Open AccessEddy Subduction and the Vertical Transport Streamfunction
Author(s) -
Mei-Man Lee,
A. J. George Nurser
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
journal of physical oceanography
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.706
H-Index - 143
eISSN - 1520-0485
pISSN - 0022-3670
DOI - 10.1175/jpo-d-11-0219.1
Subject(s) - eddy , geology , subduction , baroclinity , entrainment (biomusicology) , zonal and meridional , stream function , mixed layer , shoal , water mass , geophysics , oceanography , climatology , mechanics , turbulence , seismology , vortex , vorticity , philosophy , physics , rhythm , tectonics , aesthetics
Subduction—the transport of fluid across the base of mixed layer—exchanges water masses and tracers between the ocean surface and interior. Eddies can affect subduction in a variety of ways. First, eddies shoal the mixed layer by restratifying water columns through baroclinic instabilities. Second, eddies induce an isopycnic transport that leads to the entrainment of warm waters and subduction of cold waters, which effectively counters the wind-driven overturning circulation. In this study, the authors use an idealized model to examine these two mechanisms by which eddies influence subduction and to discuss how eddy subduction may be better approximated using the concept of vertical transport streamfunction than the conventional meridional transport streamfunction