Quantifying ocean mixing from hydrographic data
The relationship between the general circulation of the ocean and, along-isopycnal and vertical mixing is explored. Firstly, advection down isopycnal tracer gradients is related to mixing in specific regions of the ocean. Secondly, a general inverse method is developed for estimating both mixing and...
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UNSW, Sydney
2010
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ftunswworks:oai:unsworks.library.unsw.edu.au:1959.4/44872 2023-05-15T17:29:44+02:00 Quantifying ocean mixing from hydrographic data Zika, Jan David 2010 application/pdf http://hdl.handle.net/1959.4/44872 https://unsworks.unsw.edu.au/bitstreams/4f625da0-bc10-4a06-aee5-7cfb7c036d69/download https://doi.org/10.26190/unsworks/23015 EN eng UNSW, Sydney http://hdl.handle.net/1959.4/44872 https://unsworks.unsw.edu.au/bitstreams/4f625da0-bc10-4a06-aee5-7cfb7c036d69/download https://doi.org/10.26190/unsworks/23015 open access https://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2 CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/au/ free_to_read CC-BY-NC-ND Inverse Methods Ocean Circulation Ocean Mixing doctoral thesis http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_db06 2010 ftunswworks https://doi.org/10.26190/unsworks/23015 2022-08-09T07:36:39Z The relationship between the general circulation of the ocean and, along-isopycnal and vertical mixing is explored. Firstly, advection down isopycnal tracer gradients is related to mixing in specific regions of the ocean. Secondly, a general inverse method is developed for estimating both mixing and the general circulation. Two examples of down gradient advection are explored. Firstly the region of Mediterranean outflow in the North Atlantic. Given a known transport of warm salty water out of the Mediterranean Sea and the mean hydrography of the eastern North Atlantic, the vertical structure of the along-isopycnal mixing coefficient, K, and the vertical mixing coefficient, D, is revealed. Secondly, the Southern Ocean Meridional Overturning Circulation, SMOC, is investigated. There, relatively warm salty water is advected southward, along-isopycnals, toward fresher cooler surface waters. The strength and structure of the SMOC is related to K and D by considering advection down along-isopycnal gradients of temperature and potential vorticity. The ratio of K to D and their magnitudes are identified. A general tool is developed for estimating the ocean circulation and mixing; the \textit{tracer-contour inverse method}. Integrating along contours of constant tracer on isopycnals, differences in a geostrophic streamfunction are related to advection and hence to mixing. This streamfunction is related in the vertical, via an analogous form of the depth integrated thermal wind equation. The tracer-contour inverse method combines aspects of the box, beta spiral and Bernoulli methods. The tracer-contour inverse method is validated against the output of a layered model and against in-situ observations from the eastern North Atlantic. The method accurately reproduces the observed mixing rates and reveals their vertical structure. Doctoral or Postdoctoral Thesis North Atlantic Southern Ocean UNSW Sydney (The University of New South Wales): UNSWorks Southern Ocean |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
UNSW Sydney (The University of New South Wales): UNSWorks |
op_collection_id |
ftunswworks |
language |
English |
topic |
Inverse Methods Ocean Circulation Ocean Mixing |
spellingShingle |
Inverse Methods Ocean Circulation Ocean Mixing Zika, Jan David Quantifying ocean mixing from hydrographic data |
topic_facet |
Inverse Methods Ocean Circulation Ocean Mixing |
description |
The relationship between the general circulation of the ocean and, along-isopycnal and vertical mixing is explored. Firstly, advection down isopycnal tracer gradients is related to mixing in specific regions of the ocean. Secondly, a general inverse method is developed for estimating both mixing and the general circulation. Two examples of down gradient advection are explored. Firstly the region of Mediterranean outflow in the North Atlantic. Given a known transport of warm salty water out of the Mediterranean Sea and the mean hydrography of the eastern North Atlantic, the vertical structure of the along-isopycnal mixing coefficient, K, and the vertical mixing coefficient, D, is revealed. Secondly, the Southern Ocean Meridional Overturning Circulation, SMOC, is investigated. There, relatively warm salty water is advected southward, along-isopycnals, toward fresher cooler surface waters. The strength and structure of the SMOC is related to K and D by considering advection down along-isopycnal gradients of temperature and potential vorticity. The ratio of K to D and their magnitudes are identified. A general tool is developed for estimating the ocean circulation and mixing; the \textit{tracer-contour inverse method}. Integrating along contours of constant tracer on isopycnals, differences in a geostrophic streamfunction are related to advection and hence to mixing. This streamfunction is related in the vertical, via an analogous form of the depth integrated thermal wind equation. The tracer-contour inverse method combines aspects of the box, beta spiral and Bernoulli methods. The tracer-contour inverse method is validated against the output of a layered model and against in-situ observations from the eastern North Atlantic. The method accurately reproduces the observed mixing rates and reveals their vertical structure. |
format |
Doctoral or Postdoctoral Thesis |
author |
Zika, Jan David |
author_facet |
Zika, Jan David |
author_sort |
Zika, Jan David |
title |
Quantifying ocean mixing from hydrographic data |
title_short |
Quantifying ocean mixing from hydrographic data |
title_full |
Quantifying ocean mixing from hydrographic data |
title_fullStr |
Quantifying ocean mixing from hydrographic data |
title_full_unstemmed |
Quantifying ocean mixing from hydrographic data |
title_sort |
quantifying ocean mixing from hydrographic data |
publisher |
UNSW, Sydney |
publishDate |
2010 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/1959.4/44872 https://unsworks.unsw.edu.au/bitstreams/4f625da0-bc10-4a06-aee5-7cfb7c036d69/download https://doi.org/10.26190/unsworks/23015 |
geographic |
Southern Ocean |
geographic_facet |
Southern Ocean |
genre |
North Atlantic Southern Ocean |
genre_facet |
North Atlantic Southern Ocean |
op_relation |
http://hdl.handle.net/1959.4/44872 https://unsworks.unsw.edu.au/bitstreams/4f625da0-bc10-4a06-aee5-7cfb7c036d69/download https://doi.org/10.26190/unsworks/23015 |
op_rights |
open access https://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2 CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/au/ free_to_read |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY-NC-ND |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.26190/unsworks/23015 |
_version_ |
1766124525236256768 |