Measuring ocean mixing: From observing processes to quantifying impacts

Abstract

The impacts of ocean mixing are varied, ranging from the local across-isopycnal transport of heat, salt, and nutrients, to the global overturning circulation with implications for climate. A full understanding of turbulent mixing, from driving processes to impacts, spans all oceanic time and length scales. Turbulent mixing in the ocean occur on scales less than centimeters and timescales less than hours, yet the processes that drive this turbulence occurs on meters to 100s of km length scales and the impact of the turbulent mixing spans the full range of oceanic spatiotemporal scales. Here, we will discuss current approaches to measuring ocean mixing and explore how to bridge this scale gap to link the turbulence measurements to the processes that drive ocean mixing and the subsequent impacts. Intriguing examples of ocean mixing processes and their influence on ocean dynamics will be discussed throughout.