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Editorial Type:
Article
Article Type:
Research Article

Note on the Rate of Restratification in the Baroclinic Spindown of Fronts

Jörn Callies1 and Raffaele Ferrari2
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  • 1 California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California
  • | 2 Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts
Print Publication:
01 Jul 2018
Collections:
LatMix: Studies of Submesoscale Stirring and Mixing
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1175/JPO-D-17-0175.1
Page(s):
1543–1553
Restricted access

Abstract

This paper revisits how the restratifying buoyancy flux generated by baroclinic mixed layer instabilities depends on environmental conditions. The frontal spindown is shown to produce buoyancy fluxes that increase significantly beyond the previously proposed and widely used scaling (f is the Coriolis parameter, Λ is the geostrophic shear, and H is the mixed layer depth), irrespective of whether the initial front is broad or narrow. This increase occurs after the initial phase of the nonlinear evolution, when the baroclinic eddies grow in size and develop velocities significantly in excess of the scaling assumption V ~ ΛH. Implications for parameterizing the restratification caused by baroclinic mixed layer instabilities in coarse-resolution models are discussed.

© 2018 American Meteorological Society. For information regarding reuse of this content and general copyright information, consult the AMS Copyright Policy (www.ametsoc.org/PUBSReuseLicenses).

Corresponding author: Jörn Callies, jcallies@caltech.edu

This article is included in the LatMix: Studies of Submesoscale Stirring and Mixing Special Collection.

Abstract

This paper revisits how the restratifying buoyancy flux generated by baroclinic mixed layer instabilities depends on environmental conditions. The frontal spindown is shown to produce buoyancy fluxes that increase significantly beyond the previously proposed and widely used scaling (f is the Coriolis parameter, Λ is the geostrophic shear, and H is the mixed layer depth), irrespective of whether the initial front is broad or narrow. This increase occurs after the initial phase of the nonlinear evolution, when the baroclinic eddies grow in size and develop velocities significantly in excess of the scaling assumption V ~ ΛH. Implications for parameterizing the restratification caused by baroclinic mixed layer instabilities in coarse-resolution models are discussed.

© 2018 American Meteorological Society. For information regarding reuse of this content and general copyright information, consult the AMS Copyright Policy (www.ametsoc.org/PUBSReuseLicenses).

Corresponding author: Jörn Callies, jcallies@caltech.edu

This article is included in the LatMix: Studies of Submesoscale Stirring and Mixing Special Collection.

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