Deep-ocean mixing driven by small-scale internal tides

Clément Vic (), Alberto C. Naveira Garabato, J. A. Mattias Green, Amy F. Waterhouse, Zhongxiang Zhao, Angélique Melet, Casimir Lavergne, Maarten C. Buijsman and Gordon R. Stephenson
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Clément Vic: University of Southampton, National Oceanography Centre
Alberto C. Naveira Garabato: University of Southampton, National Oceanography Centre
J. A. Mattias Green: Bangor University
Amy F. Waterhouse: University of California
Zhongxiang Zhao: University of Washington
Angélique Melet: Mercator Ocean
Casimir Lavergne: Sorbonne Université-CNRS-IRD-MNHN
Maarten C. Buijsman: University of Southern Mississippi, Stennis Space Center
Gordon R. Stephenson: University of Southern Mississippi, Stennis Space Center

Nature Communications, 2019, vol. 10, issue 1, 1-9

Abstract: Abstract Turbulent mixing in the ocean is key to regulate the transport of heat, freshwater and biogeochemical tracers, with strong implications for Earth’s climate. In the deep ocean, tides supply much of the mechanical energy required to sustain mixing via the generation of internal waves, known as internal tides, whose fate—the relative importance of their local versus remote breaking into turbulence—remains uncertain. Here, we combine a semi-analytical model of internal tide generation with satellite and in situ measurements to show that from an energetic viewpoint, small-scale internal tides, hitherto overlooked, account for the bulk (>50%) of global internal tide generation, breaking and mixing. Furthermore, we unveil the pronounced geographical variations of their energy proportion, ignored by current parameterisations of mixing in climate-scale models. Based on these results, we propose a physically consistent, observationally supported approach to accurately represent the dissipation of small-scale internal tides and their induced mixing in climate-scale models.

Date: 2019
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-10149-5

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