Vertical kinetic energy and turbulent dissipation in the ocean

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Abstract

Oceanic internal waves are closely linked to turbulence. Here a relationship between vertical wave number (kz) spectra of fine-scale vertical kinetic energy (VKE) and turbulent dissipation ε is presented using more than 250 joint profiles from five diverse dynamic regimes, spanning latitudes between the equator and 60°. In the majority of the spectra VKE varies as kz-2. Scaling VKE with ε collapses the off-equatorial spectra to within 2 but underestimates the equatorial spectrum. The simple empirical relationship between VKE and ε fits the data better than a common shear-and-strain fine-scale parameterization, which significantly underestimates ε in the two data sets that are least consistent with the Garrett-Munk (GM) model. The new relationship between fine-scale VKE and dissipation rate can be interpreted as an alternative, single-parameter scaling for turbulent dissipation in terms of fine-scale internal wave vertical velocity that requires no reference to the GM model spectrum.

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Thurnherr, A. M., Kunze, E., Toole, J. M., St. Laurent, L., Richards, K. J., & Ruiz-Angulo, A. (2015). Vertical kinetic energy and turbulent dissipation in the ocean. Geophysical Research Letters, 42(18), 7639–7647. https://doi.org/10.1002/2015GL065043

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