Turbulent mixing and its contribution to oxygen flux in the northwestern
boundary current region of the Japan/East Sea, April-October 2015
Abstract
The Japan/East Sea is well ventilated and is the most oxygen-rich region
in the Pacific. However, quantitative estimates of the turbulent fluxes
are missing due to a lack of observational data. To assess turbulent
mixing, we employ data from the moored profiler Aqualog survey of April
- October 2015 near the northwestern boundary of this region. The survey
allowed observation of collocated depth profiles of conductivity,
temperature, ocean current, and dissolved oxygen 8 times per day. Based
on the finescale parameterization framework, the dissipation rate, the
eddy diffusivity and the diapycnal fluxes of heat, salt and oxygen are
estimated in the depth range from 130 to 350 m throughout the profiler
deployment period. The survey average diffusivity increased with depth
from 0.5x10-5 to 4.0x10-5 m2 s-1. The month-to-month variability in the
mixing is presented. It was shown that the turbulent mixing undergoes
intraseasonal variability. Early in May 2015, a transition in mixing
occurred from the winter regime with upward turbulent fluxes of both
heat and salt to the summer regime with the downward mixing of heat. The
turbulent mixing was elevated in June when large anticyclonic eddies
passed the profiler mooring. The probability distributions of the ratios
of the turbulent heat and oxygen fluxes to the observed local changes in
heat and oxygen were rather stable, particularly in the warm season. The
application of the MX Toolbox to the profiler mooring data yields an
estimate of the downward oxygen flux of roughly 8.6x103 μmol m-2
month-1. The data analysis was partly performed in the framework of the
assignment of FASO Russia (theme 0149-2019-0011) and supported in part
by RFBR grant 19-05-00459. The contribution of Dmitry Stepanov in
modifying the Mixing Oceanographic Toolbox was supported by RFBR grant
20-05-00083.