissipation measurements show significant levels of mixing associated with these internal waves. The results suggest that tidally generated lee waves are a key mechanism for the transfer of energy from the tide to turbulence poleward of the critical latitude. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic PEARL (Plymouth Electronic Archiv & ResearchLibrary, Plymouth University) Arctic Geophysical Research Letters 44 24 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
PEARL (Plymouth Electronic Archiv & ResearchLibrary, Plymouth University) |
op_collection_id |
ftunivplympearl |
language |
English |
description |
©2017. American Geophysical Union. The tides are a major source of the kinetic energy supporting turbulent mixing in the global oceans. The prime mechanism for the transfer of tidal energy to turbulent mixing results from the interaction between topography and stratified tidal flow, leading to the generation of freely propagating internal waves at the period of the forcing tide. However, poleward of the critical latitude (where the period of the principal tidal constituent exceeds the local inertial period), the action of the Coriolis force precludes the development of freely propagating linear internal tides. Here we focus on a region of sloping topography, poleward of the critical latitude, where there is significant conversion of tidal energy and the flow is supercritical (Froude number, Fr > 1). A high-resolution nonlinear modeling study demonstrates the key role of tidally generated lee waves and supercritical flow in the transfer of energy from the barotropic tide to internal waves in these high-latitude regions. Time series of flow and water column structure from the region of interest show internal waves with characteristics consistent with those predicted by the model, and concurrent microstructure dissipation measurements show significant levels of mixing associated with these internal waves. The results suggest that tidally generated lee waves are a key mechanism for the transfer of energy from the tide to turbulence poleward of the critical latitude. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Rippeth, TP Vlasenko, V Stashchuk, N Scannell, BD Green, JAM Lincoln, BJ Bacon, S |
spellingShingle |
Rippeth, TP Vlasenko, V Stashchuk, N Scannell, BD Green, JAM Lincoln, BJ Bacon, S Tidal Conversion and Mixing Poleward of the Critical Latitude (an Arctic Case Study) |
author_facet |
Rippeth, TP Vlasenko, V Stashchuk, N Scannell, BD Green, JAM Lincoln, BJ Bacon, S |
author_sort |
Rippeth, TP |
title |
Tidal Conversion and Mixing Poleward of the Critical Latitude (an Arctic Case Study) |
title_short |
Tidal Conversion and Mixing Poleward of the Critical Latitude (an Arctic Case Study) |
title_full |
Tidal Conversion and Mixing Poleward of the Critical Latitude (an Arctic Case Study) |
title_fullStr |
Tidal Conversion and Mixing Poleward of the Critical Latitude (an Arctic Case Study) |
title_full_unstemmed |
Tidal Conversion and Mixing Poleward of the Critical Latitude (an Arctic Case Study) |
title_sort |
tidal conversion and mixing poleward of the critical latitude (an arctic case study) |
publisher |
American Geophysical Union |
publishDate |
2017 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/10026.1/10564 https://doi.org/10.1002/2017GL075310 |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic |
genre_facet |
Arctic |
op_relation |
ISSN:0094-8276 E-ISSN:1944-8007 0094-8276 http://hdl.handle.net/10026.1/10564 doi:10.1002/2017GL075310 1944-8007 |
op_rights |
Not known |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1002/2017GL075310 |
container_title |
Geophysical Research Letters |
container_volume |
44 |
container_issue |
24 |
_version_ |
1766340069882331136 |