| A current problem in physical oceanography is to identify the sources of energy at the origin of the abyssal mixing associated with thermohaline circulation. An important source is the inertial waves generated by wind. However, the mechanisms driving this energy from the surface to the deep mixing remain poorly understood. We study here the tridimensional propagation of inertial waves in a fully turbulent mesoscale eddy field with a primitive equations numerical model. After presenting a review of works to date, we describe various methods for extracting the inertial signal. The 3D propagation of inertial waves is then described and rationalized. In particular, two dramatic maxima of the vertical velocity have been found around 100 m and 1700 m. The deep... |
