Water mass transformation due to mixed layer entrainment and mesoscale stirring: In series or parallel?
نویسنده
چکیده
The convergence of advective and diffusive buoyancy flux must match the air-sea buoyancy flux between two outcropping isopycnals. This leads to a diagnostic framework for water mass transformation in which a myriad of different processes can be incorporated under a unifying balance. We review how the diapycnal advection due to ubiquitous mixed layer entrainment can be included in this framework, and we estimate its contribution to the large scale transformation. We also consider how decomposing the flow and buoyancy field into mean, eddy and turbulent parts leads to clarifying the interaction of mixed layer and mesoscale (or sub-mesoscale) eddies in the overall large scale balance.
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