On the Loss of Wind-Induced Near-Inertial Energy to Turbulent Mixing in the 
Upper Ocean

Zhai, Xiaoming; Greatbatch, Richard J.; Eden, Carsten; Hibiya, Toshiyuki

doi:10.1175/2009JPO4259.1

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On the Loss of Wind-Induced Near-Inertial Energy to Turbulent Mixing in the Upper Ocean

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Citation

Zhai, X., Greatbatch, R. J., Eden, C., & Hibiya, T. (2009). On the Loss of Wind-Induced Near-Inertial Energy to Turbulent Mixing in the Upper Ocean. JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL OCEANOGRAPHY, 39(11), 3040-3045. doi:10.1175/2009JPO4259.1.

Cite as: https://hdl.handle.net/11858/00-001M-0000-0017-CF1E-5

Abstract

Wind-induced near-inertial energy has been believed to be an important source for generating the ocean mixing required to maintain the global meridional overturning circulation. In the present study, the near-inertial energy budget in a realistic (1)/(12)degrees model of the North Atlantic Ocean driven by synoptically varying wind forcing is examined. The authors find that nearly 70% of the wind-induced near-inertial energy at the sea surface is lost to turbulent mixing within the top 200 m and, hence, is not available to generate diapycnal mixing at greater depth. Assuming this result can be extended to the global ocean, it is estimated that the wind-induced near-inertial energy available for ocean mixing at depth is, at most, 0.1 TW. This confirms a recent suggestion that the role of wind-induced near-inertial energy in sustaining the global overturning circulation might have been overemphasized.