Observed three dimensional distributions of enhanced turbulence near the Luzon Strait

Abstract

Ocean turbulence can impact the transfer of heat, nutrients, momentum and sea level rise, which are crucially important to climate systems. The Luzon Strait, one of the mixing hotspots, is important for water exchange between the northeastern South China Sea and West Pacific. Here, for the first time, we carry out full-depth direct microstructure measurements surrounding the Luzon Strait to clarify the three-dimensional distributions of turbulence. We demonstrate that the turbulent kinetic energy dissipation rates in the upper and middle layers of the northeastern South China Sea are on the same order of magnitude as those in the West Pacific. The dissipation rates are only bottom enhanced near the rough topography of the South China Sea slope and Luzon Strait which is one order of magnitude larger than those at smooth area. The relevant bottom diapycnal diffusivity in the South China Sea is elevated in the West Pacific by a factor of three, instead of by two orders of magnitude as overestimated by indirect parameterization. These results may appear surprising in light of previous studies but are in fact consistent with predictions from internal wave-topography interaction theory.