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    Original Research Papers

    The distribution of eddy kinetic and potential energies in the global ocean

    Authors:

    Raffaele Ferrari,

    Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, US
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    Carl Wunsch

    Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, US
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    Abstract

    Understanding of the major sources, sinks, and reservoirs of energy in the ocean is briefly updated in a diagram. The nature of the dominant kinetic energy reservoir, that of the balanced variablity, is then found to be indistinguishable in the observations from a sum of barotropic and first baroclinic ordinary quasi-geostrophic modes. Little supporting evidence is available to partition the spectra among forced motions and turbulent cascades, along with significant energy more consistent with weakly non-linear wave dynamics. Linear-response wind-forced motions appear to dominate the high frequency (but subinertial) mooring frequency spectra. Turbulent cascades appear to fill the high wavenumber spectra in altimetric data and numerical simulations. Progress on these issues is hindered by the difficulty in connecting the comparatively easily available frequency spectra with the variety of theoretically predicted wavenumber spectra.

    How to Cite: Ferrari, R. and Wunsch, C., 2010. The distribution of eddy kinetic and potential energies in the global ocean. Tellus A: Dynamic Meteorology and Oceanography, 62(2), pp.92–108. DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0870.2009.00432.x
    47
    Citations
      Published on 01 Jan 2010
    Peer Reviewed
     CC BY 4.0
     Accepted on 17 Dec 2009            Submitted on 21 Nov 2009

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