Editorial Type:
Article
Article Type:
Research Article

Upper Ocean Turbulence from High-Resolution 3D Simulations

Patrice Klein Laboratoire de Physique des Océans, IFREMER/CNRS, Brest, France

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Bach Lien Hua Laboratoire de Physique des Océans, IFREMER/CNRS, Brest, France

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Guillaume Lapeyre Laboratoire de Météorologie Dynamique/IPSL, Ecole Normale Supérieure/CNRS, Paris, France

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Xavier Capet Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, University of California, Los Angleles, Los Angeles, California

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Sylvie Le Gentil Laboratoire de Physique des Océans, IFREMER/CNRS, Brest, France

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Hideharu Sasaki Earth Simulator Center, JAMSTEC, Yokohama, Japan

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Print Publication:
01 Aug 2008
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1175/2007JPO3773.1
Page(s):
1748–1763
Restricted access

Abstract

The authors examine the turbulent properties of a baroclinically unstable oceanic flow using primitive equation (PE) simulations with high resolution (in both horizontal and vertical directions). Resulting dynamics in the surface layers involve large Rossby numbers and significant vortical asymmetries. Furthermore, the ageostrophic divergent motions associated with small-scale surface frontogenesis are shown to significantly alter the nonlinear transfers of kinetic energy and consequently the time evolution of the surface dynamics. Such impact of the ageostrophic motions explains the emergence of the significant cyclone–anticyclone asymmetry and of a strong restratification in the upper layers, which are not allowed by the quasigeostrophic (QG) or surface quasigeostrophic (SQG) theory. However, despite this strong ageostrophic character, some of the main surface properties are surprisingly still close to the surface quasigeostrophic equilibrium. They include a noticeable shallow (≈k−2) velocity spectrum as well as a conspicuous local spectral relationship between surface kinetic energy, sea surface height, and density variance over a large range of scales (from 400 to 4 km). Furthermore, surface velocities can be remarkably diagnosed from only the surface density using SQG relations. This suggests that the validity of some specific SQG relations extends to dynamical regimes with large Rossby numbers. The interior dynamics, on the other hand, strongly differ from the surface dynamics, involving a small Rossby number, a steep (≈k−4) velocity spectrum, and a somewhat steeper density spectrum. The compensation of the surface restratification by a destratification at depth confirms a connection between the surface and the interior induced by the small-scale divergent motions.

Corresponding author address: P. Klein, LPO, IFREMER, BP 70, 29280 Plouzané, France. Email: pklein@ifremer.fr

Abstract

The authors examine the turbulent properties of a baroclinically unstable oceanic flow using primitive equation (PE) simulations with high resolution (in both horizontal and vertical directions). Resulting dynamics in the surface layers involve large Rossby numbers and significant vortical asymmetries. Furthermore, the ageostrophic divergent motions associated with small-scale surface frontogenesis are shown to significantly alter the nonlinear transfers of kinetic energy and consequently the time evolution of the surface dynamics. Such impact of the ageostrophic motions explains the emergence of the significant cyclone–anticyclone asymmetry and of a strong restratification in the upper layers, which are not allowed by the quasigeostrophic (QG) or surface quasigeostrophic (SQG) theory. However, despite this strong ageostrophic character, some of the main surface properties are surprisingly still close to the surface quasigeostrophic equilibrium. They include a noticeable shallow (≈k−2) velocity spectrum as well as a conspicuous local spectral relationship between surface kinetic energy, sea surface height, and density variance over a large range of scales (from 400 to 4 km). Furthermore, surface velocities can be remarkably diagnosed from only the surface density using SQG relations. This suggests that the validity of some specific SQG relations extends to dynamical regimes with large Rossby numbers. The interior dynamics, on the other hand, strongly differ from the surface dynamics, involving a small Rossby number, a steep (≈k−4) velocity spectrum, and a somewhat steeper density spectrum. The compensation of the surface restratification by a destratification at depth confirms a connection between the surface and the interior induced by the small-scale divergent motions.

Corresponding author address: P. Klein, LPO, IFREMER, BP 70, 29280 Plouzané, France. Email: pklein@ifremer.fr

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