Rapid mixing and exchange of deep-ocean waters in an abyssal boundary current.

ABSTRACT: The overturning circulation of the global ocean is critically shaped by deep-ocean mixing, which transforms cold waters sinking at high latitudes into warmer, shallower waters. The effectiveness of mixing in driving this transformation is jointly set by two factors: the intensity of turbulence near topography and the rate at which well-mixed boundary waters are exchanged with the stratified ocean interior. Here, we use innovative observations of a major branch of the overturning circulation-an abyssal boundary current in the Southern Ocean-to identify a previously undocumented mixing mechanism, by which deep-ocean waters are efficiently laundered through intensified near-boundary turbulence and boundary-interior exchange. The linchpin of the mechanism is the generation of submesoscale dyna

SUBMITTER: Naveira Garabato AC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6613131 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature