Turbulent mixing in the ocean is key to regulate the transport of heat, freshwater and biogeochemical tracers, with strong implications for Earth's climate. In the deep ocean, tides supply much of ...the mechanical energy required to sustain mixing via the generation of internal waves, known as internal tides, whose fate-the relative importance of their local versus remote breaking into turbulence-remains uncertain. Here, we combine a semi-analytical model of internal tide generation with satellite and in situ measurements to show that from an energetic viewpoint, small-scale internal tides, hitherto overlooked, account for the bulk (>50%) of global internal tide generation, breaking and mixing. Furthermore, we unveil the pronounced geographical variations of their energy proportion, ignored by current parameterisations of mixing in climate-scale models. Based on these results, we propose a physically consistent, observationally supported approach to accurately represent the dissipation of small-scale internal tides and their induced mixing in climate-scale models.
Abstract
We study the generation, propagation, and dissipation of wind-generated near-inertial waves (NIWs) in a global 1/25° Hybrid Coordinate Ocean Model (HYCOM) simulation with realistic ...atmospheric forcing and background circulation during 30 days in May–June 2019. The time-mean near-inertial wind power input and depth-integrated energy balance terms are computed for the total fields and the fields decomposed into vertical modes to differentiate between the radiative and (locally) dissipative components of NIW energy. Only 30.3% of the near-inertial wind input projects onto the first five modes, whereas the sum of the NIW energy in the first five modes adds up to 58% of the total NIW energy. Almost all of the depth-integrated NIW horizontal energy flux projects on the first five modes. The global distribution of dissipation and decay distances of NIW modes confirm that lower latitudes are a sink for NIW energy generated at higher latitudes. The locally dissipated fraction of NIW energy
q
local
is found to be uniform throughout the global ocean, with a global mean value of 0.79. The horizontal NIW fluxes diverge from areas with cyclonic vorticity and converge in areas with anticyclonic vorticity; that is, anticyclonic eddies are a sink for NIW energy fluxes—in particular, for higher modes. Most of the residual energy that does not project onto modes propagates downward in anticyclonic eddies. The global near-inertial wind power input is 0.21 TW for the 30 days, of which only 19% is transmitted below 500-m depth.
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DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Abstract
Luzon Strait between Taiwan and the Philippines features two parallel north–south-oriented ridges. The barotropic tides that propagate over these ridges cause strong internal waves and ...dissipation. The energy dissipation mechanisms and the role of the baroclinic wave fields in this dissipation are investigated using numerical simulations with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology general circulation model (MITgcm). The model is integrated over two-dimensional configurations along a zonal transect at 20.6°N for a maximum duration of a spring–neap cycle. Nearly all dissipation occurs at the steep ridge crests due to high-mode turbulent lee waves with horizontal scales of several kilometers and vertical scales of hundreds of meters. The spatial structure and timing of the predicted velocities and dissipation agree with observations and confirm the existence of these lee waves. The lee wave strength is greatly affected by the internal waves generated at the other ridge. When semidiurnal barotropic tides are dominant, the internal wave beams from both ridges nearly superpose after one surface reflection. The remotely generated internal waves from both ridges are therefore in phase with each other and the barotropic tides at the ridges. The barotropic-to-baroclinic energy conversion, energy flux divergence, ridge top velocities, and dissipation are stronger compared to the sum of the single east ridge and single west ridge cases. When diurnal tides are dominant, the wave fields are more out of phase and the conversion, divergence, and dissipation are less than or equal to the single ridge cases combined.
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DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Internal tides (ITs) play a critical role in ocean mixing, and have strong signatures in ocean observations. Here, global IT sea surface height (SSH) in nadir altimetry is compared with an ocean ...forecast model that assimilates de‐tided SSH from nadir altimetry. The forecast model removes IT SSH variance from nadir altimetry at skill levels comparable to those achieved with empirical analysis of nadir altimetry. Accurate removal of IT SSH is needed to fully reveal lower‐frequency mesoscale eddies and currents in altimeter data. Analysis windows of order 30–120 days, made possible by the frequent (hourly) outputs of the forecast model, remove more IT SSH variance than longer windows. Forecast models offer a promising new approach for global internal tide mapping and altimetry correction. Because they provide information on the full water column, forecast models can also help to improve understanding of the underlying dynamics of ITs.
