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A parameterization of local and remote tidal mixing
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  • Casimir de Lavergne,
  • Clément Vic,
  • Gurvan Madec,
  • Fabien Roquet,
  • Amy Waterhouse,
  • Caitlin Whalen,
  • Yannis Cuypers,
  • Pascale Bouruet-Aubertot,
  • Bruno Ferron,
  • Toshiyuki Hibiya
Casimir de Lavergne
LOCEAN Laboratory, Sorbonne Université-CNRS-IRD-MNHN, Paris, France

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

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Clément Vic
LOPS Laboratory, UBO-IFREMER-CNRS-IRD, Plouzané, France
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Gurvan Madec
LOCEAN Laboratory, Sorbonne Université-CNRS-IRD-MNHN, Paris, France
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Fabien Roquet
Department of Marine Sciences, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden
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Amy Waterhouse
Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, La Jolla, California
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Caitlin Whalen
Applied Physics Laboratory, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington
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Yannis Cuypers
LOCEAN Laboratory, Sorbonne Université-CNRS-IRD-MNHN, Paris, France
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Pascale Bouruet-Aubertot
LOCEAN Laboratory, Sorbonne Université-CNRS-IRD-MNHN, Paris, France
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Bruno Ferron
LOPS Laboratory, UBO-IFREMER-CNRS-IRD, Plouzané, France
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Toshiyuki Hibiya
Department of Earth and Planetary Science, Graduate School of Science, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
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Abstract

Vertical mixing is often regarded as the Achilles' heel of ocean models. In particular, few models include a comprehensive and energy-constrained parameterization of mixing by internal ocean tides. Here, we present an energy-conserving mixing scheme which accounts for the local breaking of high-mode internal tides and the distant dissipation of low-mode internal tides. The scheme relies on four static two-dimensional maps of internal tide dissipation, constructed using mode-by-mode Lagrangian tracking of energy beams from sources to sinks. Each map is associated with a distinct dissipative process and a corresponding vertical structure. Applied to an observational climatology of stratification, the scheme produces a global three-dimensional map of dissipation which compares well with available microstructure observations and with upper-ocean finestructure mixing estimates. This relative agreement, both in magnitude and spatial structure across ocean basins, suggests that internal tides underpin most of observed dissipation in the ocean interior at the global scale. The proposed parameterization is therefore expected to improve understanding, mapping and modelling of ocean mixing.
May 2020Published in Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems volume 12 issue 5. 10.1029/2020MS002065