Southern Ocean Dynamics - Eddy Stirring
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The Southern Ocean is a global hotspot of turbulent eddy activity, and Southern Ocean dynamics and their role in the global climate system are critically dependent on the magnitude, distribution and mechanism of stirring and mixing by mesoscale eddy motions. An acute weakness in our present understanding of these dynamics relates to the mechanisms of eddy mixing and how to represent this climatically vital process in coarse resolution ocean and climate prediction models.
Initiated by an Australian Research Council Discovery Early Career Research Award in 2012-2015, we have worked on developing a process-based understanding of eddy mixing in the Southern Ocean, in particular in the vicinity of jet-topography interactions where the intensity of eddy mixing has been observed to be enhanced. Our research involves both theoretical studies of eddy processes in an idealized model, as well as studies of the phenomenon in observations of the Southern Ocean circulation. It is revealing insights that have important implications for the representation of eddy mixing in models, suggesting a more sophisticated approach involving metrics related to the dominant jet instability mechanisms in operation may lead to more accurate models of eddy mixing in these regions. |
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