Datensatz

Zusammenfassung

Small-scale turbulent mixing has a major impact on the global ocean circulation, yet it is unresolved in current numerical ocean models. Since breaking internal gravity waves (IGWs) are a major source of this mixing, energetically consistent mixing parameterizations consider the internal wave energy balance. The IDEMIX (Internal Wave Dissipation, Energy, and Mixing) model describes the generation, propagation, and dissipation of internal wave energy, helping to achieve one such parameterization. The IDEMIX model successfully reproduces energy and mixing estimates derived from Argo float observations. We present an extended IDEMIX model called parametric IDEMIX based on Hasselmann’s parametric approach, which describes a coupled system of predictive equations for energy and bandwidth. Bandwidth is a shape parameter of the IGW energy spectrum representing the number of excited vertical modes. Energy and bandwidth have a power law kind of correlation with an exponent given by the dynamical parameters. The power law agrees with energy and spectral shape estimates from finestructure observations by Argo floats. We present the parametric IDEMIX model in a stand-alone setup and preliminary results of the impact on diapycnal mixing and the ocean state in a global ocean model.