Search for: All records

Abstract Background subsurface vertical mixing rates in the Southern Ocean (SO) are known to vary by an order of magnitude temporally and spatially, due to variability in their generating mechanisms, which include winds and shear instabilities at the surface, and the interaction of tides and lee waves with rough bottom topography. There is great uncertainty in the parameterization of this mixing in coarse resolution Earth System Models (ESM), and in the impact that this has on SO biological productivity on sub decadal timescales. Using a data assimilating biogeochemical ocean model we show that SO phytoplankton productivity is highly sensitive to differences in background diapycnal mixing over short timescales. Changes in the background vertical mixing rates alter key biogeochemical and physical conditions. The greatest changes to the distribution of physical and biogeochemical tracers occur in regions with very strong tracer vertical gradients. A combination of reduced nutrient limitation and reduced light limitation causes a strong increase in SO phytoplankton productivity with higher background mixing. This leads to increased summer carbon export but reduced wintertime export over the mixed layer depth, which could alter the strength of the SO biological carbon pump and atmospheric concentrations on centennial to millennial timescales. This study demonstrates the importance of accurately representing diapycnal mixing in ESM to predict SO biogeochemical dynamics and their broader climatic implications. 

Abstract Submesoscale currents and internal gravity waves achieve an intense turbulent cascade near the ocean surface [depth of 0–O(100) m], which is thought to give rise to significant energy sources and sinks for mesoscale eddies. Here, we characterize the contributions of nonwave currents (NWCs; including eddies and fronts) and internal gravity waves (IGWs; including near-inertial motions, lee waves, and the internal wave continuum) to near-surface submesoscale turbulence in the Drake Passage. Using a numerical simulation, we combine Lagrangian filtering and a Helmholtz decomposition to identify NWCs and IGWs and to characterize their dynamics (rotational versus divergent). We show that NWCs and IGWs contribute in different proportions to the inverse and forward turbulent kinetic energy cascades, based on their dynamics and spatiotemporal scales. Purely rotational NWCs cause most of the inverse cascade, while coupled rotational–divergent components of NWCs and coupled NWC–IGWs cause the forward cascade. The cascade changes direction at a spatial scale at which motions become increasingly divergent. However, the forward cascade is ultimately limited by the motions’ spatiotemporal scales. The bulk of the forward cascade (80%–95%) is caused by NWCs and IGWs of small spatiotemporal scales (L< 10 km;T< 6 h), which are primarily rotational: submesoscale eddies, fronts, and the internal wave continuum. These motions also cause a significant part of the inverse cascade (30%). Our results highlight the requirement for high spatiotemporal resolutions to diagnose the properties and large-scale impacts of near-surface submesoscale turbulence accurately, with significant implications for ocean energy cycle study strategies.