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Title: Double Diffusion, Shear Instabilities, and Heat Impacts of a Pacific Summer Water Intrusion in the Beaufort Sea
Abstract

Pacific Summer Water eddies and intrusions transport heat and salt from boundary regions into the western Arctic basin. Here we examine concurrent effects of lateral stirring and vertical mixing using microstructure data collected within a Pacific Summer Water intrusion with a length scale of ∼20 km. This intrusion was characterized by complex thermohaline structure in which warm Pacific Summer Water interleaved in alternating layers ofm thickness with cooler water, due to lateral stirring and intrusive processes. Along interfaces between warm/salty and cold/freshwater masses, the density ratio was favorable to double-diffusive processes. The rate of dissipation of turbulent kinetic energy (ε) was elevated along the interleaving surfaces, with values up to 3 × 10−8W kg−1compared to backgroundεof less than 10−9W kg−1. Based on the distribution ofεas a function of density ratioRρ, we conclude that double-diffusive convection is largely responsible for the elevatedεobserved over the survey. The lateral processes that created the layered thermohaline structure resulted in vertical thermohaline gradients susceptible to double-diffusive convection, resulting in upward vertical heat fluxes. Bulk vertical heat fluxes above the intrusion are estimated in the range of 0.2–1 W m−2, with the localized flux above the uppermost warm layer elevated to 2–10 W m−2. Lateral fluxes are much larger, estimated between 1000 and 5000 W m−2, and set an overall decay rate for the intrusion of 1–5 years.

 
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NSF-PAR ID:
10363873
Author(s) / Creator(s):
 ;  ;  ;  ;  ;  ;  ;  ;  ;  
Publisher / Repository:
American Meteorological Society
Date Published:
Journal Name:
Journal of Physical Oceanography
Volume:
52
Issue:
2
ISSN:
0022-3670
Format(s):
Medium: X Size: p. 189-203
Size(s):
["p. 189-203"]
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
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