by T. Nagai, A. Tandon, H. Yamazaki and M. J. Doubell
Abstract:
Enhanced turbulent dissipation, O(10???8???10???7) Wkg???1 in the thermocline on the cyclonic side of the Kuroshio Front was observed during a period of frontogenesis, using a microstructure profiler, XBT and ADCP along 143\UTF00C2\UTF0081\UTF00C3\UTF008A\UTF00C2\UTF0081\UTF00C2\UTF0087E across the Kuroshio Front in August 2008. The eddy diffusivity corresponding to the mixing below the central jet is estimated to be O(10???4???10???3) m2 s???1. The strong turbulent mixing we observed in the Kuroshio is in sharp contrast to previous field measurements which found that small scale diapycnal mixing in western boundary currents remains at levels typically measured in the open ocean thermocline. The turbulence in the Kuroshio is attributed to frontogenesis arising out of an estimated confluence rate of O(10???5) s???1 based on satellite altimeters, suggesting the ubiquity of a forward energy cascade from mesoscale to microscale turbulence near ocean fronts as indicated by recent theoretical studies.
Reference:
Evidence of enhanced turbulent dissipation in the frontogenetic Kuroshio Front thermocline (T. Nagai, A. Tandon, H. Yamazaki and M. J. Doubell), In Geophys. Res. Lett., volume 36, 2009.
Bibtex Entry:
@ARTICLE{Nagai09,
author = {T. Nagai and A. Tandon and H. Yamazaki and M. J. Doubell},
title = {Evidence of enhanced turbulent dissipation in the frontogenetic {K}uroshio
{F}ront thermocline},
journal = {Geophys. Res. Lett.},
year = {2009},
volume = {36},
pages = {L12609},
doi = {doi:10.1029/2009GL038832},
abstract = {Enhanced turbulent dissipation, O(10???8???10???7) Wkg???1 in the thermocline
on the cyclonic side of the Kuroshio Front was observed during a
period of frontogenesis, using a microstructure profiler, XBT and
ADCP along 143\UTF{00C2}\UTF{0081}\UTF{00C3}\UTF{008A}\UTF{00C2}\UTF{0081}\UTF{00C2}\UTF{0087}E across the Kuroshio Front in August 2008. The eddy
diffusivity corresponding to the mixing below the central jet is
estimated to be O(10???4???10???3) m2 s???1. The strong turbulent mixing
we observed in the Kuroshio is in sharp contrast to previous field
measurements which found that small scale diapycnal mixing in western
boundary currents remains at levels typically measured in the open
ocean thermocline. The turbulence in the Kuroshio is attributed to
frontogenesis arising out of an estimated confluence rate of O(10???5)
s???1 based on satellite altimeters, suggesting the ubiquity of a forward
energy cascade from mesoscale to microscale turbulence near ocean
fronts as indicated by recent theoretical studies.},
owner = {tnagai},
timestamp = {2011.01.21},
comment={<a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2009GL038832/abstract" target="_blank">[Link]</a>}
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}