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| Garabato, A. C. Naveira; Ferrari, R.; Polzin, K. L.. |
| There is an ongoing debate concerning the distribution of eddy stirring across the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) and the nature of its controlling processes. The problem is addressed here by estimating the isentropic eddy diffusivity kappa from a collection of hydrographic and altimetric observations, analyzed in a mixing length theoretical framework. It is shown that, typically, kappa is suppressed by an order of magnitude in the upper kilometer of the ACC frontal jets relative to their surroundings, primarily as a result of a local reduction of the mixing length. This observation is reproduced by a quasi-geostrophic theory of eddy stirring across a broad barotropic jet based on the scaling law derived by Ferrari and Nikurashin (2010). The theory... |
| Tipo: Text |
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| Ano: 2011 |
URL: https://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00227/33813/32489.pdf |
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