Plain Language Summary
Tidal flow over topographic features on the seafloor generates vertical displacements along the interfaces of ocean layers that have different densities. These vertical displacements at tidal frequencies are known as internal tides. Internal tide displacements are largest well below the sea surface, but also display a sea surface height (SSH) signature that is large enough to be measured by satellite altimeters. Removing internal tide signals from satellite altimeter SSH allows for a more accurate accounting of non‐tidal features, including slowly evolving ocean currents and eddies, that are also measured by altimeters. Here, we show that supercomputer ocean forecast simulations of the global internal tide field are able to remove internal tide SSH from satellite altimeter measurements with a skill level that is comparable to the skill of internal tide SSH removal based upon analysis of the satellite altimeter data itself. Thus, forecast models offer a complementary method for this important task. In addition, forecast models provide information on the entire ocean water column, not just the sea surface. Finally, the hourly outputs of forecast models allow for a greater variety of tidal analysis record lengths than can be achieved with altimeter outputs, which report sea surface height fields much less frequently.
Key Points
Global ocean forecast models can accurately simulate both long‐term (phase‐locked) internal tides and their short‐term modulations
Ocean forecast models offer a useful complement to empirical models for mapping internal tides and correcting altimetry for internal tides
In regions of strong internal tides, optimal variance reduction in nadir altimetry is attained through short‐term tidal analyses (∼60 days)
The three-dimensional (3D) double-ridge internal tide interference in the Luzon Strait in the South China Sea is examined by comparing 3D and two-dimensional (2D) realistic simulations. Both the 3D ...simulations and observations indicate the presence of 3D first-mode (semi)diurnal standing waves in the 3.6-km-deep trench in the strait. As in an earlier 2D study, barotropic-to-baroclinic energy conversion, flux divergence, and dissipation are greatly enhanced when semidiurnal tides dominate relative to periods dominated by diurnal tides. The resonance in the 3D simulation is several times stronger than in the 2D simulations for the central strait. Idealized experiments indicate that, in addition to ridge height, the resonance is only a function of separation distance and not of the along-ridge length; that is, the enhanced resonance in 3D is not caused by 3D standing waves or basin modes. Instead, the difference in resonance between the 2D and 3D simulations is attributed to the topographic blocking of the barotropic flow by the 3D ridges, affecting wave generation, and a more constructive phasing between the remotely generated internal waves, arriving under oblique angles, and the barotropic tide. Most of the resonance occurs for the first mode. The contribution of the higher modes is reduced because of 3D radiation, multiple generation sites, scattering, and a rapid decay in amplitude away from the ridge.
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DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Internal waves contain a large amount of energy in the ocean and are an important source of turbulent mixing. Ocean mixing is relevant for climate because it drives vertical transport of water, heat, ...carbon and other tracers. Understanding the life cycle of internal waves, from generation to dissipation, is therefore important for improving the representation of ocean mixing in climate models. Here, we provide evidence from a regional realistic numerical simulation in the northeastern Pacific that the wind can play an important role in damping internal waves through current feedback. This results in a reduction of 67% of wind power input at near-inertial frequencies in the region of study. Wind-current feedback also provides a net energy sink for internal tides, removing energy at a rate of 0.2 mW/mFormula: see text on average, corresponding to 8% of the local internal tide generation at the Mendocino ridge. The temporal variability and modal distribution of this energy sink are also investigated.
The effects of a parameterized linear internal wave drag on the semidiurnal barotropic and baroclinic energetics of a realistically forced, three-dimensional global ocean model are analyzed. Although ...the main purpose of the parameterization is to improve the surface tides, it also influences the internal tides. The relatively coarse resolution of the model of ~8 km only permits the generation and propagation of the first three vertical modes. Hence, this wave drag parameterization represents the energy conversion to and the subsequent breaking of the unresolved high modes. The total tidal energy input and the spatial distribution of the barotropic energy loss agree with the Ocean Topography Experiment (TOPEX)/Poseidon (TPXO) tidal inversion model. The wave drag overestimates the high-mode conversion at ocean ridges as measured against regional high-resolution models. The wave drag also damps the low-mode internal tides as they propagate away from their generation sites. Hence, it can be considered a scattering parameterization, causing more than 50% of the deep-water dissipation of the internal tides. In the near field, most of the baroclinic dissipation is attributed to viscous and numerical dissipation. The far-field decay of the simulated internal tides is in agreement with satellite altimetry and falls within the broad range of Argo-inferred dissipation rates. In the simulation, about 12% of the semidiurnal internal tide energy generated in deep water reaches the continental margins.
