Open AccessBottom dissipation of subinertial currents at the Atlantic zonal boundaries
Author(s) -
Wright C. J.,
Scott R. B.,
Arbic B. K.,
Furnival D. F.
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
journal of geophysical research: oceans
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.67
H-Index - 298
eISSN - 2156-2202
pISSN - 0148-0227
DOI - 10.1029/2011jc007702
Subject(s) - dissipation , geology , drag , boundary (topology) , current meter , seabed , boundary layer , mixing (physics) , geophysics , current (fluid) , climatology , mechanics , oceanography , physics , mathematics , mathematical analysis , quantum mechanics , thermodynamics
Estimates of the dissipation of subinertial currents due to bottom boundary layer drag at the eastern and western boundaries of the North Atlantic ocean, between 15 N and 60 N, are computed using data from the world's largest archive of ocean current meter time series. We show from these data that a significant proportion of such loss in this region is due to dissipation at the western boundary ocean floor via quadratic bottom boundary layer drag, with an estimated 40–60% (31–47 GW) of the wind input power across the whole basin dissipated by this method. We further show that the majority of this dissipation occurs at shallow depths, <500 m; this has significant implications for the power available for abyssal mixing.