Isopycnal Eddy Diffusivities and Critical Layers in the Kuroshio Extension from an Eddying Ocean Model
Abstract
High spatial resolution isopycnal diffusivities are estimated in the Kuroshio Extension (KE) region (28°–40°N, 120°–190°E) from a global 1/10° Parallel Ocean Program (POP) simulation. The numerical float tracks are binned using a clustering approach. The number of tracks in each bin is thus roughly the same leading to diffusivity estimates that converge better than those in bins defined by a regular geographic grid. Cross-stream diffusivities are elevated in the southern recirculation gyre region, near topographic obstacles and downstream in the KE jet, where the flow has weakened. Along-stream diffusivities, which are much larger than cross-stream diffusivities, correlate well with the magnitudes of eddy velocity. The KE jet suppresses cross-stream mixing only in some longitude ranges. This study estimates the critical layer depth both from linear local baroclinic instability analysis and from eddy phase speeds in the POP model using the Radon transform. The latter is a better predictor of large mixing length in the cross-stream direction. Critical layer theory is most applicable in the intense jet regions away from topography.
- Authors:
-
- Univ. of California, San Diego, CA (United States). Scripps Inst. of Oceanography
- Univ. of Hamburg (Germany)
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility (OLCF); Univ. of California, San Diego, CA (United States). Scripps Inst. of Oceanography
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC)
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1565243
- Resource Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- Journal of Physical Oceanography
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 44; Journal Issue: 8; Journal ID: ISSN 0022-3670
- Publisher:
- American Meteorological Society
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES; Oceanography
Citation Formats
Chen, Ru, McClean, Julie L., Gille, Sarah T., and Griesel, Alexa. Isopycnal Eddy Diffusivities and Critical Layers in the Kuroshio Extension from an Eddying Ocean Model. United States: N. p., 2014.
Web. doi:10.1175/jpo-d-13-0258.1.
Chen, Ru, McClean, Julie L., Gille, Sarah T., & Griesel, Alexa. Isopycnal Eddy Diffusivities and Critical Layers in the Kuroshio Extension from an Eddying Ocean Model. United States. https://doi.org/10.1175/jpo-d-13-0258.1
Chen, Ru, McClean, Julie L., Gille, Sarah T., and Griesel, Alexa. Tue .
"Isopycnal Eddy Diffusivities and Critical Layers in the Kuroshio Extension from an Eddying Ocean Model". United States. https://doi.org/10.1175/jpo-d-13-0258.1. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1565243.
@article{osti_1565243,
title = {Isopycnal Eddy Diffusivities and Critical Layers in the Kuroshio Extension from an Eddying Ocean Model},
author = {Chen, Ru and McClean, Julie L. and Gille, Sarah T. and Griesel, Alexa},
abstractNote = {High spatial resolution isopycnal diffusivities are estimated in the Kuroshio Extension (KE) region (28°–40°N, 120°–190°E) from a global 1/10° Parallel Ocean Program (POP) simulation. The numerical float tracks are binned using a clustering approach. The number of tracks in each bin is thus roughly the same leading to diffusivity estimates that converge better than those in bins defined by a regular geographic grid. Cross-stream diffusivities are elevated in the southern recirculation gyre region, near topographic obstacles and downstream in the KE jet, where the flow has weakened. Along-stream diffusivities, which are much larger than cross-stream diffusivities, correlate well with the magnitudes of eddy velocity. The KE jet suppresses cross-stream mixing only in some longitude ranges. This study estimates the critical layer depth both from linear local baroclinic instability analysis and from eddy phase speeds in the POP model using the Radon transform. The latter is a better predictor of large mixing length in the cross-stream direction. Critical layer theory is most applicable in the intense jet regions away from topography.},
doi = {10.1175/jpo-d-13-0258.1},
journal = {Journal of Physical Oceanography},
number = 8,
volume = 44,
place = {United States},
year = {Tue Aug 05 00:00:00 EDT 2014},
month = {Tue Aug 05 00:00:00 EDT 2014}
}
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Figures / Tables:
FIG. 1: Color shows the bathymetry (m) in the study domain, and black contours are streamlines averaged over the years 1994 and 1995. Streamlines are defined in Eq. (1). Blue texts denote major topographic features in this region: Izu Ridge, Shatsky Rise, Emperor Seamounts, and Hess Rise.
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