The impact of internal lee wave closure in an idealised global model

Yang, Zhibin, Jing, Zhao, Zhai, Xiaoming and Zhu, Chenyu (2026) The impact of internal lee wave closure in an idealised global model. Journal of Physical Oceanography. ISSN 0022-3670 (In Press)

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Abstract

Internal lee waves, with scales typically ranging from 1 to 10 km, play an important role in modulating ocean energy budget and deep ocean stratification. However, these small-scale motions have not yet been resolved in global ocean circulation models. Here we conduct a suite of numerical experiments using an idealised global model that incorporates an energetically and dynamically consistent lee wave closure. The effects of mean-wave interaction, wave drag and wave-driven mixing are considered separately through different experiments. The results show that wave drag plays a dominant role in modulating ocean energy and overturning circulation, while the effects of mean-wave interaction and wave-driven mixing are secondary. In the presence of wave drag, the (eddy) kinetic energy is significantly reduced by ~30%. In the Southern Ocean, enhanced eddy dissipation due to wave drag weakens eddy-induced meridional overturning circulation and reduces meridional eddy heat transport, leading to greater ocean heat uptake. To compensate for the enhanced eddy dissipation, isopycnals in the Southern Ocean steepen, which results in a deepening of the Atlantic pycnocline and a strengthening and deepening of the upper cell of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation. Our study highlights the role of lee waves in modulating overturning circulation which could have important implications for global heat storage and climate change.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	Data availability statement: The source code of pyOM2 can be downloaded from the following link: https://wiki.cen.uni-hamburg.de/ifm/TO/pyOM2.
Uncontrolled Keywords:	sdg 13 - climate action ,/dk/atira/pure/sustainabledevelopmentgoals/climate_action
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Science > School of Environmental Sciences
UEA Research Groups:	Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Centre for Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences
Depositing User:	LivePure Connector
Date Deposited:	21 Jan 2026 16:30
Last Modified:	27 Jan 2026 01:09
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/101666
DOI:

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