Tidally Driven Processes Leading to Near-Field Turbulence in a Channel at the Crest of the Mendocino Escarpment*
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Musgrave-2016-Tidally driven.pdf
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Author(s)
MacKinnon, J. A.
Pinkel, R.
Waterhouse, A. F.
Nash, J.
Musgrave, Ruth Claire
Date Issued
April 2016
Journal
Journal of Physical Oceanography
Publisher
American Meteorological Society
Citation
Musgrave, R. C., J. A. MacKinnon, R. Pinkel, A. F. Waterhouse, and J. Nash. “Tidally Driven Processes Leading to Near-Field Turbulence in a Channel at the Crest of the Mendocino Escarpment*.” Journal of Physical Oceanography 46, no. 4 (April 2016): 1137–1155. © 2016 American Meteorological Society
Version
Final published version
Abstract
In situ observations of tidally driven turbulence were obtained in a small channel that transects the crest of the Mendocino Ridge, a site of mixed (diurnal and semidiurnal) tides. Diurnal tides are subinertial at this latitude, and once per day a trapped tide leads to large flows through the channel giving rise to tidal excursion lengths comparable to the width of the ridge crest. During these times, energetic turbulence is observed in the channel, with overturns spanning almost half of the full water depth. A high-resolution, nonhydrostatic, 2.5-dimensional simulation is used to interpret the observations in terms of the advection of a breaking tidal lee wave that extends from the ridge crest to the surface and the subsequent development of a hydraulic jump on the flanks of the ridge. Modeled dissipation rates show that turbulence is strongest on the flanks of the ridge and that local dissipation accounts for 28% of the energy converted from the barotropic tide into baroclinic motion.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering
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Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use.
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DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1175/jpo-d-15-0021.1
