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Abstract While lee-wave generation has been argued to be a major sink for the 1-TW wind work on the ocean’s circulation, microstructure measurements in the Antarctic Circumpolar Currents find dissipation rates as much as an order of magnitude weaker than linear lee-wave generation predictions in bottom-intensified currents. Wave action conservation suggests that a substantial fraction of lee-wave radiation can be reabsorbed into bottom-intensified flows. Numerical simulations are conducted here to investigate generation, reabsorption, and dissipation of internal lee waves in a bottom-intensified, laterally confined jet that resembles a localized abyssal current over bottom topography. For the case of monochromatic topography with |kU0| ≈ 0.9N, wherekis the along-stream topographic wavenumber, |U0| is the near-bottom flow speed, andNis the buoyancy frequency; Reynolds-decomposed energy conservation is consistent with linear wave action conservation predictions that only 14% of lee-wave generation is dissipated, with the bulk of lee-wave energy flux reabsorbed by the bottom-intensified flow. Thus, water column reabsorption needs to be taken into account as a possible mechanism for reducing the lee-wave dissipative sink for balanced circulation.
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Parameterizing Nonpropagating Form Drag over Rough Bathymetry
Abstract Slowly evolving stratified flow over rough topography is subject to substantial drag due to internal motions, but often numerical simulations are carried out at resolutions where this “wave” drag must be parameterized. Here we highlight the importance of internal drag from topography with scales that cannot radiate internal waves, but may be highly nonlinear, and we propose a simple parameterization of this drag that has a minimum of fit parameters compared to existing schemes. The parameterization smoothly transitions from a quadratic drag law () for lowNh/u0(linear wave dynamics) to a linear drag law () for highNh/u0flows (nonlinear blocking and hydraulic dynamics), whereNis the stratification,his the height of the topography, andu0is the near-bottom velocity; the parameterization does not have a dependence on Coriolis frequency. Simulations carried out in a channel with synthetic bathymetry and steady body forcing indicate that this parameterization accurately predicts drag across a broad range of forcing parameters when the effect of reduced near-bottom mixing is taken into account by reducing the effective height of the topography. The parameterization is also tested in simulations of wind-driven channel flows that generate mesoscale eddy fields, a setup where the downstream transport is sensitive to the bottom drag parameterization and its effect on the eddies. In these simulations, the parameterization replicates the effect of rough bathymetry on the eddies. If extrapolated globally, the subinertial topographic scales can account for 2.7 TW of work done on the low-frequency circulation, an important sink that is redistributed to mixing in the open ocean.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1756882
- PAR ID:
- 10515925
- Publisher / Repository:
- American Meteorological Society
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Journal of Physical Oceanography
- Volume:
- 51
- Issue:
- 5
- ISSN:
- 0022-3670
- Format(s):
- Medium: X Size: p. 1489-1501
- Size(s):
- p. 1489-1501
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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