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The Role of Eddy Mixing Suppression for the Ventilation in the Southern Ocean
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  • Asher Riaz,
  • Maxim Nikurashin,
  • Andreas Klocker,
  • Simon Wotherspoon,
  • Nathan Bindoff,
  • Peter Strutton
Asher Riaz
IMAS

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Maxim Nikurashin
IMAS
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Andreas Klocker
IMAS
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Simon Wotherspoon
IMAS
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Nathan Bindoff
IMAS
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Peter Strutton
IMAS
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Abstract

Abstract: In climate-ocean models, eddy mixing coefficients are often constant in space and time. However, observations, advances in theory, and high-resolution-eddy-resolving ocean models have revealed significant variability in the strength of isopycnal mixing both spatially and temporally. A theory that includes the effect of mean flow suppression has been developed by [1] it has a strong impact on tracer uptake and ventilation. This theory is used in offline calculations by [1, 2, 4] but has not been implemented as a parameterization in an ocean model and in this study we implement it for the first time in an ocean model [3]. The parameterization is tested in a non-eddy-resolving ocean model, demonstrating passive ventilation of a tracer as a function of depth and latitude. The first main result is this parameterization improves the mean state of the ocean. The other result is this parameterization improves the sensitivity of tracer uptake to changing winds.