Spreading of near-inertial energy in a 1/12° model of the North Atlantic Ocean

Zhai, Xiaoming, Greatbatch, Richard J. and Eden, Carsten (2007) Spreading of near-inertial energy in a 1/12° model of the North Atlantic Ocean. Geophysical Research Letters, 34 (10). ISSN 0094-8276

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Abstract

Near-inertial energy in the ocean is thought to be redistributed by ß-dispersion, whereby near-inertial waves generated at the surface by wind forcing propagate downward and equatorward. In this letter, we examine the spreading of near-inertial energy in a realistic 1/12° model of the North Atlantic driven by synoptically varying wind forcing. We find that (1) near-inertial energy is strongly influenced by the mesoscale eddy field and appears to be locally drained to the deep ocean, largely by the chimney effect associated with anticyclonic eddies, and (2) the interior of the subtropical gyre shows very low levels of near-inertial energy, contrary to expectations based on the ß-dispersion effect.

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled Keywords: near-inertial energy,inertial chimney,eddies
Faculty \ School: Faculty of Science > School of Environmental Sciences
UEA Research Groups: Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Marine and Atmospheric Sciences (former - to 2017)
Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Meteorology, Oceanography and Climate Dynamics (former - to 2017)
Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Climate, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences (former - to 2017)
Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Centre for Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences
Depositing User: Pure Connector
Date Deposited: 23 Oct 2013 12:02
Last Modified: 24 Oct 2022 04:50
URI: https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/43795
DOI: 10.1029/2007GL029895

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