Note on the Rate of Restratification in the Baroclinic Spindown of Fronts
This paper revisits how the restratifying buoyancy flux w'b'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 w&#...
| Main Authors: | , |
|---|---|
| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Article |
| Published: |
American Meteorological Society
2019
|
| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/120499 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3736-1956 |
| _version_ | 1826194630354403328 |
|---|---|
| author | Callies, Jörn Ferrari, Raffaele |
| author2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences |
| author_facet | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences Callies, Jörn Ferrari, Raffaele |
| author_sort | Callies, Jörn |
| collection | MIT |
| description | This paper revisits how the restratifying buoyancy flux w'b'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 w'b'~fΛ2H2 (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. Keywords: Instability; Ocean dynamics; Oceanic mixed layer; Parameterization |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T09:58:54Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/120499 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T09:58:54Z |
| publishDate | 2019 |
| publisher | American Meteorological Society |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/1204992022-09-30T18:07:47Z Note on the Rate of Restratification in the Baroclinic Spindown of Fronts Callies, Jörn Ferrari, Raffaele Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences Ferrari, Raffaele This paper revisits how the restratifying buoyancy flux w'b'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 w'b'~fΛ2H2 (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. Keywords: Instability; Ocean dynamics; Oceanic mixed layer; Parameterization National Science Foundation (U.S.) (Grant OCE-1233832) 2019-02-19T19:16:41Z 2019-02-19T19:16:41Z 2018-07 2017-09 2019-02-08T14:07:30Z Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 0022-3670 1520-0485 http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/120499 Callies, Jörn and Raffaele Ferrari. “Note on the Rate of Restratification in the Baroclinic Spindown of Fronts.” Journal of Physical Oceanography 48, 7 (July 2018): 1543–1553 © 2018 American Meteorological Society https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3736-1956 http://dx.doi.org/10.1175/JPO-D-17-0175.1 Journal of Physical Oceanography Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use. application/pdf American Meteorological Society American Meteorological Society |
| spellingShingle | Callies, Jörn Ferrari, Raffaele Note on the Rate of Restratification in the Baroclinic Spindown of Fronts |
| title | Note on the Rate of Restratification in the Baroclinic Spindown of Fronts |
| title_full | Note on the Rate of Restratification in the Baroclinic Spindown of Fronts |
| title_fullStr | Note on the Rate of Restratification in the Baroclinic Spindown of Fronts |
| title_full_unstemmed | Note on the Rate of Restratification in the Baroclinic Spindown of Fronts |
| title_short | Note on the Rate of Restratification in the Baroclinic Spindown of Fronts |
| title_sort | note on the rate of restratification in the baroclinic spindown of fronts |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/120499 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3736-1956 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT calliesjorn noteontherateofrestratificationinthebaroclinicspindownoffronts AT ferrariraffaele noteontherateofrestratificationinthebaroclinicspindownoffronts |