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The current study deals with a parameterization of diapycnal diffusivity in an ocean model. The parameterization estimates the diapycnal diffusivity depending on the location of tidal-related energy dissipation over rough topography. The scheme requires a bottom roughness map that can be chosen depending on the scales of topographic features. Here, we implement the parameterization on an ocean general circulation model, and we examine the sensitivity of the modeled circulations to different spatial scales of the modeled bottom roughness. We compare three simulations that include the tidal mixing scheme using bottom roughness calculated at three different ranges of spatial scales, with the largest scale varying up to 200 km. Three main results are discussed. First, the dependence of the topographic spectra with depth, characterized by an increase in spectral energy over short length scales in the deep ocean, influences the vertical profile of the diffusivity. Second, the changes in diffusivities lead to different equilibrium solutions in the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation and bottom circulation. In particular, the lower cell of the Atlantic overturning and the bottom water transport in the Pacific Ocean are stronger for stronger diffusivities at the corresponding basins and depths, and the strongest when using the small-scale roughness map. Third, a comparison of the density fields of the three simulations with the density field of World Ocean Atlas dataset, from which the models are initialized, shows that among the simulations with three different roughness maps, the one using small-scale bottom roughness map has the smallest density bias. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The long-term variability of the non-tidal circulation in Southampton Water,a partially mixed estuary, was investigated using 71-day acoustic Doppler current profiler (ADCP) time series. The data show evidence that the spring--neap tidal variability of the turbulent mixing modulates the strength of the non-tidal residual circulation, with subtidal neap tide surface flows reaching 0.12 m s-1 compared to <0.05 m s-1 at spring tides. The amplitude of the neap-tide events in this non-tidal circulation is shown to be related to a critical value of the tidal currents, illustrating the strong dependence on tidal mixing. The results suggest that the dominant mechanism for generating these neap-tide circulation events is the baroclinic forcing of the horizontal density gradient, rather than barotropic forcing associated with ebb-induced periodic stratification. While tidal turbulence is thought to be the dominant control on this gravitational circulation, there is evidence of the additional effect of wind-driven mixing, including the effects of wind fetch and possibly wave development with along-estuary winds being more efficient at mixing the estuary than across-estuary winds. Rapid changes in atmospheric pressure also coincided with fluctuations in the gravitational circulation. The observed subtidal flows are shown to be capable of rapidly flushing buoyant material out of the estuary and into the coastal sea at neap tides. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]