Topographic Influence on Internal Waves and Mesoscale Oceanic Dynamics, Including Lateral and Vertical Mixing in Marginal Zones of North Atlantic

Abstract

Abstract : The long-term goal of our research is to identify and quantify key processes responsible for vertical and lateral mixing in oceans, which influences transports of heat, energy, momentum, dissolved matter and plankton in pelagic and littoral oceans. The main objective of the project is to conduct a comprehensive analysis of small and mesoscale phenomena, focusing on oceanic marginal zones. Mixing, internal waves and transformation of water masses were of major concern during the last year. We continued the development of a web-accessible database containing mooring and profiling measurements taken by Russian oceanographers in deep basins of the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian oceans, at trans-Atlantic sections and in the marginal seas of western Pacific. Collection of new data pertinent to turbulent mixing in the near-surface boundary layers, both from oceanic and atmospheric sides, was an important part of our work.