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The observed development of deep mixed layers and the dependence of intense, deep-mixing events on wind and wave conditions are studied using an ocean LES model with and without an imposed Stokes-drift wave forcing. Model results are compared to glider measurements of the ocean vertical temperature, salinity, and turbulence kinetic energy (TKE) dissipation rate structure collected in the Icelandic Basin. Observed wind stress reached 0.8 N m2-2 with significant wave height of 4-6 m, while boundary layer depths reached 180 m. We find that wave forcing, via the commonly used Stokes drift vortex force parameterization, is crucial for accurate prediction of boundary layer depth as characterized by measured and predicted TKE dissipation rate profiles. Analysis of the boundary layer kinetic energy (KE) budget using a modified total Lagrangian-mean energy equation, derived for the wave-averaged Boussinesq equations by requiring that the rotational inertial terms vanish identically as in the standard energy budget without Stokes forcing, suggests that wind work should be calculated using both the surface current and surface Stokes drift. A large percentage of total wind energy is transferred to model TKE via regular and Stokes drift shear production and dissipated. However, resonance by clockwise rotation of the winds can greatly enhance the generation of inertial current mean KE (MKE). Without resonance, TKE production is about 5 times greater than MKE generation, whereas with resonance this ratio decreases to roughly 2. The results have implications for the problem of estimating the global kinetic energy budget of the ocean. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Generation of ocean surface boundary layer turbulence and coherent roll structures is examined in the context of wind-driven and geostrophic shear associated with horizontal density gradients using a large-eddy simulation model. Numerical experiments over a range of surface wind forcing and horizontal density gradient strengths, combined with linear stability analysis, indicate that the dominant instability mechanism supporting coherent roll development in these simulations is a mixed instability combining shear instability of the ageostrophic, wind-driven flow with symmetric instability of the frontal geostrophic shear. Disruption of geostrophic balance by vertical mixing induces an inertially rotating ageostrophic current, not forced directly by the wind, that initially strengthens the stratification, damps the instabilities, and reduces vertical mixing, but instability and mixing return when the inertial buoyancy advection reverses. The resulting rolls and instabilities are not aligned with the frontal zone, with an oblique orientation controlled by the Ekman-like instability. Mean turbulence is enhanced when the winds are destabilizing relative to the frontal orientation, but mean Ekman buoyancy advection is found to be relatively unimportant in these simulations. Instead, the mean turbulent kinetic energy balance is dominated by mechanical shear production that is enhanced when the wind-driven shear augments the geostrophic shear, while the resulting vertical mixing nearly eliminates any effective surface buoyancy flux from near-surface, cold-to-warm, Ekman buoyancy advection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The dominant processes governing ocean mixing during an active phase of the Madden-Julian oscillation are identified. Air-sea fluxes and upper-ocean currents and hydrography, measured aboard the R/V Revelle during boreal fall 2011 in the Indian Ocean at 0°, 80.5°E, are integrated by means of a large-eddy simulation (LES) to infer mixing mechanisms and quantify the resulting vertical property fluxes. In the simulation, wind accelerates the mixed layer, and shear mixes the momentum downward, causing the mixed layer base to descend. Turbulent kinetic energy gains due to shear production and Langmuir circulations are opposed by stirring gravity and frictional losses. The strongest stirring of buoyancy follows precipitation events and penetrates to the base of the mixed layer. The focus here is on the initial 24 h of an unusually strong wind burst that began on 24 November 2011. The model shows that Langmuir turbulence influences only the uppermost few meters of the ocean. Below the wave-energized region, shear instability responds to the integrated momentum flux into the mixed layer, lagging the initial onset of the storm. Shear below the mixed layer persists after the storm has weakened and decelerates the surface jet slowly (compared with the acceleration at the peak of the storm). Slow loss of momentum from the mixed layer extends the effect of the surface wind burst by energizing the fluid at the base of the mixed layer, thereby prolonging heat uptake due to the storm. Ocean turbulence and air-sea fluxes contribute to the cooling of the mixed layer approximately in the ratio 1:3, consistent with observations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interaction between mixed layer baroclinic eddies and small-scale turbulence is studied using a nonhydrostatic large-eddy simulation (LES) model. Free, unforced flow evolution is considered, for a standard initialization consisting of an 80-m-deep mixed layer with a superposed warm filament and two frontal interfaces in geostrophic balance, on a model domain roughly 5 km × 10 km × 120 m, with an isotropic 3-m computational grid. Results from these unforced experiments suggest that shear generated in narrow frontal zones can support weak three-dimensional turbulence that is directly linked to the larger-scale baroclinic waves. Two separate but closely related issues are addressed: 1) the possible development of enhanced turbulent mixing associated with the baroclinic wave activity and 2) the existence of a downscale transfer of energy from the baroclinic wave scale to the turbulent dissipation scale. The simulations show enhanced turbulence associated with the baroclinic waves and enhanced turbulent heat flux across the isotherms of the imposed frontal boundary, relative to background levels. This turbulence develops on isolated small-scale frontal features that form as the result of frontogenetic processes operating on the baroclinic wave scale and not as the result of a continuous, inertial forward cascade through the intermediate scales. Analysis of the spectrally decomposed kinetic energy budget indicates that large-scale baroclinic eddy energy is directly transferred to small-scale turbulence, with weaker forcing at intermediate scales. For fronts with significant baroclinic wave activity, cross-frontal eddy fluxes computed from correlations of fluctuations from means along the large-scale frontal axis generally agreed with simple theoretical estimates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simulations are presented focusing on the role of temperature inversions in controlling the formation and strength of downslope wind storms. Three mechanisms are examined depending on the relative height of the inversion with respect to the mountain and the stability of vertically propagating mountain waves. For low-level inversions, flows are generated that closely resemble a reduced gravity shallow water hydraulic response with a large vertical displacement of the inversion on the lee side of the mountain. For higher-level inversion cases, simulated flows more closely followed a stratified hydraulic behavior with the inversion acting as a rigid reflective lid. In the third mechanism, downslope winds were forced by a self-induced critical layer located below the inversion height. The presence of the inversion in this case had little effect on the resulting downslope winds. Observations made on the Falkland Islands show that downslope windstorms may preferentially occur in early morning even without synoptic-scale changes in atmospheric structure. Most windstorms on the Falkland Islands generally have a short jet length; rare, longer jet length storms typically occur in conjunction with a strong low-level inversion. Idealized numerical experiments tend to produce a similar response depending on the presence of strong low-level inversion and surface cooling. Results suggest that surface heating can have significant control on the flow response by reducing the low-level inversion strength, or by changing the stratification and wind velocity below the inversion, thereby preventing a strong downslope windstorm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]