Double Diffusion, Shear Instabilities, and Heat Impacts of a Pacific Summer Water Intrusion in the Beaufort Sea
Pacific Summer Water eddies and intrusions transport heat and salt from boundary regions into the western Arctic basin. Here we examine concurrent effects of lateral stirring and vertical mixing using microstructure data collected within a Pacific Summer Water intrusion with a length scale of ∼20 km...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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American Meteorological Society
2024
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/154074 |
| _version_ | 1811084040088846336 |
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| author | Fine, Elizabeth C. MacKinnon, Jennifer A. Alford, Matthew H. Middleton, Leo Taylor, John Mickett, John B. Cole, Sylvia T. Couto, Nicole Boyer, Arnaud Le Peacock, Thomas |
| author_facet | Fine, Elizabeth C. MacKinnon, Jennifer A. Alford, Matthew H. Middleton, Leo Taylor, John Mickett, John B. Cole, Sylvia T. Couto, Nicole Boyer, Arnaud Le Peacock, Thomas |
| author_sort | Fine, Elizabeth C. |
| collection | MIT |
| description | Pacific Summer Water eddies and intrusions transport heat and salt from boundary regions into the western Arctic basin. Here we examine concurrent effects of lateral stirring and vertical mixing using microstructure data collected within a Pacific Summer Water intrusion with a length scale of ∼20 km. This intrusion was characterized by complex thermohaline structure in which warm Pacific Summer Water interleaved in alternating layers of<jats:inline-formula id="IE1" />m thickness with cooler water, due to lateral stirring and intrusive processes. Along interfaces between warm/salty and cold/freshwater masses, the density ratio was favorable to double-diffusive processes. The rate of dissipation of turbulent kinetic energy (<jats:italic>ε</jats:italic>) was elevated along the interleaving surfaces, with values up to 3 × 10<jats:sup>−8</jats:sup>W kg<jats:sup>−1</jats:sup>compared to background<jats:italic>ε</jats:italic>of less than 10<jats:sup>−9</jats:sup>W kg<jats:sup>−1</jats:sup>. Based on the distribution of<jats:italic>ε</jats:italic>as a function of density ratio<jats:italic>R<jats:sub>ρ</jats:sub></jats:italic>, we conclude that double-diffusive convection is largely responsible for the elevated<jats:italic>ε</jats:italic>observed over the survey. The lateral processes that created the layered thermohaline structure resulted in vertical thermohaline gradients susceptible to double-diffusive convection, resulting in upward vertical heat fluxes. Bulk vertical heat fluxes above the intrusion are estimated in the range of 0.2–1 W m<jats:sup>−2</jats:sup>, with the localized flux above the uppermost warm layer elevated to 2–10 W m<jats:sup>−2</jats:sup>. Lateral fluxes are much larger, estimated between 1000 and 5000 W m<jats:sup>−2</jats:sup>, and set an overall decay rate for the intrusion of 1–5 years. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T12:43:42Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/154074 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T12:43:42Z |
| publishDate | 2024 |
| publisher | American Meteorological Society |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/1540742024-09-19T05:04:16Z Double Diffusion, Shear Instabilities, and Heat Impacts of a Pacific Summer Water Intrusion in the Beaufort Sea Fine, Elizabeth C. MacKinnon, Jennifer A. Alford, Matthew H. Middleton, Leo Taylor, John Mickett, John B. Cole, Sylvia T. Couto, Nicole Boyer, Arnaud Le Peacock, Thomas Oceanography Pacific Summer Water eddies and intrusions transport heat and salt from boundary regions into the western Arctic basin. Here we examine concurrent effects of lateral stirring and vertical mixing using microstructure data collected within a Pacific Summer Water intrusion with a length scale of ∼20 km. This intrusion was characterized by complex thermohaline structure in which warm Pacific Summer Water interleaved in alternating layers of<jats:inline-formula id="IE1" />m thickness with cooler water, due to lateral stirring and intrusive processes. Along interfaces between warm/salty and cold/freshwater masses, the density ratio was favorable to double-diffusive processes. The rate of dissipation of turbulent kinetic energy (<jats:italic>ε</jats:italic>) was elevated along the interleaving surfaces, with values up to 3 × 10<jats:sup>−8</jats:sup>W kg<jats:sup>−1</jats:sup>compared to background<jats:italic>ε</jats:italic>of less than 10<jats:sup>−9</jats:sup>W kg<jats:sup>−1</jats:sup>. Based on the distribution of<jats:italic>ε</jats:italic>as a function of density ratio<jats:italic>R<jats:sub>ρ</jats:sub></jats:italic>, we conclude that double-diffusive convection is largely responsible for the elevated<jats:italic>ε</jats:italic>observed over the survey. The lateral processes that created the layered thermohaline structure resulted in vertical thermohaline gradients susceptible to double-diffusive convection, resulting in upward vertical heat fluxes. Bulk vertical heat fluxes above the intrusion are estimated in the range of 0.2–1 W m<jats:sup>−2</jats:sup>, with the localized flux above the uppermost warm layer elevated to 2–10 W m<jats:sup>−2</jats:sup>. Lateral fluxes are much larger, estimated between 1000 and 5000 W m<jats:sup>−2</jats:sup>, and set an overall decay rate for the intrusion of 1–5 years. 2024-04-04T19:45:49Z 2024-04-04T19:45:49Z 2022-02 2024-04-04T19:32:12Z Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 0022-3670 1520-0485 https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/154074 Fine, E. C., and Coauthors, 2022: Double Diffusion, Shear Instabilities, and Heat Impacts of a Pacific Summer Water Intrusion in the Beaufort Sea. J. Phys. Oceanogr., 52, 189–203. en 10.1175/jpo-d-21-0074.1 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 | Oceanography Fine, Elizabeth C. MacKinnon, Jennifer A. Alford, Matthew H. Middleton, Leo Taylor, John Mickett, John B. Cole, Sylvia T. Couto, Nicole Boyer, Arnaud Le Peacock, Thomas Double Diffusion, Shear Instabilities, and Heat Impacts of a Pacific Summer Water Intrusion in the Beaufort Sea |
| title | Double Diffusion, Shear Instabilities, and Heat Impacts of a Pacific Summer Water Intrusion in the Beaufort Sea |
| title_full | Double Diffusion, Shear Instabilities, and Heat Impacts of a Pacific Summer Water Intrusion in the Beaufort Sea |
| title_fullStr | Double Diffusion, Shear Instabilities, and Heat Impacts of a Pacific Summer Water Intrusion in the Beaufort Sea |
| title_full_unstemmed | Double Diffusion, Shear Instabilities, and Heat Impacts of a Pacific Summer Water Intrusion in the Beaufort Sea |
| title_short | Double Diffusion, Shear Instabilities, and Heat Impacts of a Pacific Summer Water Intrusion in the Beaufort Sea |
| title_sort | double diffusion shear instabilities and heat impacts of a pacific summer water intrusion in the beaufort sea |
| topic | Oceanography |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/154074 |
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