On the Loss of Wind-Induced Near-Inertial Energy to Turbulent Mixing in the Upper Ocean
- 1 November 2009
- journal article
- research article
- Published by American Meteorological Society in Journal of Physical Oceanography
- Vol. 39 (11), 3040-3045
- https://doi.org/10.1175/2009jpo4259.1
Abstract
Wind-induced near-inertial energy has been believed to be an important source for generating the ocean mixing required to maintain the global meridional overturning circulation. In the present study, the near-inertial energy budget in a realistic model of the North Atlantic Ocean driven by synoptically varying wind forcing is examined. The authors find that nearly 70% of the wind-induced near-inertial energy at the sea surface is lost to turbulent mixing within the top 200 m and, hence, is not available to generate diapycnal mixing at greater depth. Assuming this result can be extended to the global ocean, it is estimated that the wind-induced near-inertial energy available for ocean mixing at depth is, at most, 0.1 TW. This confirms a recent suggestion that the role of wind-induced near-inertial energy in sustaining the global overturning circulation might have been overemphasized.Keywords
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