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Enhanced Energy Dissipation in the Equatorial Pycnocline by Wind‐Induced Internal Wave Activity
Author(s) -
Natarov A.,
Richards K. J.
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
journal of geophysical research: oceans
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2169-9291
pISSN - 2169-9275
DOI - 10.1029/2019jc015228
Subject(s) - pycnocline , equator , dissipation , latitude , forcing (mathematics) , atmospheric sciences , physics , wind wave , gravity wave , geophysics , inertia , internal wave , geology , mechanics , wind stress , climatology , meteorology , wave propagation , classical mechanics , oceanography , geodesy , optics , thermodynamics
Numerical experiments show that in a zonally symmetric model of a tropical ocean forced only by transient winds both inertia‐gravity wave activity and the energy dissipation rate have a pronounced maximum in the pycnocline close to the equator regardless of the latitudinal distribution of the energy input into the ocean's mixed layer. We consider a number of factors that determine the spatial distribution of mixing and find that equatorial enhancement is due to a combination of three factors: a stronger superinertial component of the wind forcing close to the equator, wave action convergence at turning latitudes for equatorially trapped waves, and nonlinear wave‐wave interactions between equatorially trapped waves. The most important factor is wave action convergence at turning latitudes.