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On the relevance of diapycnal mixing for the stability of frontal meanders

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dc.creator Rodríguez-Santana, Ángel
dc.creator Pelegrí, Josep Lluís
dc.creator Marrero-Díaz, Ángeles
dc.creator Sangrà, Pablo
dc.date 2008-06-26T11:54:37Z
dc.date 2008-06-26T11:54:37Z
dc.date 2001
dc.date.accessioned 2017-01-31T02:00:35Z
dc.date.available 2017-01-31T02:00:35Z
dc.identifier Scientia Marina 65(Suppl.1): 259-267 (2001)
dc.identifier 0214-8358 (print edition)
dc.identifier 1886-8134 (online edition)
dc.identifier http://hdl.handle.net/10261/5387
dc.identifier 10.3989/scimar.2001.65s1259
dc.identifier.uri http://dspace.mediu.edu.my:8181/xmlui/handle/10261/5387
dc.description Publicación online disponible en: http://www.icm.csic.es/scimar/index.php
dc.description This work examines the possible importance of shear-induced diapycnal mixing in controlling the evolution and stability of meanders in oceanic frontal jets. We first review the conditions necessary for vortex stability and investigate how these may be modified in the presence of diapycnal mixing. The procedure used is rather crude but provides a measure of the relative importance of diapycnal mixing. It consists in constructing a simplified equation for the radial velocity that retains the density tendency and examining under what circumstances this velocity may grow in time. Next, we use a simple two-dimensional isopycnic model to examine the intensity of diapycnal mixing in meanders. In the model the along-front velocity is in geostrophic balance and the ageostrophic contributions are an oscillating deformation field and diapycnal mass exchange. The horizontal deformation field increases the slope of the isopycnals in temporal scales typical of Gulf Stream meanders, causing a reduction of the gradient Richardson number, Ri. The diapycnal flux is calculated as the divergence of the density Reynolds flux, which is parameterized in terms of Ri. The results of the model show that diapycnal mixing increases during the frontogenetical stages, reaching density tendency values of the order of 10-4 kg m-3s-1 and convergence/divergence values of the order of 10-3 s-1. It turns out that diapycnal mixing in meanders may be intense enough to control the separation and slope of the isopycnals and to condition the possibility of barotropic instability.
dc.description This work was supported by the Spanish government trhough projects FRENTES (CICYT grant AMB95-0731) and TALUD (CICYT MAR96-1893) and the European Union through project CANIGO (MAST-CT96-0060).
dc.description Peer reviewed
dc.format 470671 bytes
dc.format application/pdf
dc.language eng
dc.publisher CSIC - Instituto de Ciencias del Mar (ICM)
dc.relation http://dx.doi.org/10.3989/scimar.2001.65s1259
dc.rights openAccess
dc.subject Diapycnal mixing
dc.subject Barotropic instability
dc.subject Meanders
dc.subject Oceanic jets
dc.subject Atmospheric jets
dc.title On the relevance of diapycnal mixing for the stability of frontal meanders
dc.type Artículo


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