An algal photoprotection index and vertical mixing in the Southern Ocean

Topographic enhancement of vertical turbulent mixing in the Southern Ocean

It is an open question whether turbulent mixing across density surfaces is sufficiently large to play a dominant role in closing the deep branch of the ocean meridional overturning circulation. The diapycnal and isopycnal mixing experiment in the Southern Ocean found the turbulent diffusivity inferred from the vertical spreading of a tracer to be an order of magnitude larger than that inferred ...

Ocean science. Ironing out algal issues in the Southern Ocean.

Widespread intense turbulent mixing in the Southern Ocean.

Observations of internal wave velocity fluctuations show that enhanced turbulent mixing over rough topography in the Southern Ocean is remarkably intense and widespread. Mixing rates exceeding background values by a factor of 10 to 1000 are common above complex bathymetry over a distance of 2000 to 3000 kilometers at depths greater than 500 to 1000 meters. This suggests that turbulent mixing in...

Evidence for deep eddy mixing in the Southern Ocean

Satellite altimetric observations of the ocean reveal surface pressure patterns in the core of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) that propagate downstream (eastward) but slower than the mean surface current by about 25%. We argue that these observations are suggestive of baroclinically unstable waves that have a steering level at a depth of about 1 km. Detailed linear stability calculatio...

Role of vertical migration in biogenic ocean mixing

[1] Recent efforts to empirically measure and numerically simulate biogenic ocean mixing have consistently observed low mixing efficiency. This suggests that the buoyancy flux achieved by swimming animals in the ocean may be negligible in spite of the observed large kinetic energy dissipation rates. The present letter suggests that vertical migration across isopycnals may be necessary in order ...