DOI: 10.1038/ngeo1657
论文题名: Routes to energy dissipation for geostrophic flows in the Southern Ocean
作者: Nikurashin M. ; Vallis G.K. ; Adcroft A.
刊名: Nature Geoscience
ISSN: 17520894
出版年: 2013
卷: 6, 期: 1 起始页码: 48
结束页码: 51
语种: 英语
Scopus关键词: carbon dioxide
; catalysis
; dissipation
; energy efficiency
; freshwater environment
; geostrophic flow
; heat balance
; kinetic energy
; oceanic circulation
; topography
; turbulent boundary layer
; turbulent mixing
; wind power
; Antarctic Circumpolar Current
; Southern Ocean
英文摘要: The ocean circulation is forced at a global scale by winds and fluxes of heat and fresh water. Kinetic energy is dissipated at much smaller scales in the turbulent boundary layers and in the ocean interior, where turbulent mixing controls the transport and storage of tracers such as heat and carbon dioxide. The primary site of wind power input is the Southern Ocean, where the westerly winds are aligned with the Antarctic Circumpolar Current. The potential energy created here is converted into a vigorous geostrophic eddy field through baroclinic instabilities. The eddy energy can power mixing in the ocean interior, but the mechanisms governing energy transfer to the dissipation scale are poorly constrained. Here we present simulations that simultaneously resolve meso- and submeso-scale motions as well as internal waves generated by topography in the Southern Ocean. In our simulations, more than 80% of the wind power input is converted from geostrophic eddies to smaller-scale motions in the abyssal ocean. The conversion is catalysed by rough, small-scale topography. The bulk of the energy is dissipated within the bottom 100 m of the ocean, but about 20% is radiated and dissipated away from topography in the ocean interior, where it can sustain turbulent mixing. We conclude that in the absence of rough topography, the turbulent mixing in the ocean interior would be diminished. © 2013 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved. Citation statistics:
资源类型: 期刊论文
标识符: http://119.78.100.158/handle/2HF3EXSE/106897
Appears in Collections: 气候减缓与适应 科学计划与规划
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作者单位: AOS Program, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08540, United States; Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, University of Tasmania, Hobart, TAS 7001, Australia
Recommended Citation:
Nikurashin M.,Vallis G.K.,Adcroft A.. Routes to energy dissipation for geostrophic flows in the Southern Ocean[J]. Nature Geoscience,2013-01-01,6(1)