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DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Barrier systems around the world are experiencing accelerated sea-level rise, reduced sediment supply, and frequent hurricane impacts. However, detailed quantitative field-based studies concerning ...the response to these external forcing mechanisms are scarce, particularly on the scale of entire islands. The Mississippi – Alabama barrier island chain, located along the U.S. Gulf of Mexico coastline has lost land on the order of hectares per year since records began in the 1840s, putting mainland coastal communities and important ecosystems at risk. Here we present an analysis of Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) digital elevation models, revealing erosional/depositional patterns and geomorphologic changes around the most vulnerable of these islands, Ship Island. Four LiDAR datasets (2004, 2007, 2010, and 2012), capturing the complete topography of the island and some bathymetry in the inlet and surrounding shallows to depths of up to 8 m, are used to investigate subaerial and subaqueous sediment volume changes between these years. The impact of Hurricane Katrina, which produced the highest storm surge ever recorded in the United States, is captured in the 2004–2007 dataset. During this time, sediment comparable to 1.5 times the 2004 subaerial island volume was lost from the area included in the topographic/bathymetric dataset. Only 1/5 of this volume was recovered to this area between 2007 and 2010. The island returned to a state of sediment loss between 2010 and 2012, albeit within the error bounds, while the areal extent of the islands continued to increase. This study examines the impact severe storm events can have on vulnerable barrier islands. It highlights the importance of utilizing 3D datasets that include both topographic and bathymetric data for morphodynamic analyses of barrier island systems.
•LiDAR constrains subaerial and subaqueous evolution of Ship Island, MS.•After Hurricane Katrina, 1.5 times the subaerial volume was lost from the barrier.•Only 1/5 of the original 2004 volume was recovered between 2007 and 2010.•Minor net sediment loss occurred between 2010 and 2012.
Abstract
The evidence for, baroclinic energetics of, and geographic distribution of parametric subharmonic instability (PSI) arising from both diurnal and semidiurnal tides in a global ocean general ...circulation model is investigated using 1/12.5° and 1/25° simulations that are forced by both atmospheric analysis fields and the astronomical tidal potential. The paper examines whether PSI occurs in the model, and whether it accounts for a significant fraction of the tidal baroclinic energy loss. Using energy transfer calculations and bispectral analyses, evidence is found for PSI around the critical latitudes of the tides. The intensity of both diurnal and semidiurnal PSI in the simulations is greatest in the upper ocean, consistent with previous results from idealized simulations, and quickly drops off about 5° from the critical latitudes. The sign of energy transfer depends on location; the transfer is positive (from the tides to subharmonic waves) in some locations and negative in others. The net globally integrated energy transfer is positive in all simulations and is 0.5%–10% of the amount of energy required to close the baroclinic energy budget in the model. The net amount of energy transfer is about an order of magnitude larger in the 1/25° semidiurnal simulation than the 1/12.5° one, implying the dependence of the rate of energy transfer on model resolution.
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DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
In this study, we diagnose the time variability and vertical structure of the high- and low-frequency motions on the Mississippi-Alabama Shelf as observed with a bottom-mounted ADCP (Acoustic Doppler ...Current Profiler) and CTD (Conductivity-Temperature-Depth). The mooring was deployed about 20 km offshore of Mobile Bay for a period from May 17 to August 23, 2018. At this latitude, the diurnal land and sea breeze has the same frequency as the local inertial frequency. Similar to the wind, the observed high-frequency baroclinic velocities (> 30 cm/s) have a broadband diurnal peak and more energy in the clockwise motions. About 60% of the variance in these motions is due to mode 1, which resembles a two-layer structure with surface and bottom velocities that are 180
∘
out of phase. These are all characteristics of wind-driven motions that interact with the coastal wall. The month of June features the best conditions for energetic near-inertial motions: upwelling, consistent sea breeze, and a more continuous instead of a two-layer stratification. This causes near-inertial energy to be also projected on a baroclinic mode 2, featuring a subsurface maximum. This maximum may be attributed to the downward propagation of near-inertial internal wave energy. The observed alongshore low-frequency flows and the up- and downwelling are mostly driven by low-frequency winds. About 83% of the variance in the alongshore low-frequency flows is due to mode 1, which eigenfunction resembles a vertically sheared flow. We find that the amplitude of the near-inertial motions is modulated by the up- and downwelling. During downwelling, the near-inertial baroclinic kinetic energy is greatly reduced because of a reduction in stratification and weaker diurnal winds.
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